Opinions for extending/modifying Oly training plan

Hey everyone!

I'm back from my two week Caribbean vacation, rested, tanned, ready to eat some turkey, and planning my training for next season. Next Monday, November 29, is Day One of my training. I'm intentionally starting it before the Christmas holidays to more effeciently burn all those extra holiday calories.

My goal and target race for next year is a 1/2 IM in September. I'm doing an Oly race just over a month before that, and several sprints thru the spring and early summer. I am also planning to do the bike leg of a relay team for a 1/2 IM in May, and a full IM in October. I am starting my training with the BT 16 Week Beginner Olympic training plan. It has a short and long session of each tri sport for each week. This will take me thru mid March, ending on the day of my first sprint race.

My question for all of you is what to do after the end of this 16 week plan. I have considered starting the 20 Week 1/2 IM plan at that point. The timing works out well, there would be 4 "spare" weeks to cover any missed time before my target 1/2 IM in September. The drawback is that the 1/2 IM training plan contains more workouts each week, 3x each sport, and my weekly schedule is already busy. The total time for the workouts at the end of the 16 week Oly plan is actually more than the first few weeks of the 1/2 plan, so the length of training sessions is not my problem. Finding enough free mornings and evenings to get in 9 workouts instead of 6 is the problem.

What I am considering, and what I would like all of your opinions on, is just continuing the Oly training plan, with the 6 workouts/week, and continuing to increase the times by 10%, at the same pace as the first 16 weeks. This will bring my long workouts well up to, and past, the 1/2 IM distances. I have considered including a few weeks of maintaining the times, so the total times don't get completely out of hand. I know I can also start adding some intensity to the short workouts each week to keep the "training volume" up without the short workouts growing to 2 or 3 hours....LOL. I think this can work and successfully prepare me to run a good 1/2 IM race.

Please let me know what all of you experts, novices, and fellow beginners think. Any suggestions are very welcome! Thanks!