To enter or not to enter?

So I met this bloke Jan at the weekend. As the conversation gained momentum (we mostly spoke about the rugby) it surfaced that Jan is also a keen cyclist - mountain biking and road. When I brought up the Coronation Double Century, his eyes really started to sparkle. He told me that his company entered two teams last year and that he was pushed into the social team. However, he still managed to finish the race in less than 8 hours, despite having to help a team member, who tried to be Lance Armstrong in the first 50km's and totally tired himself out of the race, up most of the hills.
This year, Jan says, he is in the A team and they're aiming for a sub 7 (this is cycling speak for less than 7 hours).
Not too shabby, I'd say.
But the thing is, Jan and his mates are already putting no less than a hundred km's on their wheels over the weekends. And this, he tells me, has been going on for a while.
"You have to push for some distance, mate," he told me as I tried to swallow the stress down my throat.
Because I hear that entries open this week and I'm not sure if I'm capable of still pulling a rabbit out of the hat and conquer this thing.