To play or not to play

There are two upcoming tournaments in the bay area. One at the Bay Club and the other will be the regional skills level championship. I have played in the regional for the past two years and I like the diverse players it draws. The question is how do I prepare for it. Should I not play it since I have played sporadically over the past 8 months or should I prepare for it by playing the Bay Club tournament as a warmup? I have never made sense of either arguments. You play it for the experience no matter what happens. Or, you play it when you can properly prepare and reinforce the things one ought to do in preparation for competition. Part of me just wants to play, but that part of me will get down on himself when he loses. The other part of me says it's ok to lose if you go through the process of preparing for it and learn from the process. Which should it be?