When have you done enough?

With the Redman iron distance triathlon looming, and a shorter tri coming up on Labor Day; I find myself asking the age-old question that all people involved in athletics ask themselves: "Have I done enough?" Which is usually closely followed by the "have I done *too* much" question... and that cycle continues until your head explodes. I've finally learned a way to be at some level of peace, though; and that is that I consider myself to have trained well as long as I am still asking BOTH questions. I don't want to overtrain to the point where I have burnt myself out and not allowed for recovery/build; and I don't want to undertrain so that I am not prepared to deal with the distances of the race. So, if I can look at my training one way and think "maybe I could have done a little more, but not much", and then from a different perspective think "maybe I could have backed off a little more, but not much"; then I am probably about where I need to be. If anybody that tells you that they have "THE ANSWER" in regards to training volume and intensity... run away! It is as much an art as a science, and the best mentor/coach will be one that works with you week to week to evaluate where you are at and how you are feeling, and makes appropriate adjustments to your your training plan accordingly. Just look around at the pros... They've been doing this for years, and they still are constantly tweaking training plans and even switching coaches and strategies; all to find that elusive "perfect plan".

Bottom line for me, the training I've done to this point is all in the past, and now I'm beginning the taper process for that iron distance triathlon on Sep 19th. Past couple weeks leading up to this have been pretty intense, but I feel like I'm where I need to be. This past weekend, I did a 105 mile bike and 6.5 mile run on Saturday, and a 20 mile run on Sunday. Felt great, had very good paces, and no major fatigue or soreness. Too many variables at an ironman tri to know exactly what's going to happen, but I do know that I'm properly prepared. Just praying for safety, no injuries, and no major mishaps; in that order.