Am I On the Edge?

Back.  Sadly back.  I spent two weeks in my favorite place in the world (Maine!); one week of vacation, one week of remote work.  I got to spend some good time with my family but I also stuck with my training schedule about 80% of the time. 

I got up mornings to run between 8-17 miles.  I stuck with my eat then run routine but my body is so adapted to a certain cycle that it actually was 1.) eat bagel + drink diet mt. dew ,  2.) sit in bathroom for an hour and a half waiting for my body to get all it's pee needs met so that I don't have to beg bathroom usage along the route, 3.) go outside and stretch, and 4.) run.  The reason for hiding in the bathroom is that while I was getting up at 5-6, everyone else was not.  I needed to avoid annoying everyone and since I didn't hear any complaints I considered it a success.

The routes I ran were pretty fun.  If I ran to the right I would go about two miles out and run into a beautiful view of the sea.  If I went to the left I go to run a mile and get to the pier and see the carnival rides!  I've been going on vacation to the same town for 32 years and I still got to see new things by being on my feet vs in the car.

Breakfast was supplied at the main house for our group but I missed it most of the time because of my timing.  I did get to eat the favorite meal of french toast twice, but I did miss out on some conversations by missing out on breakfast. 

I got to spend a lot of time resting on the beach.  That was definitely a good thing.  The bad thing was that even with that rest I still felt exhausted a lot of the time which lead to missing out on some of games in the late evenings.  That exhaustion got worse the second week when I was running/working/playing at night. 

I look back at the vacation and don't regret the time spent training.  I expect next year to be on a less rigorous schedule and be more relaxed about when I would run.  I also got to do some runs with my cousins which was really fun.  I just wish I wasn't so different in my schedule than the others were. 

With the above said I am becoming increasingly concerned with overtraining.  I don't think I'm there - yet.  My main problem is the exhaustion.  I also am concerned that I might not be eating enough for how much I am training.  I find myself fighting against my body on long run days when I get really hungry. I get hunger pains and sometimes resist eating which makes no sense.  I got so hungry yesterday that nothing appealed and I didn't eat.  Bad. 

I feel good about how well I am doing with my training after 7 weeks.  As I enter week 8 I'll be back to the strength training that I missed while I was away, will look at scheduling another massage, and will be rotating in new running shoes.  As always I will be watching myself to not overdo it but at the same time challenge myself. Balance!