Overtraining

It took every ounce of self restraint I posses not to skate last night.
When I start to tell people about my training regimen I usually lead off with "I skate a lot," or sometimes, "well, I DON'T skate on Friday."  When the truth about exactly what that means finally leaks out they inevitably look at me with no small level of concern and either ask whether I'm over training or simply tell me that I am or I will. 
I have to admit that the larger part of my brain doesn't even concede that over training is possible given my schedule.  Mostly it's because I think I'm invincible but also it's because my brain remembers the two summers I worked in a lumber mill in Montana.  We're talking between 40 and 60 hours a week of unending backbreaking labor.  My job was to sort 2X4's manually and I moved between 5,000 and 7,500 pounds of lumber a night with nothing but my two hands.  The warehouse where I worked sometimes reached 100 degrees.  The second summer I was also running about 20 miles a week.  In some ways it's hard to imagine that I could ever push my body further than all of that.
Of course there's a substantive difference between making your body do something because it's work and training for good performance.   "Try easier" is a concept that often escapes me.  I skipped skating last night and today I felt sort of amazing.  So amazing that in scrimmage tonight I got lead jammer.  Of course it was only once out of 4 jams - but since two of those were against the Bombers (our travel team) I'm totally OK with it.  I also had one block on the opposing jammer that was kind of awesome, albeit brief.  It's easier to focus when your head is out of your aching thighs and in the game.
<posted on 3.2.12>