Three years ago I overtrained badly. I'm not some kind of racing guy, just an enthusiast in my mid-forties. I was stupid, though: I rode as fast and as far as I could every single day in competition with myself. If my average speed coming back toward town looked low, I'd kill myself to bring it "up to speed." Same for distance on the week. I was a slave to the numbers, but in a very bad (and dumb) way.

I rarely did a recovery ride and was loathe to take days off. Eventually I'd burn out, of course, and have to lie around for a few days to build up a modicum of strength so that I could get out the door and do it all over again. I needed to keep the numbers "respectable," you see. Why? I guess I'd become obsessed.

I did this for a few years. Then three years ago I collapsed, and could barely get out of bed. My overtraining coincided with the 2008-09 recession, so we had money worries, too. Multiple stressors. Thankfully we made it through the economic rough patch, but physically and psychologically I was a wreck. The docs did a boatload of tests, but couldn't find anything. I eventually settled on an ad hoc self-diagnosis that was never confirmed by the experts, but never denied, either: underlying generalized anxiety disorder exacerbated by overtraining. Spent a year on an anti-depressant at a low dose, and I have to admit that it did help, so I probably really needed it. It took two years for me to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Whatever that is.

So this year I've been riding lots, and loving it lots, but I've been careful to restrict my hard rides to one or two a week. But in August I let myself go harder than normal, and as a result I got tired last week, so this past week I've had four days in a row with no riding save for doing errands on my "town" bike. Each day the progressive degree of muscle recovery has been visceral and obvious. This morning I woke up after a pleasant night's sleep and felt...excellent. In an endorphin-like way, almost. All the soreness is gone. It's like my legs are completely "healed."

Here are my questions:

1) Does four days without riding, resulting in fully recovered legs, mean I'm somewhat "out of the loop"? Should I take it easy on my ride today, and ease back into things slowly?
2) Or should I just go balls to the wall if I feel so inspired?