Originally Posted by Ravenwing

Wow, thanks for all the thoughtful and really helpful posts, guys! My main takeaway is that I might be trying just a little too hard. Here's something I also didn't explain in my initial post, and that's my sleep pattern. I work a really odd shift (I'm up at 1AM and can be done work anytime from 7AM to 11AM) so adequate sleep is probably an issue. Its hard for me to get more than 4 hours a night, so I typically try to get a nap in the afternoon (couple of hours). I know I would benefit from a good 8 hour sleep cycle, but short of retiring, which I don't want to do yet, I have to make it work.

Much as I hate to, I'm going to try to work in at least one more rest day most weeks, and will really consider (strike that 'really consider', I will) take a few days off to recharge. Darn it though, summer is almost over, winters up here are long, and I like to make the most of the warm days we have left! Oh well, I guess it would pay me to be smart about it. I'm also going to consider doing some shorter distance-higher intensity rides, and try to work some more strength training in. I had been doing that regularly on non riding days, but let it go in favor of more miles running.

I guess this means my experiment with trying to burn as many calories as I can to make it possible to be......er.....shall we say a bit loose with the diet, is over? I knew way down deep that this wasn't feasible anyway. Sigh, back to trying to eat sensibly, grumble, grumble.