Everything folks suggested above. And then some.

After hitting my one year anniversary last since resuming cycling after 30 years away, I've become a bit impatient about progress. But at 58 with asthma and a wonky thyroid, I have to be realistic. I can't ride every day at even a moderate level and expect to recover enough to see any progress. And I often don't sleep enough, usually only 3-4 hours a day. That can't be good. But some days I don't have any choice.

Hardest part for me now is to force myself to take it easy on my "recovery" days. Yesterday I *thought* I was taking an easy but longer ride at a very moderate pace. But I wasn't. I kept pushing myself. It was only after my rear wheel was warped by a minor bit of bad road (no fall or injury) and I was forced to ride very slowly and carefully to the LBS, that I realized even when I think I'm taking it easy, I'm not. In order to be sure I didn't damage the wheel any more, I stayed in the smallest chain ring and only the largest (easiest) four rear sprockets. It was such a relaxed, non-stressful and actually somewhat enjoyable 12 mile trip that I realized how much I push myself most days, beyond my comfort zone.

So for now I'm planning only one fairly hard and physically stressful ride a week, and ride only moderately or easily the other 2-4 days. And to enforce it I'll need to stick to the smaller chain ring and easier gears to be sure I'm pedaling steadily but not keeping my body stressed without adequate recovery time.