Can you over exercise?

As I mentioned before I am doing 3553k in 9 months. Now that I am home and I had gotten behind because of travel and because of my daughter being sick I have some serious catching up to do.

Yesterday I did 10 miles on my recumbent bike, 4 miles of interval training for 10k, and 2 miles of walking. I wasn't in pain last night but I felt really hot, like my body was trying hard to recover from all the activity that I did.

Once I get caught up I'll stay close to my 13k (8miles) a day. I wonder, am I over doing it and instead try to catch up a little slower? Again, part of the problem is life gets in the way. I'll have to travel to a wedding in Minnesota at the end of the month, plus all sorts of other things over the next two months. I just don't want to get frustrated with being behind, if I could get ahead then I wouldn't mind life getting in the way.

Anyway, because the runs are every other day and the bike and walking are not "hard", I wonder if I am going okay in letting my body rest from the running days and don't have to worry about the mileage I am doing on the bike or the walks.

Thanks

I think that the most crucial time is the beginning. If you can get past the easing in phase you will probably be fine with alternating and it would be nice if you would throw in a rest day occationally.

Thank you for responding Scott. I am glad to hear from an experienced runner.
There will be rest days with traveling days these next two months.
I just needed a little reassurance.

I normally advocate really easing into exercise and ramping it up slowly after surgery. If you feel like you need to rest then rest.

The most important thing you can do is listen to your body.  You are more prone to injury if you are tired and your form suffers....then you'll have a long time to wait for an injury to heal.

You have to find balance so you don't fall behind.  Take your running shoes wherever you go--you can usually at least get a run in at a hotel on a treadmill.  I finally got to where I travel with my running gear and a resistance band so I do not miss a beat in my workouts.

I advocate running every other day--not every day.  However, I'm older (46) and have arthritis in my knees so they need a day in between to recover.  I do weight training on the non-run days, or yoga.

Kim

Thanks Kim, I'm just older than you, (48) and this is the second time in my life running has brought me joy. The first time was about 10 years ago but I was abusing my body by not eating so I could not keep it up. But this time I love that I can eat and enjoy the running even more.

The wedding I am going to at the end of the month might give me a chance to run with my brother or his wife and that is cool. They inspired me to get back into running thinking if they can start serious exercising in their 50's so can I.

I took my runners to northern Alberta where I was taking care of my daughter who is very sick with morning (all day) sickness and her two children. My runs were every other day early in the morning so my son-in-law would not have to interrupt his work day. Since I started this challenge for my mission trip I was already training for the 10k, so I thought increasing to 13k for the challenge would not be too bad. It's just the days I've missed from traveling home that is causing me stress. I just have to realize I have months to catch up. I know I can do it.

I just needed reassurance from experienced runners.