Rest, young lad

Being on vacation for a week, I took a week off from any workouts. I wasn't lazy, and did a fair amount of walking, but I gave my body a chance to rest. I'm an idiot. Every time I rest I come back to swimming, biking, and running and remark to myself, "Self, you're quite a bit stronger!". Duh. In preparation for the Mighty Cow next week, I plan on not running a lot. I'll swim instead and eat sparingly. I look at the schedule I'd concocted for myself for the iron distance I was previously planning, and it stands out starkly how little rest I was giving myself. A 'rest' week was 8 hours of training, as opposed to 12-18. I was driving myself into a wall!