Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Bike commute + training plan
Quote | Reply
How do you work bike commuting into your training plan?

My problem is that my commute is pretty hilly so it's tough to use it as a recovery type workout or strictly saddle time. I can easily crank up 20 minutes of Z4+ efforts, 40 if I really work at it (per day). This is unstructured time (those efforts are broken up by distance between hills, intersections, etc), so my dilemma is how much effort to put into commute rides vs. into a structured long ride on the weekend.

I have 3 bikes, none with power -- although I am strongly considering an upgrade for my tri bike (which I do not use for the commute).

----------------------------------------------------
Note to self: increase training load.
Quote Reply
Post deleted by Administrator [ In reply to ]
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I commute to work via bike and I don't factor it at all in my training plan:

-Too many variables for me (stop lights, rude cabbies, etc.)

-My route may change depending on how I feel.

-Weather affects whether or not I commute to work via bike. Weather does not play a factor when I have scheduled training rides.

I just consider the commute a cheaper, more convenient way to get to work as opposed to driving or taking public transportation. I can go as slow or as hard as I want without the pressures of monitoring my heart rate, speed, or anything else. I think I would dislike it more if I considered it "training"!
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
My round-trip commute is 36 miles and I do it 5x a week in summer/spring/fall and 4x a week in winter. I just log it as aerobic miles. All of my structured cycling is done outside of commuting miles.
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Can't you just spin up the hills and take it easy?
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
The more "workout" you can get into your commute time, the more family time you've got.

Re. the hills, the only thing you need to turn that into easy riding is the proper gears, but is that what you want to do with the time? Why would you want to have nonproductive time?

I'm just starting commuting again, and am finding that I've got to push most of the time to get the power levels (I do have a Powertap Pro I bought used on the commuter) even up to the sweet spot area around the border of levels three and four (Coggan levels).

So far that's all I'm trying to do, but once I'm accustomed to riding every day I'm going to work out how many L5-7 intervals I want to do per week.
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [kdw] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Quote:
Can't you just spin up the hills and take it easy?
The problem is I have to cross a river each direction, so I'm funneled to one or two spots. My path of choice has two difficult spots:
- one monster hill that is extremely steep. even spinning in my lowest gear on my MTB pushes me into Z4.
- off-road section up a nice grade: part gravel, part brush. The brush this time of year seems to have some nice resistance.

I don't necessarily want to take it easy, just fishing for ideas on what others do.

I guess I phrased the problem poorly -- I'm trying to structure a plan to allow for a long weekend ride with extended hard efforts. I'm trying to weigh the benefits of a single focused key bike workout vs. spreading it out over the week.

I'll probably choose the latter but work toward the former during the "build" phase.

----------------------------------------------------
Note to self: increase training load.
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
My bike commute is anywhere from 45 minutes to and hour of hilly miles each way depending on how hard I push it. I do it 2-4 times per week and it is definitely part of my training. I try to make the trip in easy, but the trip home can be a workout depending on what is on the training schedule. Sometimes I expand the route or back to get 90 minutes in.

This is definitely part of my training week. My other commitments don't give me a lot of weekday training time, so this becomes an important part of my training regime. When I plan out my weekly schedule, I will target a specific workout for the trip back to home, tempo, hills, recovery, or whatever, to maximize the time I have. If something gets in the way of a commute by bike (usually it will be something family or work related, and occasionally weather related) I treat it just like any other missed workout and move on.

The only problem I sometimes have is when I am due for a recovery day and plan on taking it easy. I can spin up the hills, but frequently it gets windy, and what was planned as a recovery day ends up being something more than that.

Victor

================================
blog
twitter
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I don't think there is anything wrong with factoring commute time into your training. Some of my biggest weeks have had a lot of commuting in them.

For me, the key is wearing your HRM, that way you can actually subtract all of the sub zone 1 stuff (traffic lights etc).

As far as doing the Zone 4 stuff as little bits here and there v's as part of the long ride, I think it's fine for the off-season, during specific prep before a half-IM or OD, you may want to move the Z4 stuff to the long ride but all in all 5 x 5minute Z4 efforts over the course of a week isn't going to kill you, especially with the extra base you get from the additional volume.

I say the key to tri-improvement is consistency and the more you make tri-training a part of your daily habits, the better ou will do.

Hope this helps.

Alan

trigeek76@triathlontrainingsurvey.net
http://www.triathlontrainingsurvey.net
Fill out my training survey to receive a copy of how Slowtwitchers really train
Quote Reply
Re: Bike commute + training plan [SignalStrength] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Ride hard the whole way, all the time. Use the commute as "quality" training time (intervals, hard hills, spin-ups, big gear work, etc) and use the weekend for your long ride.
Quote Reply