Cyclists: Do any of you 'train' on your commute?

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amandaeve
amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm reading "The Time Crunched Cyclist", which has a training plan for people who commute to work. The sessions last 45 minutes, which is exactly the length of my commute. Basically, he adds in various timed intervals into your ride, the most frequent interval is 8 minutes long. Most of the intervals should be done on flat terrain. After pouring over my Strava segments, the longest flat stretch between lights takes me about 3 minutes. He argues there is a fine science to the length and structure of his plans, so I can't follow it perfectly. I wonder if it's worth trying to follow the plan as close as I can, or just doing what I do now and "throwing some intervals in". I've never followed a training program before.

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  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
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    Why not? As long as it does not effect your quality training days it’s a good thing.

    The research is clear on only a few things....volume matter...intensity matters. The ratio no one is sure of. Experiment on yourself and see what happens.

    No one knows what the best way to train is...

    John
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    "He argues there is a fine science to the length and structure of his plans"
    Hmmm - well he would wouldn't he? ;)

    If you want to follow a very precise interval plan then I'm not convinced the road is the place to do it - sounds like your particular roads aren't quiet enough to ride how you want without regard to traffic and traffic lights.
    Sounds more like they lend themselves to practising track stands and fast starts from a standstill....

    But anyway let's assume it's a great plan.

    But is it a great plan for you?
    Is it a great plan for you at this part of your season?
    Is it a plan that your journey lends itself to? (Seems not.)
    Would approximately following this great plan be better than not trying to follow it at all? Not really seeing the downside from giving it a go as best you can and seeing how you find it.

    PS
    I used to be an occasional commuter but mostly just regarded it as a time efficient way to increase my volume. Direct route on the way to work and sometimes detours on the way back to take in some hills when the evenings were long enough.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited April 2018
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    amandaeve wrote: »
    The sessions last 45 minutes, which is exactly the length of my commute.

    . . . without the short bursts of speed that the training would add :)

    i'm just picking nits. i don't have an allegiance to this either way, but thought i would add my remarks. i''m an on-again-off-again bike commuter, mostly because i only ride to work when i'm working, and my work is freelance. i can tell you that when i re-started the last couple of times, i added a far less structured 'high intensity' thing to my rides, and yes it did get me back into condition quite fast. [i'll also add that just doing this right from my first day in the saddle was not what i did. i gave it a period of basic reconditioning first].

    my format was pretty casual though. i just read enough to pick up a general guideline and then fitted it in as and when where there were safe stretches of road for doing it. i think it was something like " no more than x cycles of y-seconds intense followed by z seconds recovery, no more than q times a week." my goals might have been different from yours, since my attitude was just that i had nothing ot lose and nothing specific i wanted to gain, so anything i did gain would be bonus to me.

    i'll add that i'm nothing like and nowhere near a serious cyclist and never have been; i'm a plod-chug-and-daydream kind of commuter so i obviously my game had lots of upping available that it could do.

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