Affect of commuting on training

[Dave Carey]

What are everyones thoughts on the affect of commuting on training? I commute 10 miles a day 5 days a week and then a longer ride on Sunday. Does the continuous riding with only Saturday as a rest day stop my fitness/stamina/endurance developing?

 

[Born2die]

Go with what your body and times are telling you if you are slowing down or your body says no then take a break

 

[The Jogger]

Every little bit helps, as above .

 

[amaferanga]

Why don't you consider those 10 miles a day to be training? Mix things up a bit and ride hard some days (maybe extend your route a bit) and ride very easy other days. If that's 10 miles round trip then it's really not a lot of miles each week anyway.

 

[uclown2002]

The more I ride the more fitter I seem to get.

Strangely the occasional day off I do take seems to have an adverse affect; legs feel heavier the next day.

 

[GrasB]

Depends how you ride. My coach plans my training around commuting to work 5 days a week. I hardly ever do a direct commute to/from work.

 

[ManiaMuse]

What are everyones thoughts on the affect of commuting on training? I commute 10 miles a day 5 days a week and then a longer ride on Sunday. Does the continuous riding with only Saturday as a rest day stop my fitness/stamina/endurance developing?

You don't always have to ride the same route to/from work. Set off earlier or make time in the evening and find a nice circuit to add some extra miles. 10 miles a day isn't a huge distance in the grand scheme of things, if it was having an effect your body would have told you by now. And there is nothing stopping you from riding hard on your commute and making it a training ride as well. Mix it up a bit, maybe even do a ride on a Saturday instead of a Sunday every now and then.

 

[fossyant]

I use the commute as training, as I don't have lots of time at weekends with family stuff. Let's say this, as a day to day commuter, when I go on club runs and more noticeably, any sportives, those of us who ride every day are up there with the guys that train and race. You will kick the back side off the weekend warriors.

Only the really serious guys are faster, and they are faster because they race as well as ride every day.

Commuting is excellent for training the body to deal with the daily stress in muscles. All that stop start with traffic is a real killer at first, but once your body adapts to dealing with the lactic acid, you will make great improvement.

I see commuting as an ideal fitness base that fits in with your routine, without impinging on family time. Essential for those with families.

I commute between 20 and 30 miles a day, usually only 10-14 miles in one go, but I can be on the bike 4 times some days with site visits. None of it big distances, but I don't have any problems jumping on the bike and riding 100 miles despite hardly ever doing those sort of distances.

Regular commuters are generally some of the fittest cyclists (racers excluded).

 

[Dusty Bin]

What are everyones thoughts on the affect of commuting on training? I commute 10 miles a day 5 days a week and then a longer ride on Sunday. Does the continuous riding with only Saturday as a rest day stop my fitness/stamina/endurance developing?

Depends what you are training for, or what your training goals are.

 

[Dave Carey]

Depends what you are training for, or what your training goals are.

At this point I dont have any specific training goals other than a return to fitness after an illness where I was off the bike for 3 months. After that it will be to complete my 1st 100 mile sportive.

Why don't you consider those 10 miles a day to be training? Mix things up a bit and ride hard some days (maybe extend your route a bit) and ride very easy other days. If that's 10 miles round trip then it's really not a lot of miles each week anyway.

Its 10 miles as a round trip. I try to ride hard every ride anyway, there is usually a Strava segment which keeps me pushing. I would like to extend my commute however I hate riding with a backpack on so do most of my mileage on the weekend. I only started cycling to work initially to save money on travel.

 

[Dusty Bin]

At this point I dont have any specific training goals other than a return to fitness after an illness where I was off the bike for 3 months. After that it will be to complete my 1st 100 mile sportive.

In which case I don't see how commuting an additional 50 miles per week (5 miles each way, five times a week) is going to be in any way detrimental. Higher mileage and regular riding is generally preferable to lower mileage and less regular riding, if your goal is to improve cycling fitness.

 

[vickster]

Get a rack, add weight to the bike, make it harder work and you won't get such a sweaty back

 

[HLaB]

I ususally vary the length of my commute to fit in with training/ enjoyment (but nothing too regimented) and enjoy getting out at the weekend without time restrictions; so if I have a rest day (other than the current enforced ones) its just a shorter more relaxed commute.

 

[VamP]

Biggest challenge of training is finding the time for it. From that perspective, commuting is an ideal way of combining training and transport. In terms of volume, 10 miles is nothing, as others have already told you, so keep that as your rest day fare, and build up for longer rides for the days when you want to actually train.

By comparison, my daily commute is 50 miles round trip, but that only ever happens on rest days. It can be quite a lot more.

Remember, on hard days go REALLY hard. On easy days go REALLY easy..

 

[400bhp]

At this point I dont have any specific training goals other than a return to fitness after an illness where I was off the bike for 3 months. After that it will be to complete my 1st 100 mile sportive.



Its 10 miles as a round trip. I try to ride hard every ride anyway, there is usually a Strava segment which keeps me pushing. I would like to extend my commute however I hate riding with a backpack on so do most of my mileage on the weekend. I only started cycling to work initially to save money on travel.

I personally wouldn't consider a goal of a 100 mile sportive as training as for me, you do some riding regularly and you'll naturally be able to do 100 miles.

So, just keep turning the pedals on the commute and you'll get fitter and increase your endurance too.