mobike_moexcite

Okay, I think I am going to be moving closer to work. This should help me out a lot with the amount I spend on gas and all. Then I got to thining.... I could just take my bike to work. I used google maps and found out that one way it is 17 miles, that's 34 miles round trip every day. This is my question though, I am training and racing so is this a crazy amount to be commuting? I work 5 days a week usually and I am thinking I may be able to incorporate my training into my commutes. Anybody else have any thoughts on this, or if you are in the same situation, how do you do it?

It would be really awesome if I could do this but I don't want to overtrain or burn out from commuting, that would be a stupid mistake I would rather not make. Thanks!

BTW I know I could put this into the Commuting section but I wanted opinions on how to incorporate training with all this extra riding. I also searched for a while and could not find any threads that were like this.

tuxbailey

I just did 106 miles for the last three days commuting, 35.5 miles each way. It feels pretty good. However, I do it one way and the bike was either in the office or at home overnight.

It was pretty rough this morning after riding home yesterday. I think I will do the alternate day approach, driving in between.

Breathegood

Is your commute on a good route for training? As a bicycle commuter one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people train on the MUPs.....they just go too fast to be safe. If your commute takes you on a safe, road route where you can open up and ride without fear of running down a ped, k9, or slower rider, I say it only makes sense to incorporate training into your commute.

Hot Potato

The morning 17 are just for feeling good, and getting you going. Treat the ride home like a time trial, or do intervals between traffic lights. Take the long way home when you can or want to for longer distance training. You will have more time for training because the time you used to be sitting in a car is now being applied towards fitness and training, so its free bike time that you don't have to pull away from something else.

mobike_moexcite

I think it is mostly city streets, which I will have to get used to, but they don't look too bad for riding. I don't think there are any actual paths there. It may be normal practice to train on some of these roads that are a little conjested but I will more than likely try for alternate routes when I need to go all out. I never thought of the situation that way HP, that gives me another reason to commute and train at the same time. Thanks for the replies, I want to get some more info on this before I embark on this whole new way of training, haha.

RT

Commuter perspective, not a racer.

I ride hard on my commute, and since I don't race, I use the 'training' of the ride as a goal toward optimum health. I found that once I built up, adding a day a week over a month to my 32 mile round tripper, five days a week gets easier to the point of missing a commute sort of depresses me. No burnout here.

wanders

This is just my take.

My commute to work one way is 18 miles. I have been racing for the last 3 years and have pretty much abandoned commuting and replaced the ~2 hrs with time on the trainer. I haven't ridden to work in 6 months.

It's hard for me to replicate any benificial adaptations needed for racing while commuting. The trainer allows for more specific workouts. VO2 max, 2x20's, - I also have a few workout dvds.

That said, I enjoyed commuting but found it did little to improve my racing prformance. I have no natural talent so, again, ymmv.

rydaddy

I commute ~16 miles each way and use it for a good portion of my training. I'm lucky that I have about 10 miles with no stops. City streets with lots of stops might make effective training difficult though.

ptle

I don't race, but I do commute. I can tell you that commuting has made me a pretty fast rider. It helps your speed, but I think you'll plateau unless you can somehow incorporate intervals or train either on your commute or outside of it.

fogrider

I too haven't commuted on the bike for awhile. I keep a bike at work and get in a 15 mile lunch ride a couple of times a week. I often need the car for work or have to pick up the kids, etc. I'll try and commute once a week now that the weather is better and the days are longer. and yes, intervals are what gets you in shape...

jediphobic

Intervals may be what makes you faster, but I'd hesitate to do them on city streets. I think it would be more productively used as base miles, say zone 2, or low zone 3. As long as you still have time to do other rides, it would work out great. You can even shorten your other rides somewhat to just warm-up, intervals (or whatever workout), and warm-down.

JaceK

I have a 15 mile commute, as soon as the snow melts I use the trip to and from work to train. I currently have a 36 mile route I use each way, it is mapped out for a variety of purposes. There is several hilly sections, and a couple long sections for intervals, lastly I try to keep as safe from traffic as possible. This is my sixth year using the commute as training time, so far the only downside is as I stretch the distance it takes more time from my day, (at work).

If you can avoid city traffic there is much to be said for using the commute for training time as well as enjoying the ride.

chewybrian 

@15 miles each way here... I ride hard in the mornings, it's too hot in the afternoon. It seems easier to ride productively in the morning, anyway--fewer cars, less need to stop, easier to roll lights and maintain speed. I find it helpful to have everything ready to go the night before, so I'm calm, focused, and ready to give a solid effort in the a.m.

I'm training for rando rides, so I can't tell you about the race-training impact. Commuting with purpose has made me a stronger rider, though. The time economy is nice, if you want to get a couple hundred miles in every week.