Making the Most of Time: The Bike Commute (Part 1)

For the majority of us training for Ironman, Triathlon, or any other endurance sport, the key is quite often capitalising on the time that we have available to us. Too often, I hear the excuse: “I haven’t got time to exercise.” We all have the same amount of hours in the day. It is up to us on how we choose to use them.

One way to make more time available is to make use of your commute. I know this is not available to everyone. Some people have mad 50-mile commutes. However, I do know of people that will drive part the way then use the rest of the journey as training time. (There is always a way if you want it.)

For me I am lucky. Where I live has a Sustrans cycle way running through past my house. The same cycle way, further down the line, runs past the business park where I work. Perfect!!!

I no longer drive to work, I run or ride. Bonus training time that does not eat into family time. Result.

For me the journey, depending on my choices, is only about 6-10 miles on the bike. Not a huge distance but it is a distance that I can make work for me. Especially using a heavier fat tiered MTB.

Travelling to work

Obviously going to work, I do not want to arrive there a dripping mess of mud and sweat.  However, I still want the rides to have a purpose (All training sessions should have a purpose). For me my rides into work, none of them hard – but all with a purpose, fit into one of these: -

• Recovery – Easy spin to loosen up the legs from the rigours of the previous day’s hard work. This will leave me feeling fresh and ready to go
• Drills – Could be 1-legged drills or focus on individual segments of the revolution. Alternatively, even a combination of the two. Great skills sessions.
• Constant Cadence – fixing a cadence and completing the whole ride maintain that cadence. Help me learn the feel of various spin speeds.

Next time I’ll look at the harder sessions, on my commute back home.

Will