Hi all, newbie to TR here! So I commute a lot of the time to work as well maybe 2 workouts a week I hope on TR and one race a week on Zwift. My question is how can I get 2 workouts a day on TR for the days that I commute? Also my days change each week as I work shift work, do I need to build a new plan each week or can k click and drop somehow to get 2 workouts a day?
Cheers!
You mean…commute back and forth AND also TR? as in 4 rides?
You could always take the long route and do a wo… you can send the TR workout to your garmin…
I’ve not done it for a while now thanks to this wee c thing but for my old job (a desk job) I commuted in circa 30 miles round but on pancake flat terrain 4-5 days a week combined with 3 workouts. The commutes would often be no more than the endurance sort of rides (especially on training days) and sometimes recovery rides (pre wee c I’d tend to get the bus one day). During that period I was at my fittest ever with the gentle commute seeming to activate/ warm me up nicely.
I would tend to get in have no more than soreen bread, let it settle for 30-45mins, do the wo and then have a proper meal.
That was pre me starting on TR and it was coaches sessions, I think post TR, on nights when I wouldn’t have time for that I use Outdoor work outs on an RPE basis.
Pre-pandemic I did most of my training either on the way to work or on the way home, but rarely both legs. Some of that was logistical (not having to carry a second kit in addition to office clothes and toiletries), some of it was that it was just too much to be able to do 2 high quality workouts with only 8-9 hours recovery, and some of it was just time.
Doing workouts on the way to work was dependent on having a gym in my building. Unfortunately the closed it in March '20 and it’s only recently re-opened. I may try to do a few outside workouts this week on the way to work.
As for scheduling, if you decide to do a second workout, I think you could just use Train Now, select the outside version, and push it to your Garmin if you have one, or do it the old fashioned way and write the intervals on a piece of tape and stick it to your stem.
Good article about general principles here:
If you’re trying 2X a day you’re gonna need to learn the importance of Z2/3 - most of your riding should be Z2, a little Z3 then on specific days target the higher energy systems. So if you’re trying for 2 TR workouts a day, one of them should be super easy. When I do endurance rides outdoors, I don’t bother with loading a TR workout, just keep it easy and consistant and learn zone discipline.
Is your commute condusive for intervals? Are you supplementing with indoor TR workouts? An easy answer would be to make your commutes Z2/3 (no need for a formal TR workout here) and then do a focused interval day indoors, or outdoors. I say this based on my own experience with commuting, I couldn’t do structured intervals on my commute. It was typically either a short SS/Threshold/VO2 sprint to work, or a flat out Z1/2 on the way home.
Looking back on that time I can say that commuting regularly makes you quite strong. If you can supplement that with some high intensity days (2 a week) you’ll be very fit.
I do a lot of commuting, but most of it is all zone 1/2 cruising. Occasionally I will do a workout on my way home, but often I make that a dedicated ride. The commute is just base miles for me.