I just farming for some opinions, I am now back working in the real world and as uk returns to normalish I am starting to have to deal with family commitments.
At the moment all my works outs are 5pm or later, sometimes I finish at 11/12pm.
Identifying time in the schedule looks like I can run Tuesday/Thursday PM but then ride Wednesday/Friday am,
I am 45 yrs old and feeling my age at the moment. I don’t think I have it in me to do a 7 hr turn around but apart from a slack week this week (adapting to work) I’ve nailed the 8pm slot every night.
Can you commute by bike? Without knowing all the ins and outs, I’d say just build up intensity and volume gradually to see what you can handle without breaking down. Not easy jumping on the bike at 8pm and doing a VO2 workout for example, after you’ve been on your bum all day and feeling lethargic.
Commuting by bike is a great hack but, not without a ton of issues too. Not everyone can practically make that work.
I used to get up 5am Sat and Sun for a while and just get big rides in then, but looking back now I wish I’d done those slower, like polarised style. Mega hours, then just did a couple VO2 workouts during the week.
Sounds nasty but you could build up to something like this:
5am Sat - 5 hour Z1 (POL zone)
5am Sun - 5 hour Z1
8pm Tues - VO2 micro intervals (big blocks are probably too horrible to face at that hour)
8pm Thurs or Fri - VO2 micro intervals (or swap this to tempo blocks, then work up the zones as you can handle more intensity)
Start the Sat and Sun rides at say 2 hours each then work up, adding time in Z1 each week. You should still feel fresh going back into work on Monday this way, and fresh enough for your runs and VO2 rides. You can start at 5 hours a week total and work up to over 11 hours a week as you get better at waking up earlier on the weekend and adding length.
Key is to keep the weekend low intensity but max volume as possible while staying fresh. Hard weekends mean hard Mondays back in my experience and it fell apart for me. Wish I’d been a bit smarter before and not treated weekends as smash fests…
I’ve been able to do with the benefit of a bit more youth, but there are three keys to keeping it sustainable for me. N=1 and I’ve done this for both running and biking.
Cool down and stretch in the PM workout. Going to bed with tight legs always means waking up with tight legs and once you are at this point it can be too late to recover. A massage gun can be pretty helpful here.
Fueling before the AM workout is key. I can very notably feel my breakfast kick in 30-40 minutes after eating even at 55-65% FTP after riding the night before.
I don’t do much above endurance in the AM. Every once in a while something stronger will work, but putting the harder workouts the night before usually works best for me.
Just my two pence but I often do this the other way around. I bike in the evening (intensity) and then run in the morning. I make sure to eat something and drink when I get up but keep the run easy, getting 2 workouts within 12 hours and I feel pretty refreshed after an easy run.
I run and ride the same day, I’m 45 and I’m not exactly a lifelong athlete it’s all about intensity, eating and sleeping. Keep the runs easy and you might be fine.
I’m unclear why your evening window for training is 5-12pm and why there’s a 7hr turnaround? If you can start your run at 5pm then even a 2hr run gives you 12hrs recovery until a 7am bike…
It is not the end of the world. If you do 2 x day workouts or experience insomnia and have nothing better to do at 3am than hop on the trainer this scenario ends up happening (don’t ask, lol.) Is it ideal, no. Is it doable, yes. I just make sure I carb up after every ride and its all manageable. Making your Tues/Thurs evening rides the hard workouts and the Wed/Fri morning easier (endurance) would probably make it easier.
“I’m unclear why your evening window for training is 5-12pm and why there’s a 7hr turnaround? If you can start your run at 5pm then even a 2hr run gives you 12hrs recovery until a 7am bike…”
It doesn’t always work that way with family commitments, I leave the office at 5, get home, catch up with the wife n kids and then some other activity will kick in around 6pm which could take me out the loop till 9pm at the ealiest, so 9.30 before I am in bibs and ready to go
Right so it’s uncertainty, you might not finish until late. Yes, it’s not ideal but if you reduce the intensity or the first couple of weeks you might ease yourself into it.
My experience as a family working guy though is that those evening workouts are going to be the least likely to get done, as once the “other things” kick in tiredness and motivation start to evaporate pretty quickly. Will power will get me through some but looking back over months I find my consistency is less than I thought.
Is there any chance you can put the bike sessions in am, and get the runs done at work in lunchtime?
Bike (or run) commute is also a great “stealth training” tactic, as others have posted.
Yes its something that I need to keep an eye and Monday was definitely a “there is no chance of getting on the bike today” where as Today Friday I have manufactured a way to get the session in!
The idea is that you give yourself extra time to recovery for the hard work and then sacrifice some of that recovery time for the easier work. It’s the same principle for doing strength training. Do your intervals first, then strength training later in the day so your intervals don’t’ suffer.
it’s all about intensity, eating and sleeping. Keep the runs easy and you might be fine.