One of my goals this year is to commute more on the bike. Trying to be a little more green. My commute involves driving part of the way to work, parking the car in a church parking lot and then biking the rest of the way to work. It ends up being a little over 13 miles by bike. The entire commute of 40+ miles just isn't feasible for me. Even doing it this way means getting up around 3:45 a.m. when I work day shift.
While I was riding in one day a couple weeks ago I started wondering if my commuting is hurting my regular training. I don't really have a training plan set in stone but I do try and get in some planned rides-and runs-every week. But, when I ride to work, it takes up such a chunk of time, and energy some days that I don't have, or make time for other workouts.
I've been doing okay in the WORS series this year, but after my last race I started really wondering if the commuting is hurting. That week I had worked the 3pm-11pm shift and commuted by bike four times, including Friday night before heading to Eau Claire for the race weekend. Just mostly easy commuting miles. Did it have anything to do with my off day?
Since then, I've been trying to add some structure to my commutes. Depending on the shift and the weather I've tried doing tempo efforts, short and hard intervals and other rides. It makes it a little more challenging carrying a full backpack. And I do need to save a little energy for work, if I do these rides on the way in versus back.
I've been trying this plan for a couple weeks and have another race coming up this weekend. We'll see if these changes helped.
Any ideas? Suggestions? Let me know.
Thanks for checking this out.
Gotta go.........
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