Originally Posted by CB HI
Let your body be your guide. What works best for you, may not be what works for others.
It is good to take a couple of days off each week when first starting. A 20 mile ride (half your round trip) is enough to start building strength and endurance.
You might want to try and split your rest days. Ride half your work commute on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Taking Wednesday off and Sunday off. On Saturday, start off trying a 30 mile ride and see how it feels. If it feels too easy, do 35 or 40 next Saturday. The advantage of the Saturday ride will be that you will build you endurance faster and by splitting the recovery days, you can build strength faster.
I guess I've been doing this *training* for about 3 weeks now. I have a weird schedule in that I work 4 days on, 2 days off. So I've been sort of doing what you recommend. I try to ride half the commute on 3 of those days at least. It's just tricky at times, getting rides, etc... but I like catatonic's attitude - ride no matter what!! I think next week, or perhaps the week after I'll try the round-trip. Got out today on a 20km, hilly ride. Good workout, warm, super sunny day, and I felt great!
My commute is fairly flat and easy... but lately it's been windy! So I'm really hoping to get that endurance up soon. I'd like to take the plunge like jur mentions, but am worried about burning myself out too soon. I don't want to turn myself off of it. Actually, I don't think that'll happen. Even after the tough rides, sore legs, and thinking "I'm not even looking at my bike for a week!"... the next DAY I'm usually raring to go!
Thanks for the advice!