Originally Posted by
mvallejo
So... how good of a workout do you think I'm getting?
Depends on how painful it is.
Have you found commuting to be a good workout?
Sure. I lost 37 pounds without consuming less pizza, beer, and ice cream than I usually would and my blood pressure measures "normal for athletes and children"
So what do you think? How have you done?
Usually 2x10 zone 5a and an occasional steady 40 minutes at a threshold pace on hard days in the evenings (there's too much traffic in the morning and I couldn't just jump on my bike and work hard if there wasn't like in the evening after I'd already ridden ~50 minutes in the day) with opportunistic harder efforts after warmed up on those mornings, a lot of sweet spot rides, an easy week out of 4 and month out of 3 . I built up to that - it started at one hard day a week with more endurance pace riding, then Mondays and Thursdays, and Tuesdays/Thursdays got quicke as fitness allowed. Wednesday was a rest day usually off the bike because I didn't like riding slow enough to recover.
Then I moved closer to work and slacked off becoming inconsistent about 45 minute - 1.5 hour detours on the way in or lunch break rides.
It's a lot easier to be motivated when your choices are
1) Sleeping under your desk
2) A slow 50-60 minute ride home
3) A fast 40 minute ride home to waiting spouse and cold beer