Intervals on a short commute?
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: Sweden
Intervals on a short commute?
I´ve been pondering on how to make my daily winter commute less cold and monotonous...
So I thought why not make it a workout and try to improve my strenght and raise the tempo a bit.
However my commute is not more than about 15 miles both ways so I thought intervaltraining?
I know I could just make it longer by taking a detour but currently I also go to the gym, run, and my job as mailman has me running up and down stairs a good portion of the day and since I also would prefer that life contains other things than exercise, making the commute longer is not really an option right now.
Call me lazy
.
Note that It´s not an ambition of mine to become an elite cyclist.
I just want to be able to ride a bit faster.
Anyway, my question is if it´s possible to do some decent intervals and strenght training on the bike with only 15 miles a day?
And if anyone has a good idea on how a week could look like I´m all ears.
Any links or suggested reading would also be welcome.
Thanks!
So I thought why not make it a workout and try to improve my strenght and raise the tempo a bit.
However my commute is not more than about 15 miles both ways so I thought intervaltraining?
I know I could just make it longer by taking a detour but currently I also go to the gym, run, and my job as mailman has me running up and down stairs a good portion of the day and since I also would prefer that life contains other things than exercise, making the commute longer is not really an option right now.
Call me lazy
.Note that It´s not an ambition of mine to become an elite cyclist.
I just want to be able to ride a bit faster.
Anyway, my question is if it´s possible to do some decent intervals and strenght training on the bike with only 15 miles a day?
And if anyone has a good idea on how a week could look like I´m all ears.
Any links or suggested reading would also be welcome.
Thanks!
Last edited by Triloc; 01-12-08 at 05:44 PM.
#2
just another gosling


Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 20,552
Likes: 2,662
From: Everett, WA
Bikes: CoMo Speedster 2003, Trek 5200, CAAD 9, Fred 2004
15 miles is plenty of time for some fun.
google "long steady distance interval training"
https://turbulencetraining.blogspot.com/
google "tabata intervals"
google "high intensity training"
google "long steady distance interval training"
https://turbulencetraining.blogspot.com/
google "tabata intervals"
google "high intensity training"
#3
Thread Starter
Senior Member

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: Sweden
Thanks alot for the tips!
Found alot of good reading.
One question though. It seems like the majority of the training i found focuses on fat loss.
This isn´t really my goal as I want to increase my strenght and go faster basically..
But can i still go for the same kind of training?
Another thing I´m a bit curious about is how to plan the week so to speak.
I want to increase my strenght so I should probably incorporate some intervals with a heavy gear.
But still have some days where I focus on keeping a high cadence?
Am I right so far?
Again looking for some tips or links on how to make a good combination of the two.
Perhaps some sample workouts or week scheduals to get an idea on how it´s supposed look?
Questions, questions, I know.
But I´m a bit of a greenish amateur at this.
Sorry =)
Found alot of good reading.
One question though. It seems like the majority of the training i found focuses on fat loss.
This isn´t really my goal as I want to increase my strenght and go faster basically..
But can i still go for the same kind of training?
Another thing I´m a bit curious about is how to plan the week so to speak.
I want to increase my strenght so I should probably incorporate some intervals with a heavy gear.
But still have some days where I focus on keeping a high cadence?
Am I right so far?
Again looking for some tips or links on how to make a good combination of the two.
Perhaps some sample workouts or week scheduals to get an idea on how it´s supposed look?
Questions, questions, I know.
But I´m a bit of a greenish amateur at this.
Sorry =)
#4
I usually do one workout a week, 50-60rpm in a high gear for about 20min. Another day I do spinups (highest cadence you can do without bouncing out of the saddle) and one leg isolation drills.
You should check out Friel's Cycling bible.
You should check out Friel's Cycling bible.




