Training while commuting
 

Hi,

I'm looking for a book or some reference material that details various techniques to improve your cycling ability while commuting. I don't want to train for races or have a training schedule, but I'd like to get better and am looking for something I can do during my commute without dedicating time to outside my commute. I do 10 miles each way and take about 40 minutes, I also have some areas of my commute where I can go for quite a while without hitting traffic lights.

At the moment I have found:
Bicycling Magazine's Training Techniques
The Time-crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week

any opinions on these would also be appreciated.

Thanks

Daven

1. Ride faster, see how close you can get to 30 minutes.
2. Add a few miles to your commuting.
3. Shave some time off of that.

That would be the short version. Basically you don't need to make a straight line for work in the morning; build several routes of various lengths and inclines. Look for variety and, push comes to shove, on some days take your bike on your car (provided you have one) and commute/train from a whole different direction with better traffic or hills.

I think 2x10 on my commute did more for me faster than treating it as one 40 minute threshold ride separated by lights on hard days.

Months of tempo/threshold rides six hours a week also did almost nothing for my anaerobic power.

A little more structure and planning than 'ride faster' produces better results.

I've got a couple of books that mention commuting, how to incorporate a commute into a training plan, and also how a commute can interfere with a training plan. Some of the Burke books mention commuting, and I think the Base Building for Cyclists book does too. I'm currently reading through Training Plans for Cyclists which is fairly recent (2009 pub date) and has a nice chapter on nutrition and vitamin / mineral supplements, also has a variety of plans for various goals that you could probably incorporate your commute into. .

One thing I've read by some commuters is to save the hard longer intensity rides for the ride home instead of on the ride in to work. Easy mellow ride in, then crank out a longer ride home for the training aspect.

I'm no expert, I just like to ride.

throw a couple of phone books in your back pack and forget about them.