NoSho

I got into cycling recently as a commuter. The goal was fitness without taking time out to go to the gym. The result was a love for a new hobby that costs a bunch of money and has me going on long rides after work and during the weekends.

I've always been a swimmer, and with the new love for cycling I figured, "hey, why not try a triathlon!" So I've started some basic training for a sprint tri, with the goal to be in shape to do it in the fall.

Here's my question: I know recovery days are super important for proper health, fitness and performance while training. Due to the fact that I'm a commuter, I ride at least 6 days a week. If I take it easy on my ride into work on "recovery days," is that enough recovery? Riding 6 days a week, even if a few of the rides are pretty easy 6 mile rides, am I going to end up overtraining?

I am finding it hard to make time for everything I feel that I should be doing to train (pool time, running, and even some weights). What do other commuters who are training for a tri do?

Thanks,

NoSho

Dalai

I see no problem with commuting 6 days. If you keep the intensity down, active recovery is beneficial.

As for fitting it all in, that is difficult. Ideally I found 4 sessions per each sport per week worked for me, so training twice a day for 6 days with one day of complete rest. If getting to work direct is only 6 miles, once you get the run mileage up, running to and from work is another way to increase run mileage and cut back on one of those 6 days of cycling.

I really don't see much benefit in gym work other than core work so would drop that personally if it was getting in the way of the three sports...

z90

Don't worry about it. Just ride your commute easy, or use your return home part as a training ride. Sacrificing your commute to train seems silly to me, unless you are trying to win the damn thing. I did my first sprint last year. It was fun and a nice challenge. I'm doing it again this year, working for a better time. My feeling is most of the time is on the bike and the run. If you're a swimmer already, I would focus on your bike and run fitness. If it's a sprint, the swim is probably less then 500 yards. I do one hard group ride a week (usually about 40 hilly miles) and one interval session on the treadmill a week. Then I swim on recovery days and try to do at least one more run and one more ride a week.

NoSho

Cool, thanks for the replies. The weight training at this point is just trying to get some tone and better fitness overall. Yeah, getting run mileage up and then running the commute is a really good suggestion for turning more of the commute into training.

travelmama

I think you should not put much into a sprint or else you will be expecting too much from yourself. Just build up to whatever you can handle then do the race and learn from your mistakes.
I trained for both an half ironman and ultra distance triathlons that took place last year. It was all too much for me to go at it 6 days per week to the point that I burned out and just did the half. I have no regrets as I know that it was the best thing for me at that time. I plan to do an Ironman next year but the training will be a lot easier for me because I will not overdo it again.

900aero

As a side point to this topic - does anyone here commute on their TT bike? I'm just working a ride/train/ride routine into my commute and my TT bike is my favourite & best bike. Only issue is wearing a backpack while using aerobars.....

Anyone else loony enough to be doing this?

gus6464

Don't do that, very dangerous.

sirious94

Wait wait wait, WHY? It will be weird, probably uncomfortable, not very aerodynamic, but dangerous? come on.

only loony enough at 5 in the morning on my way to transition for me, but i see no problem with it.

msu2001la

I think you'll be fine, unless you really hammer on your commute. My commute is about 5.5 miles round trip, and I'll do that after a hard training ride/run/swim in the morning. I don't really consider my commute part of my training, or even much of a workout. If anything, it'll just allow you to get in some more miles on the bike, which isn't a bad thing.

Depends on the situation. Some people might have commutes that have little or no traffic. Also, just because you're on a tri-bike doesn't mean you are automatically barreling through traffic in the aero bars. You can ride a tri-bike "on the brakes" in high-traffic situations, and just use the aero bars when it makes sense.

deadprez012

Hmm...I just started a thread on a similar topic, so fail me for not looking first. My question was I think blitzing my commute every morning is blitzing my hips/quads for swim training, at which I am not at all very good. My legs are and have always been in incredible shape (been an athlete of many sports, a runner for two years, and a fairly fast cyclist as others tell me, with no issues with endurance ever) so is it really my commute that wears out my legs before I swim, or am I missing something?

BTW, my legs die during extended kicking...and part of it is poor technique, but I have a coach helping with that!

lovestoride

overtraining is always one of the biggest questions people ask. but really overtraining comes from riding 5+ more hours per week than you normally do for a few weeks, like if i normally train 15 hours and then i started training 25 hours + races for 3 weeks i would start to feel the effect. and also take into account that thouse 25 hours whould probably be alot of speed training and "fast" endurance, not just simply training for your first tri, plus your riding 6 days a week so on the 7th day you get a total rest day.

lovestoride

dont kick while swimming. you dont do it in a race dont do it that much during training. yes you can do maybe about 2-3 hounded yards of kicking (solely kicking) if you feel like really kicking but dont kick for most of the time.

sirious94

Ok, this is just flat out wrong. I have been swimming my entire life and one of the most important things you can do is kick. The difference between kicking and not kicking is the same difference as riding a hybrid vs riding a Carbon fiber tri bike. Yes, it is important to save your legs for the bike and run, and I don't recommend kicking all that much, but you need a good steady easy kick the whole way. This is for two reasons:
1. Keeping your legs up is way more hydrodynamic. If your legs are down because you are not kicking, then you won't go anywhere, just like the hybrid riding position. You should be kicking just a bit to make a bit of white water with your feet.
2. It DOES add a significant bit of propulsion. I know some people who depend on their kick almost more than their arms (in the swimming world at least). You can use your kick for slight accelerations, or just to make your entire body more efficient.

You can also use kick to get your feet back to the surface after you take a sighting stroke.

I think you just need a bit of practice, and eventually you will get more efficient at it. Definitely kick while you are swimming and while racing. And although you may not want to kick too much in races (especially when you are still building your swimming muscles) eventually you will need to kick to become a better swimmer. Start with just using it to keep your feet up, then gradually make it part of your whole body propulsion system.

lovestoride

i have also been swimming all my life and have an impressive swimming career, and at tri's im normally the 1st-5th person out of the water. when i said dont kick i mean keep you legs crossed at the ankles, and keep them strait, boom there you go hydrodynamic. really i cant believe people cant keep up with at least the end of the pack of a tri. most people cant even swim, so theres no point to waste alot of energy trying to leave them in the dust. in all seriousness, i swim sub 25 second 50 frees with little to no kicking, and swim 1/4 miles in around 6-5 mins without kicking and that then allows me to ride sub 32 min 12 mile bike portions, then run sub 21 min 5ks

sirious94

For fast swimmers like us, crossing your ankles can keep them at the surface, because the water is pressing up on them, but for most tri swimmers who will be going quite a bit slower than the speed that is necessary for that, their legs WILL sink. That is why I think kicking is even more important for slower swimmers.

Really they don't have to waste a lot of energy either, just a little, just enough to keep the legs up and keep them going.

BTW I will attribute some of my sub 30min 20k bike times to having warmed up legs.

lovestoride

yeah i understand where your coming from but i try to warn new triathletes to not kick because many of them kick to hard and too much, and then when they go to get on there bike they collapse.