Can not make five days a week.

cntl

I just can not cycle commute five days a week, have to have a break in the middle of the week otherwise I am completely useless at work. Thus Wednesdays are usally car days for me. Does anybody have the same problem? I can do two days in a row and then one day break, and another two days. My distance is 16 or 25 miles a day (depending on the branch I go to). At the moment I do up to 80 miles a week. :?

ademort

Hi i work with people who are useless five days a week and they do not even commute, so look on the brightside. Greetings Ademort

Crapaud

When you say "useless", what do you mean? I used to find that as the week wore on my energy levels dropped. By Thursday / Friday I just didn't seem to have the energy to do anything in the afternoons. Saturdays were spent eating (and I mean all day)!

My solution was :

A good breakfast A banana (large) when I arrived at work Snack on other fruit and nuts during the day Another banana about mid-afternoon

Oh, and a decent lunch with some good quality carbs.

On the cycling front: I used to push it every day. I changed to having an easy tootle on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and only cranked up the speed / effort on the Tuesday and Thursday.

A bit of experimentation was required to find out what worked for me.

Shadowduck

Thankfully I work four on / four off, but I'll admit I'm usually slower by the fourth day. I've tried to take it easy the first three and only push on the last one but for some reason "taking it easy" and "bike" don't seem to work together for me...

pw1brown

I think it's good to have some variety, either by using different modes of transport, cycling different routes or varying your pace like crapaud. It makes the commute more interesting.

FatBlokeFromFelixstowe

I commute 30 miles a day Monday to Thursday and bring the car on Friday to collect / drop off clothes.

I find that a bowl of porridge before I set off followed with a banana when I arrive really does the trick followed by more fruit and a sandwich at lunchtime.

Mapman

Doesnt sound like a problem resting and recovery is necessary for fitness and health A day of will probably do you more good than the same ride again All the best

patchy

I do a max of 4 days a week (normally mon-thurs), mainly cos I like my Friday night post work beer (or five).

BentMikey

I would suggest eating more after your rides, perhaps try drinking a chocolate milk drink as it's very good for recovery. Then also try to sleep more, and don't worry if you need to take a day in the car. It takes time for your body to get fit and handle mileage like that. No guilt needed.

I work with 2 days on, rest day, 3 days on, rest day. My rest days are Mondays and Fridays.

Spare Tyre

There's nothing wrong with having a day off the bike mid-way through the week, if you are normally riding 16 or 25 miles per day. It sounds like you are listening to your body and it's telling you to have a rest every now and again! I would regard this as a sensible compromise rather than a problem.

cntl

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. I normally have a banana or two in the afternoon, about 30-45 minutes before I finish work. However, I do usually skip breakfast. I will have to stockpile cereal next week at work :idea: We get fresh milk delivered in the mornings, so it makes life that much easier.

Crapaud

cntl wrote:

However, I do usually skip breakfast. I will have to stockpile cereal next week at work :idea:

FWIW, I'd recommend porridge or Weetabix (3), they're the ones that worked for me. Breakfast's the most important meal of the day - esp. for us.

acorn_user

Porridge, full cream milk and raisins in it. Mmmm, and fuels me up for the day. Never race without it!

DavidTQ

5 days a week wear my legs down fast within a month or so I dont think I would be doing it 5 days a week, I dont know how much of a difference eating breakfast would make. Unfortunately I have some sort of weird stomach problems that my doctors currently chucking random tablets at that prevents me from eating breakfast in the morning. I basically wake up feeling like throwing up every morning... I cant eat food until around 9am or so, I have to leave for work by 7:30 .

Fortunately I work 4 days a week most weeks.

BigBlackShed

Don't beat yourself up. Every mile you ride, rather than drive a car, saves you money / cuts your carbon output / is less polluting. It takes time to build up to the sort of miles you are doing.

As a few comments have said. A good breakfast, decent carbs at lunch and a snack, banana or even a Go energy bar, about an hour before you leave in the evening is the minimum you should be eating. Lots of fluids too.

My commute is 18 miles each way, 5 days a week. It took me almost 12 months to be able to it in relative comfort. By that I mean not having to lie down for an hour!!! The 2nd of January nearly killed me after a week off.

FitzyNC

yeah

i'd agree about not beating yourself up too much, during the summer i was riding to work 3 days a week from west kirby to warrington just over 70 mile round trip - it was great but found the weekends was just spent relaxing or doing low level stuff, wasn't really ideal when i wanted to time trial or go on club rides.

but ultimately its whats best for you.

steve77uk

wow, I am sooo glad I found this forum, looks pretty good and friendly!

I feel the same, I have bought myself a bike, however I wonder if I made the wrong choice, maybe I will have a look at some other posts, it is a Giant Terrago 08 MTB with slicks and knobbly bits! (new to this can you tell?) It is a nice bike, front suspension which I see as a luxury to help over the drain covers and pot holes etc.

I have never managed to get a 5 day week on the bike, have done three and it has nearly killed me, however going back to work on the 2nd Jan was not that much of a problem and actually enjoyed it. It is the return trip I don't like, find it boring and there is a long steep hill at the end..

I went into work in the car on monday, done it on the bike today (tuesday) and praying I will keep it up for the rest of the week making 4.

I am just struggling mentally to do it. The ride to work is fine, it is the route back I don't like and there is no other way back!

I wonder if I should have really got a road bike, I get over taken by lots of cyclists, they are either on racers or what appears to be road bikes - maybe I am just slow anyway!

Fuzz Monkey Five

I cycle 4 days a week (commute = 7 miles each way) with a rest day in teh car 9useful for taking colthes / towels to and from work). And I'm also out off road MTB'ing pretty much every Saturday and Sunday, so I do 5/6 days a week.

hevipedal

I have a solution at my work. I work a 10 hour day and so just 4 days a week. This means a never have to commute 5 days on the trot. Not an option to all but you could ask your boss about compressed hours.

RichMTB

Don't beat yourself up at not doing 5 days a week commuting to work.

I tend to give my friday commute a miss. I'm commuting to get fit for the mountain bike at the weekend so giving myself a rest on Friday seems sensible.

If you feel weary then you aren't going to get much benefit from riding so by all means have a rest day

simon_e

cntl,

Not having a breakfast will make a huge difference to your energy levels. I find I'm always more productive at work after riding in, but I have porridge every day - don't like starting the day without it. I suggest something like porridge, muesli (with a good quota of fruits and nuts) or toast with honey and a banana before you go and something at work - I get the nibbles after about an hour, less in the winter. A mid-afternoon snack like a few handfuls of raisins might help fuel you for the ride home. Chocolate milk drink has been demonstrated to be a good post-ride recovery drink

steve77uk,

You may well just need to be fitter, but there are ways of assisting. But don't get down about - either find a way to enjoy the ride home (maybe music for the last part, if it's safe to do so), maybe tell yourself you'll use the last section as a training session or stick to 4 days a week. Either way you should find it easier the more you do.

At least on your ride home you presumably don't have a deadline to get there by, so you can take it at a steadier pace. Smooth tyres with higher pressures will make the bike roll more easily, but it's not a huge difference.

It gets easier when the weather's nicer.