Does commuting count as training?

RPM, you are saying once you are peaking, doing several all-out efforts a week, drop the intensity of your commutes, or reduce how many you are doing.

Makes perfect sense and marries up with what I have learnt from running schedules.

Software like Training Peaks that you can use with powermeters etc to track training over time use Training Stress Scores for the workouts you do which basically score intensity multiplied by time at that intensity.

You monitor the number of "points" you spend each week and as intensity goes up duration comes down to keep your training load constant or moving up or down incrementally per the plan you have to peak for events.

To anyone who rides back to SE London there's a loop around Rotherhithe (turn left at the Rotherhithe tunnel roundabout, on the Thames side) that - buses apart - gives you about 4 mins of even-paced riding - 8 mins if you use the roundabout at the surrey quays end. It's a good enough distance to get some proper work done. My spring* training is to do intervals on this every other day (ish)

*today is spring

**edited to add: I have to avoid Kennington Park Road as the desire to commuter race is too strong ... and every other day is a mad exaggeration of what I will actually achieve given my workload!

Salter Rd? Looks quite good. Is it a 20 or a 30 zone?

My current commute is the antithesis of the that, and I'm too tired from actual training (or in need of quality recovery) to treat it as anything other than a safe and gentle journey from A to B.

This ^. Not that I am a trackie, or properly train for anything, but partly due to advice from BMMF (and possibly also RPM, can't remember now) in this forum I now view commuting as a gentle roll from A-B and am trying to avoid the silly commuter racing, I found it very counter-productive.

So now consciously trying to slow myself down and not exert too much on the commute.

Yes, Salter Road, is 30mph. But there's a speed camera along it that I can't seem to make fire ... must ... try ... harder!

Second that is a good stretch, it's a nice surface as well.

Word part of the London marathon course by all accounts...

Loads of good info here-cheers chaps.

Wasn't sure where to post this. I've been training around 80% on fixed gear lately hoping to build strength/power as well as cutting weight for summer. Had heard before that training fixed was beneficial, read various articles on the subject but came accross this where it's claimed training fixed isn't all it's cracked up to be.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6366&status=True

Any thoughts? I do enjoy riding fixed on my commute, apart from the effort on the hills I generally find it easier to keep cadence up on the fixed.

^ Pez are notorious for pushing Powercranks all time as a training aid which are about as gimmicky as it gets so trashing fixed wheel riding (the very opposite of PC) would be a sensible move. As it is pretty much the only article you will find anywhere that makes these claims I'd take it about as seriously as an infomercial.

Yeah powercranks did seem to be mentioned a fair bit...

Training on fixed isn't some kind of panacea.

waits for usual joke about touring tyres

..some kind of panacea.

I hear middle class people eat them afterwards, like some kind of blasphemous omlette. Wrong.

Wtf is a panacea?

She was the Greek god of healing.

It's like Panacotta, but less cheesy.

I started cycling in earnest four years ago. One measure of my early progress was the reduction in the time it took me to commute. Since then I have been off the bike with injury for one extended period. Again, commuting time was a useful guide to show me when I was regaining sufficient fitness to press on to do more. Don't belittle people who commute or who use commuting for fitness. All cyclists need to start somewhere and commuuting is a very good way to get people into cycling. Better that they race against the clock than other commuting cyclists.

.

Oliver, one strike away from a banning.

Has he been schick-stirring again?

I'm thinking of running an accreditation system for this forum where you have to have enough tracktime under your belt before you are allowed to post then you graduate through a series of steps.

Oliver is currently at "taster session" status.

Does turning up and shouting at friends - "you're shit!" count as track time?

Does turning up and shouting at friends - "you're shit!" count as track time?

No, I call that coaching.

Wait, whut?

Track forum?

The fuck?

Didn't realise this was in the track forum. I still maintain that commuting counts as training for long-distance XC racing.

Does turning up and shouting at friends - "you're shit!" count as track time?

No, I call that coaching.

I call it 'projection'.

yep...sorry, I asked a stupid question forgetting that I knew that the answers would bore me into submission :)

Don't mind me. I will just carry on doing as I have done and that will do me fine.

Oliver, one strike away from a banning.

I'm thinking of running an accreditation system for this forum where you have to have enough tracktime under your belt before you are allowed to post then you graduate through a series of steps.

Oliver is currently at "taster session" status.

Rob, I cross-posted Clive's post because in it he talks about how commuting was useful for him to gain fitness. How is this irrelevant to the topic at hand?