Geting the Most out of Commuting

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Jonathan Lloyd

New Member
Hi all,

I have just taken up commuting to work as my workplace moved. Its now 12 ish miles away. The route takes me about 1:15 there and the same back. I'm managing to do this three times a week over the last 3 weeks and I'll be increasing this to 4 times a week. From those of you who went through a lifestyle change like this what have been the benefit?

I'm currently about 15st 9 pounds and am seeing a slow loss of weight (Good) and I expect that if I tie this in with a good diet this should continue. What are the Cardio benfits?

I am also in the Territorial Army and I am hoping that this will get me fit (because the T.A has only taught me how to drink....joking......mostly). I struggle with an annual test we have to achieve which is 1.5 miles in under 10:30 (running). I am hoping that by doing this cycling and having some internavl stuff involved and the occasional run (I intent to go for a jog on sundays) that I should be able to see some rapid gains. Is this realistic?

What other positives and negatives have people experienced when taking up commuting?

Also I cycle in the morning I am having breakfast when Iget to work. What Can I have in the morning before my ride for a bit of a boost?

Thanks for any advice )
 

Pauluk

Senior Member
Location
Leicester
Don't know what you like eating but you could try a banana and a low fat yogurt or just a bowl of pure cereal with skimmed milk. If you can eat Allbran with skimmed milk its brill for taking fat and harmful cholesterol out of your body.
I know people who have trained first thing and not eaten until at least half an hour after vigorously exercising. It depends if you suffer from the lack of food on your commute I suppose and how hard you are pushing yourself.
Cardio benefits are obviously good from cycling and running and the more you do the better this will be as long as you don't over do it.
You say you are 15 st 9 but what about your height. Are you over weight?
Don't expect too much weight loss from your exercise alone. You will only take weight off by reducing calorie intake against calories used. While its true to say you can burn calories off with a great deal of exercise you can easily put them back again. Better to eat wiser and avoid refined sugars, fats and excess alcohol etc etc

Anyway, that being said, well done. You certainly sound like you are going in the right direction with enthusiasm :thumbsup:
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
i commute 9 miles each way. takes me about 45 mins . i used to only do 3 each way. weight is slowly dropping after i shed 4 stones in 12 months !!! but what has changed is my shape. i lost the beergut. I always have a bowl of branflakes for breakfast about 30-40 mins before i ride and get to work feeling really great. 1 day a week i will push myself hard to beat my fastest time and that helps i think.
 

Maylian

Veteran
Location
Bristol
Hi all,

I have just taken up commuting to work as my workplace moved. Its now 12 ish miles away. The route takes me about 1:15 there and the same back. I'm managing to do this three times a week over the last 3 weeks and I'll be increasing this to 4 times a week. From those of you who went through a lifestyle change like this what have been the benefit?

I'm currently about 15st 9 pounds and am seeing a slow loss of weight (Good) and I expect that if I tie this in with a good diet this should continue. What are the Cardio benfits?

I am also in the Territorial Army and I am hoping that this will get me fit (because the T.A has only taught me how to drink....joking......mostly). I struggle with an annual test we have to achieve which is 1.5 miles in under 10:30 (running). I am hoping that by doing this cycling and having some internavl stuff involved and the occasional run (I intent to go for a jog on sundays) that I should be able to see some rapid gains. Is this realistic?

What other positives and negatives have people experienced when taking up commuting?

Also I cycle in the morning I am having breakfast when Iget to work. What Can I have in the morning before my ride for a bit of a boost?

Thanks for any advice )

A shorter ride for me at 4 miles or just over in about 11 minutes and unless I start work late I always eat after the ride. Mainly because I don't like cycling with anything in my stomach since I can almost feel it sloshing around. Also I believe there is something like the golden hour where you metabolise food faster after exercise (although may have made that up or might need longer periods of exercise). When I get to work I will either have fruit or some porridge which is quite filling and plenty of water.

As for benefits you should see a marked improvement in your cardio fitness and your stamina, depending on what you go for you'll either see an increase in speed or duration for cycling and eventually both. Taking part in any other cardio exercise should see the same benefits in my experience, just make sure with running that you have correct footwear and increase distance gradually otherwise could cause wear on joints. I also do some weights to stop from reducing muscle mass since 80% of my exercise is cardio.

1 1/2 years ago I could barely run at all and cycling was uncomfortable, now I look enviously upon all cyclists when I'm not riding wishing I was on my bike and I'm training for my first marathon after losing over 7 stone. I know for me that the more out of shape you are the faster you will see the improvements in the beginning, as with anything you will begin to plateau so will eventually need to mix up the training.

The hardest bit is making that first step (very cliche) once you start seeing a little improvement you'll be hooked!
 

Berties

Fast and careful!
again this is how running and riding effects me,running helps my cycling but cycling does not help my running I now only run once a week the rest on a bike and my 8 miles route is getting hard so be a little bit aware not the same for every one ,your solo bft run is after a 1.5 squaded run is that right? well it was when i last did a bft,a good company pti will give you a training plan very easily achievable,time does go up with age,i used to do a mix of fast marching and running building up over time and we used to have sit ups in our programmes,for core strength,you will need to train, a cooper is 1.5 miles and to do it in 10.5 is going at a very steady pace,your weight don't worry the bft training will take you down,back in the day boots were worn then changed to pt rig due to ankle injuries,it was the cft that was the killer 8 mile run with weight and weapon,take advice from your pti,don't be afraid to use his experience thats what he does!,he will bring out your best,always try to eat a while before a training ride or run you will need the fuel,to achieve your goals
 

HovR

Über Member
Location
Plymouth
Similar to Berties, I find that whilst cycling does help running, it doesn't help as much as I thought it would.

I really don't have much of an interest in running, but cycle every day. A little while ago I decided to try a run, and I set myself a 2.5 mile route. I found that whilst my cardio system could cope with the run easily (thanks to cycling), muscles that cycling doesn't exercise were starting to really burn after 1 mile.

I finished the run, and cycling definitely helped that a lot, but in training for your run I believe (from my experience) it's important to try and balance out running and cycling fairly evenly.

Try maybe starting out with 1 run a week, along with your cycling, then slowly increase the number of runs as you feel you are able to.
 
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