Starting with commute runs

Encouraged by this week’s advancements in running with a backpack, I have decided to revise the schedule so it allows for (but does not require) commute runs.

Benefits

The benefits of run commuting over bicycling commuting are several:

• Increased training volume per week
• Benefits a good Level 1-3 / Level 4-5 training ratio (at least 0.8)
• Saves time in the evenings as training has already been done
• Morning commute runs energizes
• Simpler logistics than bicycle commuting (less gear)
• Cheaper
• More fun
• Safer since travelling is done at reduced speeds

There’s also risk of overtraining, but if I ease into it by going one-way as a start I can stay flexible and let my body adapt. More about that below.

Adaptation plan

For commuting, the long term goal is to run both to and from work, which is at a 12 km distance (from where I live today). This adjustment requires great patience while attending to what my body says about it all. I must at all times not overtrain.

I have however found a good way to ease into it. I simply begin the day with a morning run, getting all energized and ready for the day, and when the day is over I take the bus back home. This I do during a transition period. As my body starts to adapt I increase the training load by adding more and more trips to and back from work into the schedule.

As I have already been running twice a week for some time now, it would suffice to begin with adding one extra run so that I will have 4 running commute days a week and one bicycle commute there and back again. This I will do for five weeks before increasing the load further, as Jack Daniels do recommend in his book Daniel’s Running Formula (2022).

References

Daniels, J. (2022). Daniels’ Running Formula. 4th ed.