So I’m just about to start SSBMV2 and a new role (4 days & shifts)
I was considering commuting by bike (12 flat ish miles each way @ z2) and swapping to the low volume option.
Or I can simply commute by car and keep the medium volume going but that seems wrong from a personal value perspective but do I tighten the nut on that and focus on fitness gains as I can commute after May?
My A event is 9th May and I want to try to avoid digging myself a hole in terms of over doing the stress on my body while at the same time getting as fit as possible over the winter.
I’m conscious that the build phase is brutal and the over arching aim is to remain illness and injury free
To add more detail, I’m 53 in my second winter of structured training
I would do the LV plan + commuting by bike. I don’t have anything beyond anecdotal evidence, but that’s what I did last year and it brought me a lot of joy and fulfillment. I don’t have race results or anything to compare, and I do virtual power so I can’t speak to what ftp gains I had or anything.
I’m not an expert but I can tell you what works for me. I’m not a big fan of doing other sport activities when I follow a structured plan. I incorporate some unstructured rides into my schedule but the rides are planned in terms of duration and intensity (to predict how much stress the rides can put into my body) and are part of the plan. I mean, if I had 3 sets of 16-20minutes of under/overs the day before I don’t want to do an epic ride the day after. Rather do that I take my gravel bike and I do a 30-40km just zone 1-2 ride for fun. For me, commuting every day plus training would be too much. There is no time to recover. In your scenario, I would prefer to switch to low volume and maybe I would wonder adding to the plan a little bit of Z2 rides: e.g. make some rides longer (just about 15 minutes) or add an extra day of endurance training, or do both to make a little bit of extra volume. But it all depends on you, how your body reacts, how many TSS you can sustain etc. For me, a day off the bike should be completely off the bike, on training I want to be focused on exactly that. During the year there is a time with no structured training for me (even a few times a year I have those brakes from training) and I do other activities during that time, with no structure, plan etc. Just for fun. Good luck!