Commuting “Tiredness”

Hi Guys

Ive been commuting for approx 6 months now on the bike. Its a 14mile round trip and is 80% downhill/flat on the way to work so its not massive distance nor is it uber hilly.

Now, I have an issue, come the end of the week I am shattered and I have yet to add back to back full week commutes to work due to this. Now, I cannot stop eating at the moment,but it still doesnt help. I have an office based job so its not like I am on my feet all day and I try get 7h sleep on a night.

Anyone got any tips ideas why? Is it a case of getting more scran down me? Am I recovering correctly? I get home and have my tea thats it, usually pasta, spuds or the like, would some protein recovery shake help?

Ta muchly 🙂

My commute’s about the same distance as you and reasonably flat with a few short, steep climbs.

For ages I was feeling the same way you are then after about 6 months it just clicked and now it’s no bother at all.

My general routine is

Don’t eat before I ride in the morning, wait till the office

2+ litres of water during the day

Carb loaded snack and a strong coffee about an hour before my ride home at night

Martin,
Unless you’re losing weight or painfully thin, you’re probably eating enough. I used to do a commute 15 each way, and some days it was a real effort to get on the bike and ride home. I just wanted to lie down by the side of the road and have a kip!

But then I noticed something. Some idiot would try to kill me by pulling out on me, or squeezing into a wall or bus or something, and all of a sudden I’d be chasing them like a man possessed to try and catch them to give them a piece of what was left of my mind. All tiredness gone with a shot of adrenaline.

It’s like commuting fatigue. The chore of doing it wears you down. I found varying my route and pace helped a lot. Ride in easy, batter home hard. Spin a mile grind a mile. 50 pedal turns standing away from each set of lights. That sort of stuff.

Stick at it ‘cos when the ‘floaty’ days come you’ll be flying and you’ll feel fantastic.

Oh yeah, and I used to have a snooze on the sofa before evening meal.

SB 🙂

Try and vary your route to add a bit of interest. Is there any way you could drive/train it halfway and ride the rest or maybe drive in (with bike), ride home, ride in, drive home (with bike) etc? Maybe cut down a bit until you’re feeling properly fresh again, perhaps do Tues/Wed/Thurs thus leaving you with a day to recover before and after any weekend riding you happen to be doing?

Are you carrying a heavy load, is there any way you can take in as much as possible in the car on Monday then carry a lighter load on the bike the rest of the week?

What bike are you doing it on? It’ll be MUCH easier on a road or CX bike… 😉

I’ve found exactly the same thing.Its 10 mile each way (300m climb) and by friday I just feel deeply weary in my legs.Dont find it especially hard work just no zip.I eat my own body weight (low fat high carbs)daily and drink loads.Its not long enough to get my teeth into but not short enough to not be a quick spin.

I find that it helps not to force myself to cycle when I’m not feeling like it. Usually, ten minutes in the car and the traffic and I’m thinking about my ride the next morning.

I commuted for years once, twice and three times a week (15 miles) but never all five days until one week I tried it. I was on my knees by Friday but eventually I worked back to a full week and was ok. I find I need my sleep and cannot go without 7-8 hours or I suffer. I needed to eat the right food not just quantity.

Commuting is different from leisure cycling at weekends because you are working in between and even if you feel you do not have a physical difficult job it still takes it toll physically and mentally.

My routine is similar to BoardinBob – tea before I leave then a Muller Rice at work with coffee. Lunch was loaded with carbs and then an afternoon snack about an hour before I leave work such as a banana or muesli bar. And oh yeah, the water intake is important during the day and on the commute.

Another sufferer from commute ‘knackeredness’ here too. It winds my wife up something chronic as sometimes during a hard week I’m asleep on the sofa by 8pm.

That said – it has vastly improved over the last few months though it comes back when I shift the distances / increase intensity. I started doing exactly the same as you – 14 miles a day – though I’m in Sussex countryside and it’s very hilly. I do four or five days a week though (sold the car so I had no choice – if I don’t cycle it’s a later train so longer at work and a 90 minute round-trip walking to the station and back).

I would start the week fresh and end absolutely dog tired. And after a while tedium takes its toll and I found it harder and harder to get motivated. I’m coming on 9 months since I began doing it and currently I’ve found a routine that’s meant I’m losing weight still (well, fat anyway – changing shape essentially), getting significantly fitter and not scoffing all and sundry.

I do one week of greater distances as a steadier pace – varying the mileage from 20 to 40/50 round trip. Using the HRM and speedo to maintain a decent audax type pace. Try not to do the exact route to and from work. The next week is shorter distances – 12 to 20 mile round trips but really pushing the timings and pace. Try to break a personal best a week. And gradually I’m eeking out the distances further and further. Using mapmyride.com is an easy way of looking for new routes too without shelling out for mapping software and the like – you can see profiles of routes and plan your hills etc.

I’ve found it helps to take a day out mid-week every other week when it gets really hard.

As far as eating goes I’ve had to change my diet – when I started I’d scoff anything and felt hungry ALL the time. I’ve discovered that shakes seem to work for me – help get more protein down me and also they’re pretty filling so help with the ravenous appetite. You just have to watch that you’re not consuming excess carbs by making them up with milk all the time (they taste better with full fat 😀 ). I try and drink them within 20 minutes of finishing my commute and I’ve noticed that my recovery times have improved. There are some serious athletes in my office and a fair few also swear by creatine though I’ve not tried that yet.

Oh, and lots of water helps too.

I had this too! I used to commute 7-8 miles each way, fairly hilly and was knackered by the end of the week and struggling to complete the week. I thought that there was something abnormal with me as loads of other people seemed to do it without issues. I did three things that really helped and after about 6 months I was adding in an extra loop on the way home and making the club ride on Wednesdays! Unfortunately I did all 3 things together so can’t seperate the effects.

Firstly and I think most importantly I forced myself to ride very slowly when I felt at all tired. This took some getting used to because at first it felt comedy slow but it didn’t add that much time onto my commute. This meant that the next day I felt recharged.

Secondly I ate more. I still don’t understand this (maybe someone on here can offer an explination) because I wasn’t loosing any weight and after I started eating more I didn’t put on any weight but I think that it helped.

Thirdy I cut down on the booze for a while. I don’t mean that I was totally aled before but I just stopped drinking a glass of wine most nights. Once I’d got used to the commute I started again with no ill effects so this might be a red herring!

Another sufferer from commute ‘knackeredness’ here too. It winds my wife up something chronic as sometimes during a hard week I’m asleep on the sofa by 8pm.

Aye I’m usually snoring by 10pm every night. That’s not a bad thing though as before I was sitting up to 2am every morning and I was like a zombie during the day.

Bed at 10pm

Up at 6:30am

Walk the dog for an hour

Leave for work about 8am

Firstly and I think most importantly I forced myself to ride very slowly when I felt at all tired. This took some getting used to because at first it felt comedy slow but it didn’t add that much time onto my commute. This meant that the next day I felt recharged.

That’s a good point. I was hammering bits at high exertion levels then dying on other bits. I’ve switched to a steadier, constant pace and I’m actually covering the distance in less time than before. There’s a big climb right before my office and it was killing me for the last 6 months but this morning I noticed I was able to sprint up it without being out of breath!

take a rest day. If you are riding 5 days a week (+ weekends?) it’s too much for your body.

Wednesday every week, get the train or take the car.

You should be able to ride a 14 mile round trip commute 5 days every week without issues -both me and my missus have done so in the past. Are you trying to go too fast? Mine used to take me about 50 mins to do the 7 miles of flat. I still had enough energy for a 40 miler once a week on top.

She was in her late 20s when she did it – I did it for 7 yrs from 30 yrs old – both smokers and not athletes

Slow down. Get checked over at your gp

Oh yeah, and I used to have a snooze on the sofa before evening meal.

best advice I have ever read on this site…

A 14 mile round trip shouldn’t really be a problem, just learn to spin.

Have been doing 15 miles each way for the last couple of weeks (mellor to manchester, so ending with a big hill on the way home), I’m very glad they have both been 4 day weeks! Tiredness from a days work is definitely significant, even if it is an office job.

He should be able to but he isn’t, his body is telling him something is wrong. Take a rest, see your GP (who will probalby be useles and say well what do you expect)

How long is it taking you?

i do 6 miles each way 5 days a week.
somedays i feel shyte, some days i am flying.
sleep well, eat well, and ride after work once a week too.
it is only general weariness in the legs.
MTFU.

I did this for 4 months, 5 days a week commute + gym and then longer rides at the weekend, and I found myself in an almost constant, insurmountable almost, state of fatigue and tiredness; it’s definately too much for your body.

Get more sleep.

Eat more food.

Do less work.

No way is it too much for your body. For 7 yrs I did a 7 mile each way commute plus at 40 mile ride on my days off. I was nursing in care of the elderly – a physically demanding job – (equivalent to lifting and moving 3 tonnes a day) Unsocial hours as well – 3 days of 7-3, 2 of 3 – 10, up to ten days in a row. I was smoking 20 a day a drinking well over the recomended amount. aged 30 when I started. Mild post viral syndrome as well.

FFS – you are recommended 20+ mins exercise a day -it only took me 45 – 50 mins. Nowt in terms of real hard work

itehr you are run down, are forcing the pace too much, aneamic or something else is wrong

I suffer from tiredness when I commute too, 15 miles & 1200ft of climbing followed a 12hr shift where I average around 4 miles (according to the pedometer) with loads of flights of stairs in temperatures of around 30C and high humidity and then another 15 miles & about 1400ft of climbing on the way home. I can’t understand why I feel so tired, could it be my age? (52) 😉

Get plenty of sleep, take it easy on the rides and look at your diet.

Train, rest, eat and recover!

I’m looking forward to my (soon) 24mile each way commute.

Never quite got to doing it more than once a week last summer, but it didn’t really knock me out like that. it’s only 2 – 2 & a bit hours on the road bike (ok I’m slow up hills), we do that for fun on the MTBs

I’m 29, and for 34 years I commuted on a singlespeed 54/18 in the hilly-est areas of sheffield, I worked 12 hour days for 2 days, then did 2 12 hour night shifts, commuting all the time. Ate loads, rode loads.

Actually… only part of that is true (some of the above reads a little like the 4 Yorkshire Men sketch)

I rode 10-ish miles to work, starting at 7am and finishing at 7pm… work was frightfully dull which didn’t help, but racing home knowing you were flying up the hills helped loads and then that ‘commuter race’ on the way home… trying not to stop at all…. fuelled by jacket spuds, olive oil on the skin with curried beans and tuna every day. lovely.

take it easy and eat loads, also try some rego or such.

jt

I’m 29, and for 34 years I commuted on a singlespeed

That’s quite an achievement 😀

ignore all the tough men on this thread. Google for ‘overtraining’ lots of articles about this topic. You don’t need to be a full time athlete to overtrain, and your symptoms are classic signs of overtraining.

Its your bodies way of telling you it don’t like it. If you ignore the signs, and carry on, you could put yourself in a position where riding to work will be the least of your problems

Sorry if I sounded like I was willy waving – but 70 miles a week commuting is not that much – its only 4 -5 hrs a week of cycling.

If you can’t do it then IMO something else is wrong

T-J, it’s definitely do-able but if you’re knackered then something IS wrong!Don’t just MTFU, overtraining can have real and serious consquences. Look at where the problem is and tackle that. If you’re still run down and knackered all the time then you’re going to need to drop your milage until you recover and then slowly build it back up.

Firstly and I think most importantly I forced myself to ride very slowly when I felt at all tired. This took some getting used to because at first it felt comedy slow but it didn’t add that much time onto my commute. This meant that the next day I felt recharged.

ignore all the tough men on this thread. Google for ‘overtraining’ lots of articles about this topic. You don’t need to be a full time athlete to overtrain, and your symptoms are classic signs of overtraining.

These two are both kind of right. If you treat every ride to work as a training ride, you will get knackered and get what is happening to you. But 7 miles is short enough that it doesn’t have to be a training ride, you can just pootle it, it’ll take 5 minutes longer, and you won’t feel like you’ve done any exercise at all.

When I am riding 5 days a week, I do Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays hard rides, and Tuesday, Thursday relaxed rides. I also tend to ride hard into work, and not too hard on the way back. Currently I do a 16 mile each way / 32 mile round trip across Derbyshire hills. It is really surprising how easy it is to ride my commute slowly in 1:15, compared to riding it in a hurry in 58 minutes, riding fast is way more mentally tiring too, you keep having to remind yourself to go quick.

Best thing about my commute is that 1.5 miles from home I get to the top of the hill, and it’s pretty much flat out downhill from there, really nice way just to spin your legs out and warm down. The hill works nicely as a warm up in the morning too.

Joe

i do a 7 mile each way ride, and i feel more tired midweek than by the end. wednesday’s are worse than thu/fri. having said that, i’ve been doing it for a while and don’t find i suffer from it as much these days.

I did a 17 mile commute for a while but 3 days per week at most (it was a bit hilly and I tended to thrash it). I was also riding at weekends though.

Only 5 miles now, doesn’t seem to bother me.

Not bad for a middleaged desk jockey Al

Sorry if I sounded like I was willy waving – but 70 miles a week commuting is not that much – its only 4 -5 hrs a week of cycling.

If you can’t do it then IMO something else is wrong

It depends on how you ride: If you ride all the time like it’s a time-trial, then you will be knackered. Remember that even professional cyclists can barely walk after a relatively short time-trial, because they put everything into it.

Short and intense training can be just as tiring as long rides.

The worst case was when I felt dizzy on the way home and staggered into the first chippy I found for a chip butty loaded with salt and vinegar. The poor ladies thought I was going to die as I looked rough. I put this event down to me being dehydrated quite a bit…

So yes I also have experienced this, and the fatigue never seemed to be related to anything (except when hungover).

Things I did to try and break this fatigue which worked for me, on a 7 mile each way hilly commute (or now 23 total as the good weather means can include some offroad stuff):

– no big breaky before I leave home (maybe small amount of bran flakes), usually wait until I get to work
– load Ipod with some nice music depending on mood
– take water on board on way to work
– fruit when I get to work
– golden syrup porridge when I’m starting to feel hungry (about 11)
– fruit throughout the day
– try and drink 1.5 – 2 litres of water at work
– find time for some quick leg stretches
– pasta about 2-3 hours before I leave work
– keep something sweet in my pocket for way home (don’t always eat it but it’s there)
– think about route options for way home (possibly include something interesting such as good climb, ST, use wind for fast section, etc.)
– load Ipod for good music on way home
– water on way home

One day a week (or when I feel like it) I take the car like this morning and don’t beat myself up about it. And straight away, as the poster above said, I’m thinking about the next time I pedal commute which is a boost.

The worst days for me are when I feeling knackered about 4 o’clock, not long before leaving work. But, I’ve found this doesn’t happen as much when I stick to the above.

I felt very tired the first winter I commuted, the cold and the dark gets to you mile after mile.

I’m fine now though and wouldn’t say it makes me particularly tired. I’ve ridden the last 4 days into a fairly stiff headwind for the way in and this morning my legs were a bit tired but I really can’t wait for the journey home, last night was a blast. I usually do about 3 times a week but I’m doing 5 this week as I need to get some miles in (doing the Etape Caledonia mid May). And I know I’ll still be up for a ride at the weekend.

Sleeping well and eating the right food makes a massive difference. I usually have toast or cereal for breakfast then a banana as soon as I get to the office. I drink plenty of water during the day and have a home made cereal/fruit/nut bar mid morning and mid afternoon and then sandwiches at lunch time. When I get home I usually have a glass of milk then dinner, but I don’t feel the need to eat all the time. If I eat crap I feel crap.

The best thing I found when I started commuting, and now when riding into a headwind, is to take the journey a section at a time. Don’t think ‘I’ve got x miles to do and I’m struggling’, just take it to the next lamppost, bend, traffic lights or whatever. This means you’re achieving something all the time and will give you the motivation to carry on when it’s tough.

Best advice though is to just enjoy it, I love my commute.

7 miles a training ride? It takes me longer than that to warm up.

Oh and also meant to say that I always carry an ’emergency’ bar of chocolate in case the man with the hammer comes knocking. Although on a 7 mile ride ‘the bonk’ shouldn’t really be an issue, but doesn’t do any harm to carry one.

I’ve been plotting a 17 mile (34 round trip) commute in now it’s gotten lighter.

Don’t think it’ll be too bad, despite some of the comments here – I’m looking forward to it, anyway 🙂

17 miles each way will be fine Aidy, just don’t do it every day at first. Took me about a year to get comfortable with riding to/from work 5 days a week.