working a bike commute into a training plan

When I am regularly commuting (unfortunately not much since Dec ) I will still do the rides I would do normally and use the commute as bonus time.  My commute is only 10km each way but includes a fair number of hills and depending on the day, it might include:

1. Just riding
2. 30" Hard/4:30 moderate
3. Attack all hills
4. Chase down any other cyclists
5. Commuting PB

The idea is that for the most part there is some focus to the ride that will see me riding at a higher intensity than I would if I was just commuting.

Ultimately, the 80 miles a week you are getting from commuting are great and will be around what many triathletes do for training. 

Shane

Bike commuting like this is fantastic for putting in base miles.  This is just a great way to put in lots of saddle time and miles.  80 per week for just commuting?  Thats just sweet.

20 miles per day, probably 1:10 or so in saddle time.  Depending on just how serious you are about grabbing a podium spot, you might not need to do anything more than adding a long weekend ride to be competitive on the bike leg.

This ride could play a number of functions in your training plan.  1) Just raw base miles.  2) Go really easy, and its a nice recovery.  3) Want some threshold work?  Gun it on the way home. 

I think you'll find, though, that these miles to add up on the legs.  You'll be surprised at how they may impact the freshness for running on the same day.  Especially until your body adapts to doing this week after week. 

It is far from trivial.  Its 5 hours per week on the bike.  Even in most ironman training plans, thats 1/4 of a week's work at peak volume.   For many Oly plans, you'll peak at about 10-12 hours training per week.  So you're getting maybe half your volume from just doing this. 

The end result is a really good bike foundation.