Does commuting affect your training?

[Geonz]

What they said. In my limited experience, it's the hardest thing for lots of people to get in those "warmup" and "base" miles. Some of it's scheduling but lots of it is psychology - wanting to WORK OUT all the time you're riding and not wantoing to "waste" time.
I strongly suspect that one of the reasons I do surprisingly well in race-like situations is because I've got that built into my riding routine.

[chutch]

Some of it's scheduling but lots of it is psychology - wanting to WORK OUT all the time you're riding and not wantoing to "waste" time.

That is exactly why I asked the question. Because in my mind, I was thinking that it would be a waste of time, or would hinder me, if I was not out on the road bike, hammering away. But, everyone here is right. We need warm-ups, we need rides that are low intensity. I don't know why that's so difficult to put into practice. This discussion has helped motivate me.