Multi-Tasking

Despite the fact that Jess says I am incapable of multi-tasking, I think that the hours spent on the bike trainer are a chunk of time that is very conducive to getting a couple of things done at once! 

As a 3rd year medical student, my time is often limited and there seems to be an endless amount of material to study, so I find it very efficient and effective to get a little bit of studying done while cruising on the trainer.  I have never really been able to do much of anything besides focus on running when I'm on the treadmill, but the monotony of long trainer rides down in the aerobars on the other hand, can definitely be broken up by watching videos, listening to lectures, or ocassionally flipping through flash cards or review books.  During periods of the year like right now, when the major goal of many of my workouts is simply "base building", I find that I can really incorporate studying into my trainer routine pretty seamlessly.  I often set up my laptop on a stand right in front of the handlebars so that I can watch or listen to lectures.  I have also done workouts where I will go hard for 10 minutes or so, and then sit up and spin easily for 5-10 minutes while paging through a book or a stack of flashcards. 

Although I firmly believe that one can easily multi-task during "base building" or "recovery" trainer workouts, I would say that I have never felt like I could effectively do it during my hard interval or tempo workouts.  In those situations, I feel that focusing on my workout and listening to my body are critical and I am willing to sacrifice a little bit of sleep or free time to get my other work done afterwards.  In addition, when I start to build up my mileage during race preparation I really enjoy the mental break and stress relief that my workouts provide from my busy schedule.

So overall, I would say try giving multi-tasking a shot for easy rides on the trainer, but keep the harder workouts as a separate time for focusing on your body and the task at hand.