To Ipod or not to Ipod that is the question? Check the pedestrian above run over by a semi while listening to one...
Ive also noticed myself relying on it alot less during marathon training, keeping it as a safety net in my running belt but never bringing it out...The safety issue was also brought home to me last week when we ran past a cyclist on the ground, hit by a car and with a broken collarbone.. I tend to find it irritating on long runs and anti-social, given the slower pace means we can talk much of the way......Ive pretty much narrowed it down for use during Wednesday nights fast run..I just cant seem to get the pace up without the 'duff-duff-duff' sound in my ear...in fact my heart actually begins to race Pavlov's-dog-style when i hear songs at home which i have used on these runs..
What about you? Music or no? Just make sure that if you do have one you listen to something that'll work, like this...
Lately Ive been getting bored with my usual techno, metal or hip-hop running playlists so Im trying something new for tomorrows long run (18kms)..........
1. Afro Blue- John Coltrane 2. Piya Re Piya Re-Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 3. Southern Man- CSNY 4. Machine Gun' Hendrix 5. Dark Star- Grateful Dead 6. The Creator Has a Master Plan- Pharoah Sanders 7. Free Bird- Lynyrd Skynyrd
They are all massively long songs and 1,2,5 and 7 all have a driving meditative quality that help with the dissociation......you can kind of dissapear into a trance-like state for a while....Ive run to Fateh Ali Khan once before and felt pretty amazing........Ive got plenty more than I need so will experiment...
Bored, bored, bored......with 250GB of music on my laptop Im still going through the same agony of feeling like Ive heard it all too many times and dont know what to pick for this weekends 18km run........can you help ?
What are your fave running tracks ?
What music do you listen to to increase your performance or get you through the last few Kms ?
For the last three runs ive been testing wether Metal will improve my times and so long as you start with a slower series of trx (? Staind "Its Been a While, Alice in Chains "Rooster") and end with something that smashes your head in ("We Carry On" Voivod, or "Big Truck" Coal Chamber) I think it's guaranteed........
3 record times in a row, one was a very hilly 6km in 4.9mins.km !!! I think Ive found the secret and will be quitting my job and joining the Olympic coaching team next week......
Now I have ten little beauties on itunes playlists all ready to go......bring on the under 5km/minute time as a regular occurence...
I stumbled accross this press release from late 2008 that proves why running and music go perfectly together !
"Brunel University’s School of Sport and Education today reveals that, according to Dr Costas Karageorghis’s latest research, carefully selected music can significantly increase a person’s physical endurance and make the experience of cardiovascular exercise far more positive.
The study, due to be published in the prestigious US periodical Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, is the latest from a 20-year programme of work into the motivational qualities of music in sport and exercise. The findings illustrate the considerable benefits associated with exercising in time to music: something that some elite athletes, such as marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, have been doing for years.
Thirty participants exercised on a treadmill while listening to a selection of motivational rock or pop music, including tracks by Queen, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Madonna. They were asked to keep in strict time with the beat. The findings show that when carefully selected according to scientific principles, music can enhance endurance by 15% and improve the ‘feeling states’ of exercisers, helping them to derive much greater pleasure from the task. One significant new finding is that music can help exercisers to feel more positive even when they are working out at a very high intensity – close to physical exhaustion.
Dr Karageorghis’s latest research findings are particularly noteworthy for public health practitioners, given that treadmill-based exercise such as walking and running is often incorporated into the rehabilitation programmes of those in a primary care settings (e.g. cardiac patients and those suffering from obesity). Music has the power to make a considerable impact in the fight against public inactivity. Moreover, the effects of music on mood and emotions open up the possibility that it can be used to improve compliance to exercise and therefore help people achieve their long-term health and fitness goals.
Dr Karageorghis, who is a reader in sport psychology at Brunel University, explains: “The synchronous application of music resulted in much higher endurance while the motivational qualities of the music impacted significantly on the interpretation of fatigue symptoms right up to the point of voluntary exhaustion”.
Each week I take great pleasure in making a different playlist for my long run and this week is dedicated to one of my favourite genres, Glamrock......lets see....so far....Sweet "Ballroom Blitz", Trex "Jeepster", Mud"Dyna-mite", lots of Alice Cooper, Strutter, Status Quo "Whatever You Want"...........oh my god........I can hardly wait.......now what shall I wear ?
WTF ? This has got to be the perfect Half marathon, the Chicago Rock and Roll half with rock bands every mile playing delicious american classic rock ! This is part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series of marathons and half-marathons managed by Competitor Group and held around the U.S.......let's import it Downunder!
I dont know about you, but I probably spend as much time making up running playlists as i do actually running ! I've pretty much tried it all from Metal playlists (they help on the hills) to Dub and Reggae (seems to match an aerobic heartbeat), Melodic rock (makes you fly) to Salsa (messes with your rhythm)..............I've run Ambient on 21kms, Goa Trance on 8kms, Bebop in the evening and GothRock at night..........I totally draw the line, however, on running to Dylan or Lennon...............Imagine....... how dreadful !
Given all of this experience and my lovely collection of 410 Gigs of music i bet you can't wait to see what my Top Ten Running Playlist is..........here we go.....
1. Dreams- Van Halen 2. You Can Do It (Put Your Ass Into It)- Ice Cube 3. Sandstorm- Darude 4. Machine Messiah- Yes 5. Anesthetise- Porcupine Tree 6. Supernaut- Black Sabbath 7. Holiday- Dizzee Rascal 8. Bittersweet Symphony-The Verve 9. Dogs- Pink Floyd 10. Got to get You Into My Life- Earth Wind and Fire
