Run to the Beat

I must admit, I like nothing better than a long run and blasting out the cobwebs whilst listening to my favourite tunes. My tunes of choice tend to fall into a rather eclectic mix from pop to power ballads to classic rock. I do not discriminate when it comes to my running playlist; while I know others may cringe at some of my 'uncool' choices, like a fingerprint everyone is unique in their music taste.


I will only listen to music during my longer runs of between 1 - 2.5 hours purely as they quite frankly help keep me moving and on my feet. It can get lonely and at times a little boring pounding the pavements on one's own. Recent studies have found that music can have a powerful influence on your training and has been hailed to be sport's legal drug.

It has been shown that music can lower our perception of effort by around 10%. I have found this to certainly be true as I regularly find myself often zoning out only to return after a run and find I have a few race pace efforts slipped into my workout thanks to particular songs. In essence I find myself almost having an interval workout without really noticing it. Hard work without feeling much pain...I'll take it...


Music's effectiveness comes from 'rhythm response', related to the beats per minute (BPM) of a song. For medium - high intensity cardio, a song with 120-140 BPM is effective. You can also link your heart rate to BPM so that the music you listen to is 5 beats per minute above your heart rate.


You can find the BPM of your favourite tunes via iTunes, which has an optional BPM column. Also, Tangerine at www.itunes.com can create playlists for you by analysing the BPM of your tracks.


http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ipod_itunes/tangerine.html


Like any drug, you can become addicted to it and this can result in you becoming desensitized to it - best to use it every third workout to get the full benefits, much the same as how I only use it for a particular type of workout; longer runs.


Personal Favs (No laughing)


Albums:
Def Leppard - Vault
ACDC - Back in Black
Kiss - Greatest Hits
Fall out Boy - Infinity on High
Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV
Hinder - Extreme Behaviour
Foo Fighters - In Your Honour (disk 1)


Songs:
Jeremih - Down on me
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Journey - Wheel in the Sky
Jennifer Lopez - On the Floor
The Clash - Police on my Back
Pink - Raise your Glass
David Guetta - Sexy Bitch
Lady Gaga - Born this Way
Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
Creedence Clearwater - Bad Moon Rising
Taking Dawn - The Chain
Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits
Bon Jovi - Livin on a Prayer
Biffy Clyro - Mountains
Bloc Party - Flux
Arcade Fire - Rebellion
Bad Company - Bad Company
3 Colours Red - Beautiful Day