5k playlist

And with great fanfare, I present: My playlist for tomorrow's 5k.


Yes I know... I know... I don't usually run with music. But this is a race. This is different.

If I can't hear how hard I'm breathing... I. Run. Faster.

A cheap trick?

Perhaps.

But it works.

And while I'm not sure I'm ready to beat my PR this early in the season, I do plan to run 'til I puke tomorrow. If only to see where I am pace-wise...

Playlist:

• Dog Days are Over - Florence + The Machine
• Born Too Slow - The Crystal Method
• Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z
• Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
• Gold Guns Girls - Metric
• Ready to Start - Arcade Fire
• Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
• Busy Child - The Crystal Method
• Times Like These - Foo Fighters
• Keep Hope Alive - The Crystal Method

Playlist length: 46 minutes. I hope to only use half of that...

Playlist philosophy: Songs with 160 beats per minute or greater (or songs that make me want to run fast). Allegedly songs in the 170-180 bpm range are ideal for running.

What songs make you want to run fast?

In the long run

Yesterday's half-marathon training long run went off without a hitch. Well, ok. There was one hitch. Hubby and I started about an hour later than we intended to, but we'll just call that "replicating race conditions" (the half will start later than we'd like) and move on.

I've been running my long runs without music for the past couple of months because #1 - in Florida heat I sweat so much I'd short out my iPod, and #2 - my iPod hasn't been holding a charge for more than half an hour anyway. (I don't know about you, but I can't run 10-15 miles in 30 minutes. If I could, I'm pretty sure being faster than Usain Bolt would have gotten me a Nike sponsorship and a wall full of Olympic medals by now...)

Yesterday I decided to give the ol' mp3 player one last chance, and a good, long overnight charge. It must have worked because both my tunes and I lasted through 95 minutes of humid, shade-less, coastal trail running.

This morning my quads and ankles feel like someone whacked them with a tire iron (result of a long run on uneven terrain and soft sand) but it's that "good ache" that tells me I pushed my boundaries yesterday. I just wish I recovered as quickly as I did 10 years ago! (Cue clairvoyant voice: I see more ice baths and foam rollers in your future...)

Hubby finished his run before me (no great shock there) and snapped pics of me at the finish. This is the least unflattering of them (which is saying something about what I look like after a long run). But hey, at least I finished strong, right?

My favorite song from the run: Silversun Pickups "Growing Old is Getting Old" which came on in my last couple of miles. (Confession: I played it 3 times in a row.) Aging + running is definitely a theme from this weekend, but more on that later...

What song motivates you most at the end of a long run?

Have you noticed any changes in your running (or recovery) as you've gotten older?

Music for running

During my lunch break yesterday, I turned on the radio. (The house gets quiet when you work from home, and the cat gets tired of me talking to her.) Apparently my timing was just right. I happened to catch a Talk of the Nation segment about music and running. Score!

While I ate my veggie burrito, Dr. Costas Karageorghis, head researcher at the School of Sport and Education at Brunel University, summarized his research on music and athletic performance. He had some fascinating statistics. But as I listened, I wondered how much of this we runners already knew (without a doctor telling us)? To quote from the transcript:

Background music typically will reduce an exerciser's perception of the effort they are expending by about 10 percent," Karageorghis says. When there is no background music playing at the gym, or if someone is working out without headphones... there's still a benefit to the music in your head. "Nowadays athletes are not allowed to use music" while competing, he says. Instead, he encourages athletes with whom he works to "imagine a particular piece music" while competing. "This has a pacing function, so they synchronize their music to the tempo of the music, ...This has a workout enhancing effect ... Imagining music is often just as effective as listening to it 'proper,' in terms of neurological responses."

Ok, so I've been playing Beautiful Day on the jukebox in my brain during long runs for the past couple of years. I always thought I was crazy, but clearly I was onto something! (And I discovered this trick before the illustrious Doctor, it seems?)

The doc also has some suggestions on beats per minute (bpm) to maximize workout potential. He recommends that bpm be similar to heart rate, with most folks preferring a tempo between 125 and 140. (Am I the only person with a heart rate of 180 running?)

For some excellent pointers on how to find the beats per minute on your favorite songs, or suggestions on where to go for running playlists, Lifehacker has some helpful hints.

Speaking of playlists... Here's my actual playlist (the one on my mp3 player, not the one in my brain).

Do you run with or without music? 


What's on your playlist?


Photo courtesy of Phil / FreeDigitalPhotos.net