A 61 year old, slightly overweight man pelting down the street with punk rock blasting in his ears!!

[iain-strachan]

That's my attempt at a clickbait headline!

Really it's about doing the NHS C25K+ STAMINA podcast - a repeat run from Tuesday.

I don't find this one too taxing - my natural running pace seems to be about 164 bpm (so Strava is telling me), so for the first 30 minutes of this run it is slower than that, and I find it pretty easy going, which I guess that's what it's trying to teach you - to sustain a pace. I don't find I'm gasping for breath.

I read recently a post from seven years back asking what people thought about while doing the run. Here's what went through my mind:

(1) There's a burst water main (or something) right at the start of the running bit. It was there Tuesday - haven't they fixed it yet?

(2) Do I dare sing out the words of the song on the first section (158 bpm) of the podcast? "You've got the feelin'". Well I mouthed them!

(3) How do drummers keep time so accurately? Does the Audiofuel music use a human or a drum machine?

(4) How far was I through the podcast on Tuesday when I got to the Spread Eagle? (No I didn't pop in for a swift one!)

(5) Man waiting for a bus blocking my way. Then saw me coming and stepped right in front of me so had to swerve round!

So all pretty random! Most of the time it was just me being propelled by the beat, which felt good.

Then for the finale. Got to the end of the podcast, walked to cool off and then dialled up "Rock Show" by Blink-182 on Spotify to see how long I could keep to its insane pace of 192 bpm. I have to say I only know this song because my daughter was into it when in her teens. Is it a suitable song for a 15 year old girl, given there is a very prominent Extremely Naughty Word half way through?!

I was interested to see if I could keep up with it. Well I did for about a minute, during which I managed a pace of 5 something per km. Guess I'll have to maintain that kind of pace for 5k if I'm going to get sub 30 mins on the Parkrun. Definitely not there yet! As you can see from the trace (pink graph) I slackened off a bit after that (round 180) - not that I was out of breath, but a cyclist turned into my road and seemed to be behaving in a peculiar manner, and I lost the focus a bit. Fun while it lasted though! I also kept an eye on the heart rate on my watch to make sure I wasn't overdoing it. It went up to 174, which is not as high as it has been on other runs.

I normally listen to classical music - but it's hard to find pieces at a constant tempo for running with classical. Also most of the rock songs I like are way too slow - around 120 bpm which is more or less a brisk walk. So I guess to really get going using the music beat as a pacer it's going to have to be punk rock!

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10]

I love the random thoughts. It's amazing where the mind goes. Mine often involves some mental math at some point in the run, yup I'm that geek 🤓😄. I find my cadence is lower than it should be - something to work on this fall,perhaps.

[iain-strachan Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

Well I'm a fellow geek! During C25K to get myself through the runs in the early stages, I'd recite the digits of pi in my head (I know about 50).

But now I've learnt to love the sensation of running, so less need for distraction - just the music to propel me on!

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to iain-strachan]

I mentally write shorthand to the lyrics I’m listening to. I envisage the word shapes

I construct my shopping list in my head. I often shop post run. I take a backpack and pick up my supplies, then run home if not fully laden

I write daft poems about the run

The hours fly by 😃

I love the Stepping Stones podcasts. Running different tempo’s and mixing things up is good practice. You can actually run slowly to fast tunes. I often do.

Slow running builds legs. Don’t always be in a hurry 👍🙂

[backintime Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

I did loads of maths in my head during C25K

How many minutes I have run in total

How many minutes I have walked in total

How fast do I have to run to get 5K in 43 minutes, then 40 minutes

Loads of really random stuff - I love mental arithmetic

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to SaskAlliecat]

I can’t do mental maths at the best of times, but on the run I find it impossible. Drives me mad 😁

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

If you want a constant steady rhythm to how many steps or bpm you run to, you could try what I use when running, a metromone app, I use "Metronome Beats, "you can use that for running, it goes from 1 to 300 bpm, just a tick, tick, so for running I can set it between 160 to 176 BMP or more if you wish.

I used it at 165 bpm minute on my recent 10K run when I ran the run in 70 minutes, for sprinting you could set it at 190bpm if you want to, say for 30 seconds.

[iain-strachan Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Yes I've got metronome beats and have tried it out. But somehow music with a steady beat seems more motivating. Because your footfalls coincide with the drum beats, it almost feels as if you're contributing to it.

Maybe that's my weirdness! I also find if I'm listening to Mozart that it's all so superbly logical, as if it couldn't be anything else, that it's as if my brain is creating it.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to iain-strachan]

You are not weird, perhaps listening to Symphony No. 41, Mozart's Jubiter symphony, would be good to run to, but I would prefer to listen to that in a concert hall rather than running with it playing in my ear. 😊 🏃

[iain-strachan Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

I'm thinking last movement of No 39 would be good as well, but it's quite short. Perhaps a playlist of Mozart allegro movements. No 41 is a fabulous piece of music.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to iain-strachan]

I have all of Mozart's last three symphonies on CD, also Number's 29, 35 and 36, his Piano Concerto No. 23 and his last work, Requiem, not music to run to.

[iain-strachan Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

The C minor mass is also wonderful - but not running music.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to iain-strachan]

Yes, better listening to it in a concert hall or on 🎧 headphones at home.