Beats to run to?

[Sparkyifhungry]

Dont get me wrong I love Laura, but sometimes the inflight entertainment (music) doesn't feel that inspiring. So I'm going to try downloading the app tonight and then I'm going to put some stirring music together. My question is how do you know what rate the beats are on the music? does it really matter? Suggestions on a postcard please, and thank you!

[pot58 Graduate]

I have used spotify to find songs with certain beats.I just put it into the search...

[AllieG Graduate]

Ha haa I know what you mean about Laura's music taste! Some of the tunes worked to my pace but some didn't, and I didn't like them anyway so it was a revelation when I discovered you could use the app with your own playlists. I don't think the beat matters too much, I run in a quite hilly park so my pace naturally goes up and down. Play around, you may be surprised... Classical music isn't really my bag at all, but I've been running with it as it's quite hypnotic and I hate chart stuff but Uptown Funk is my current fave! And Sing by Ed Sheerin... Not stuff usually on my iPod! As long as it's not mournful, navel-gazing or sad it works for me. Couldn't run without music! Happy Spotifying!

[Hidden]

I wouldn't worry too much about tempo at the moment, just pick upbeat things that you like. That's what I do but I stay far away from the ballad-y stuff. Current faves are the Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat, The Prodigy - Breathe and Eminem - Lose Yourself which helpfully seem to kick in at the right time in my list. The rest of my running playlist is pretty eclectic with everything from The Rah Band and Steeleye Span to The Mighty Lemon Drops, David Guetta, and Rita Ora. Bit of everything

If you want to find songs of a particular tempo later on, there's various playlists on jog.fm and I have an app called BPM Finder that will tell you the tempo of a particular song. There's also an app called PaceDJ that will search your music library for songs with a tempo you specify.

[Sparkyifhungry Graduate]

Thank you pot58, AllieG and AliPru. I'm loving the song suggestions, and I'll have a look at the tempo apps, gosh theres an app for everything now isn't there! I'm going to go upbeat country, with a splash of retro pop and possibly some Paul Simon. Ok maybe not!! I'm giving my age away here aren't I!! Xx

[rmnsuk Graduate]

I love running to music, but mostly I forget to take my ipod or the headphones, or the armband. I listen to metric, al stewart, plain white ts, and tom odell. I'm just about to add some tangerine dream, but not sure if that will work yet I haven't tried selecting for bpm.

[katybaines Graduate]

Hiya! There's a website called jog.fm and it lists tracks by their BPM so you can find fast songs I tend to search for my fave artists and then add their faster tracks to my running playlist. Pop is my favourite so that works best for me... One Direction, Taylor Swift, Girls Aloud, Olly Murs. 80s classics work too. Happy running!

[Tomas Graduate in reply to katybaines]

Yep. 80s tunes. For the great smile they put n your lips. The beat is IMHO not very important, as long as they are upbeat. But they need to be songs that makes you smile.

[Sparkyifhungry Graduate]

Thanks everyone, I'm now having a really retro evening. Not sure about mambo no.5, or the Macarena though!! Definitely putting a smile on my face!! X

[poppypug Graduate in reply to Sparkyifhungry]

Ive got both of them on my running play list ! I love 'em ha ha .

Ive even got Ant n' Dec ( or PJ and Duncan should I say ) with " Lets Get Ready to Rhumble " xxx

[gypsydepp Graduate]

T Rex

Blondie

Any Motown

Rod Stewart

...........now that's what I call retro!

[Unfitdad59 Graduate]

I used the app and set the music player to "random". That meant a right old mixture of music but as someone else said, the tempo isn't so important at this stage. It's just the fact you are out there running. I love music so while I was struggling to convince my legs to keep going, at least I had some great music to listen to.

[Juliejam Graduate]

Hi sparky if hungry

I cheated with this, if you go to iTunes and type in running music, it comes back with loads of remixed music with rated beats. I just brought the "running remix" album , it was about four quid and has 45 tracks with rates between 155 - 180. Great - but I am so fed up with" it's all about the pace no hassle" now

Hope this helps

[GoogleMe Graduate]

I'm not a fan of using anything but the podcasts for C25K. I feel the whole programme fulfils a very important function and listening to your own choices is a useful carrot at the end - 101 running songs was my present to myself on graduating. Once you've graduated there are C25K+ podcasts too which teach running to the beat.

After all if when we started it was all about doing what we *liked*, we'd probably never have continued past our first run.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

There is a free programme called BPM Counter, which does what it says on the tin. I have never used it in earnest since I prefer a good old mix of tempos, which I don't think affects my pace at all.