I’m only 3 weeks in and trying different music or other audio to see which helps best. So far I have tried my own ‘running’ playlist; radio with mix of talk and music; and football commentary. Not tried a purely talking podcast yet.
Do people find their own music choices help best, or someone talking about something that interests them to take their mind off what they’re doing?
On my run this evening I had Liza Tarbuck (mad as a box of frogs) accompanying me via Radio 2. She played Orpheus in the Underworld, aka the can-can song, and for a moment there I felt like I was Mo Farah.
I’d be interested to know what others listen to, if anything.
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JazzH
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Most of what I listen to comes from BBC Sounds because that’s what I can reliably make work with other apps (c25k and Nike Run Club which is what I use now I’ve graduated). I particularly like their pacesetter mixes. My biggest problem is running too fast so I’ve got to be careful with picking my anything too upbeat. I save my two favourites (Danny Howard Friday night dance party and the Radio 1 Drum and Bass Show) for speed runs now! I like the idea of running to talking podcasts but since most of my runs are guided runs, I’d find one talking over the other annoying. At the moment I’m using those for rest day walks.
I have a running playlist on Amazon music which I regularly add and take away songs from. When I do longer runs (6km +) I prefer a talking podcast like Fearne Cotton or Higher Performance because like you say, it distracts me better and you have long enough to listen to the whole episode too.
Hi JazzH , I really think listening's such a personal choice that I wouldn't presume to tell you what works best.
I've run to sacred choral music from the Renaissance, Status Quo, Abba, Glenn Miller, Kate Rusby, Stromae, Pink, Sting, Maxime Le Forestier, RunPod, Roxy Music, Kirsty McColl, classical guitar, Jackson Browne, BBC Radio Sheffield The Naked Podcast, and much, much more. And sometimes nothing at all.
It's not the bpm or whether it's music or spoken word that matters - just go for whatever makes you happy while you run - it's your choice!
I worked out my best pace based on the type of music that got me up and running (literally!) which turned out to be around 165bpm. I then looked up songs online with 165bpm and created my own playlist using Spotify. And occasionally I’ll add some new songs to the list. Works out perfectly!
you can just search online for your bpm and type of music e.g. 165bpm rock, pop etc or use something like jog.fm where you can search by type and sort by bpm or search by bpm and just click on the ones you like. Once I had my list, I then went to Spotify to create my own. I found that the ready-made playlists weren’t always to my liking!
I try and listen to music that I can sing to and that has a beat that compliments my pace. I’m always looking for some thing good but at the moment I’m listening to:
Black Eyed Peas - I Got a Feeling and Pump it, Jessie J - Domino and Bang Bang, Taylor Swift - Shake It Off, BTS - Dynamite, Lady Gaga - Just Dance
This isn’t the normal music I listen to but it really helps get me through the runs 😊
I am starting to use the setup that worked for me while speed walking: Putting together a playlist in Apple music and then speeding it up / slowing it down to the bpm I want to walk/run to using the AudioStep app. I am still fiddling around with the bpm to use for running - 145 bpm seemed a bit too slow. The IntervalTimer app gives me audio cues, so I know how far I've run (in minutes...).
Currently, I am totally in love with DJane Mariana Bo work as she has a very clear beat and enough variety to keep me interested. My other running playlists contains mostly folk dance songs (Balkan, Middle Eastern, and other songs with clear rhythms). Both playlists are way longer than the 30 minutes I run, so I set the play on random to get some variety.
Podcasts I save for my commuting walks - for now...
Lots of great ideas - thank you. I think it’s going to be a case of trial and error, and you don’t necessarily know if a certain song will work until you try running to it.
I hadn’t thought of searching for songs with a certain bpm so that will definitely help narrow it down. One of the first songs that came up on a 160 bpm search was Great Balls of Fire which seems apt as Jerry Lee Lewis died this week. Am I the only person who didn’t realise until this week that he was still alive?!
I’m getting a bit obsessed now and analysing every song that comes on the radio for my running playlist.
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