UKC

Just getting into this running lark and quite surprised myself by liking it. First few runs were out with the wife so didn't listen to anything. However Tuesday night I went for a run whilst eldest daughter was at swimming practice. Stuck the headphones in and loved it. Was really lifted by the music and helped me go further than the planned 5k and notched up 7.1 in the end. So question is what are people's favourite running tunes?

In reply to the sheep:

I used to run with music, but unless I've got a playlist with a consistent BPM I find my pacing is all over the place, also means it's difficult to hear traffic/cyclists.

Now much happier running without!

Sorry, not very helpful, I know...

In reply to natehd9:

Me too, sorry sheep! I don't want to put a downer on your running, but I have moved firmly away from running with music.

A bit like the previous poster, I found that it could be nice to listen to music, and be distracting, but it certainly did not help me to develop as pacing tended to end up all over the place.

If you get into organised runs and formal races, and I hope you do as it is very rewarding, then you will find that running with earphones is either discouraged or banned for safety reasons. It may well be something that helps you get into running now, gives you the impetus to go for longer distances, but how much it will help you develop is definitely up for debate.

Good luck with it!

In reply to both:

Cheers, they are helpful replies. I did create a playlist for the run with the idea that it would start me off at a reasonable pace, lift it once warmed up especially with some more "aggressive" music as motivation to go for it mid way through and then ease up towards the end.

Its strange I don't listen to anything cycling and will happily go out for a few hours, also very much safety related too. However got a real lift from it running. I also planned the route so I was on footpaths so apart from crossing roads traffic wasn't an issue.

In reply to the sheep:

I hate running with music. Having a music player jingling around the place, the wrong track or the wrong BPM etc.
I suspect as you get more into it you'll also find music a distraction.
Anyway welcome to running.

In reply to the sheep:

When I run with running club friends and in races, it's no music. But when I'm out on my own, it HAS to be music. I get so horrendously bored otherwise. I used to try to get the right kind of rhythm/beat for my pace but now I don't bother. Anything I enjoy listening to goes on the Shuffle.

In reply to the sheep:

For longer runs I listen to audio books or podcasts. I used to run listening to techno, but after 2 hours of being punched in the ear, it gets old. For shorter distances, I don't listen to anything, it gives me time to think.

In reply to the sheep:

I've never run with music (not that I have a gadget to listen with).
Out of interest, those who reply either way, where do you normally run? Myself, I live and run entirely in the hills of Wales, so my environment is part of my run - I certainly want to hear everything around me.
But if I was running about towns and bored out of my skull perhaps I would use music. So do more town runners listen and off roaders not?

In reply to the sheep:

Must just be you and me then Sheep, I never run without music!

I dont tend to do any short runs and unless its in the wee small hours, I rarely run roads/pavements.

I find the change in tempo etc helps me cover the moorland, hills, bogs, tracks, peat hags etc etc far more easily. With Volume at "tooth filling rattle" I can blot everything else out of my brain other than the run.

Probably favourite running tune...She Sells Sanctuary The Cult? Following that the ipod contains what some might call a fine collection of Squeeze...Bon Jovi...INXS...The Cure....Elvis...Jonny Cash....Tears for Fears...White Stripes....Bowie....Kate Bush...etc etc....

Others might call it a load of mainly '80's tosh!

In reply to the sheep:

If I am running by myself I almost always run with music. I know pacing is all over the place with it but I really enjoy the endorphine/music combination and have never seriously got into timing/racing. When I was training for a half marathons I got quite into listening to musicals as the story lines kept me interested!

Track suggestion? When I made a playlist for my wife who has recently just got into running this was first down the ramp: youtube.com/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s& best for night time runs in the rain!

Enjoy!

In reply to the sheep:

I uses to run with music when I started. I'd sing along (Abba was nice; think middle-aged girly trundling across Hyde Park singing "gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight"). The trouble was that eventually the music from my very well-loved playlist got stuck in my head and I was hearing it all day long. It took a year or so of running without it to get it out of my head.

So if you run with music change your playlist often. Or run without, especially if within earshot of birdsong.

In reply to BusyLizzie:

Wow, a completely split response. I quite like the idea of compiling a new play list for each run depending on how I feel. Its a damn site easier now, rather than having to make a mix tape when I were a lad

In reply to the sheep:

Queens of the stone age
Them Crooked Vultures
Kid Congo
Linkin Park
The offspring
Faith No More

In reply to the sheep:

When I started running, i'd have music on, but as others have said, pacing was all over the place so ditched it and it's been fine. Annoyingly though, the music player has been replaced with the theme tune to Rocky on repeat in my head as soon as I put on my running shoes.

In reply to the sheep:

Ive recently started running again and (at the moment anyway) don't listen to music. Its mainly trail running in local woods and on Dartmoor, and I find I really like the peace and quiet or the noise of nature.

When I was cycling a lot I found listening to something was both good and bad, it helped with the (sometimes boring) longer rides, but unless it was some kind of dance music with a consistent beat it messed with my pacing. And then after a couple of hrs I'd get bored of it anyway.

Podcasts were generally good (stuff like the infinite monkey cage/documentaries/radio 4 stuff), might start doing that again on longer runs.

In reply to the sheep:

How about a UKC Strava group for a bit of motivation/demoralisation?

In reply to Ava Adore:


I can understand this if you're on a treadmill, but outside - even about town - there's always something to look at or think about. I don't think I've ever thought 'I'm bored' when jogging.

Mind you, I've never actually tried with music. Maybe it'd be helpful

In reply to the sheep:


I usually don't run with music, and certainly preferred not to when in the hills, but moved to the manchester suburbs and it's pavement stomping too much of the time, so on my own I do sometimes put in the earphones, or do for the 2 mile run to the club run meeting point and back to get me going.

However I might a bit weird for this.... I find I set a pretty good pace running to Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes - youtube.com/watch?v=AJ_X3jbFL1s&

but have no way of explaining how I can run to The Hirsch Effekt and keep a regular (v fast....) pace but I seem to be able to find a beat within proggy stuff that fits my running rather than always follow the main beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRKB5A39SKY&list=RDFRKB5A39SKY
This song resulted in the term "Mile a Bezoar" a few weeks ago on the run back from the club.

Visiting the parents in Yorkshire, running up the hills of the moors is bloody hard work!

In reply to the sheep:

When I first started running (using the c25k app) I needed the music as it seemed to make the running minutes go quicker. Will need to start again.

In reply to the sheep:

I always ran with music as I enjoyed having the time to listen to tunes for a change. I did notice that it would affect my running pace unless I really focused on keeping my cadence.
I ran road mileage in the Peak and had two long hill ascents. For one of these, my music player decided to kick out the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark (don't ask). I've never run up a hill so fast!

In reply to angry pirate:




At about mile 70 on my first LDWA100, Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen powered me up a 500ft slope after 30 hours without sleep quite nicely!

In reply to Wainers44:

You should have had "don't stop me now" you'd have broken the sound barrier!