A friend of mine (who I proudly inspired to start running) sent me this article about listening to music while running. Essentially, the experts say that listening to music can be beneficial for your performance. They note the following findings from research.
Four factors make music motivational
These are the characteristics of songs that make them motivational.
1. Rhythm response – Syncs up your heart rate & the beat of the song.
2. Musicality – This is related to the melody & harmony of a song.
3. Cultural impact – A factor impacted by the culture in which you were raised.
4. Association – Related to what kind of memories the song inspires.
Benefits of listening to music
The article goes on to give the benefits of running to the right music.
These include…
1. Use less oxygen
2. Blocks out the voice in your head telling you to quit.
3. Improvement in endurance
Researchers also found that increasing music speed actually increased pedal speed of bikers & decreasing music speed decreased cyclist’s speed. Basically, we naturally match our tempo to the music that is playing.
Finally, the article links to a software plug-in that works with your iTunes library to pick the right song list for you. I don’t know how well it works, but it is an interesting notion.
Running, Juggling & Listening
It should be noted that in most races it is against the rules to listen to music while running. Some races, like the Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota, actually threaten to disqualify runners who wear headphones. This seems a bit draconian to me.
While I don’t really need music to run (I did my first 12 marathons without any headphones), I do like to listen to it. Although, I much prefer listening to audio books and podcasts. Music is great but talk programs are less boring to me.
But based on this research, perhaps music could improve my joggling speed. That might be an experiment worth trying.
Do you listen to music while you run? What kind? Leave a comment below.
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Always while training, never while racing. This American Life, Radio Labs, Sound Opinions, Filmspotting, and Wilco.
When running outside, I can’t listen to music/NPR while…too much stimuli/messes up my rythmic breathing thing/makes me feel less aware of my surroundings. If on a treadmill or cross-trainer, this is a must. Definitely not a fan for races…
I sometimes listen to music while running. I find that it can be a great change of pace and can really give my running a boost when I might otherwise be a little low on motivation. However, I’ve found that my feet end up more irritated after a long run with music compared to a long run without music. This might be because I tend to run faster with music, which leads to more irritation.