Power Songs
December 20, 2006
My last two posts were music reviews, one about Nora Jones Come Away With Me. The other review was about “Art LaBoe’s Killer Oldies.”
These are not songs I would consider workout music, but there has been a lot spoken lately about the “Power Songs” of runners and other athletes, especially in regards to the Ipod and other musical devices.
Even on the Nike website, they list the top ”Power Songs” for eight different athletes.
They’ve listed Paul Rodriguez, Michael Vick, Lance Armstrong, Tom Brady, Vince Carter, Steve Nash, Freddie Adu, and Dontrelle Willis. Their sports vary from skateboarding, to bicycling, football, and soccer. Each one of them have their power songs they listen to while engaged in activity.
Lance Armstrong says, “I listen to music when I run most of the time and having something in my ear with music you like, music that motivates you makes an hour run feel like thirty minutes.”
I would consider something more like disco music or aerobic dance music with a fast beat more as music to run by. Anyway, all this talk about music made me get out my old walkman and start listening to music while I’m training. I found out that I don’t really like to listen to music while I run. I prefer to listen to the dogs barking, birds chirping, wind in the trees, children laughing, and cars passing by.
I’m wondering how everyone else feels about this. Am I the only one who prefers to run without music? What are the power songs of people who are not celebrities and people who are not trying to promote a product?
Would love to hear how others feel about running with music???
Entry Filed under: Blogroll, Lance Armstrong, Music, Power Songs, Running, Runninng Tips and Info, Songs, Training. .
1.
redforkhippie | December 26, 2006 at 1:49 am
If I’m running outdoors, I usually run sans iPod. If I’m running indoors, Neil Diamond’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull soundtrack has a way of getting me through the tough spots in a long run.
When I trained for my first marathon, I did a lot of my training runs at the gym. Alone. On an 11-lap-to-the-mile track. Mind-numbing. I found Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” a near-perfect companion for pacing purposes, as it is exactly nine and a half minutes long and is broken into three segments, each with its own distinct tempo. And the first part has such a bouncy, happy, sockhoppy sound that you feel like you’re running more than dancing.
At the time, I could maintain a 9:30 pace for 10 miles. (After 10 miles, my pace dropped off precipitously — as did my enthusiasm for the song — but it was a useful tool for keeping track of distance and time, and a lot more fun than a stopwatch.)
“Bat Out of Hell” is good if you’d rather run an 11:30 mile, which is closer to my current pace.
2.
redforkhippie | December 26, 2006 at 1:50 am
Whoops. Meant to say “you feel like you’re dancing more than running.” I swear I haven’t been hitting the eggnog. Honest I haven’t. *LOL*
3.
bettehall | December 29, 2006 at 3:07 am
Hi Emily, thank you for your input. I checked with the library for both the Neil Diamond cd and the Jonathan Livingston Seagull book and they have both.
Unfortunately, they are both already checked out. So I’ve got my request in. I remember reading the book about twenty years ago, but didn’t really pay close attention to what I was reading. I’ve been wanting to re-read it for a long time anyway.
I listened to some short clips of the Neil Diamond cd at Amazon and I think I’m going to like it.
I hope the library calls me soon.