Let me start off by saying that I am a novice runner. I’ve done a handful of races – mostly 5Ks and 8Ks, one 10K and one memorable half marathon. I’m a slow runner, one that is making her way back from a pretty severe injury – I tore my calf muscle almost in half in February and wore a boot for 14 weeks. So I’m laboriously working my way back up with intervals, that red-headed stepchild of running. One thing that helps me, keeps me going and pounding, pushing and struggling is my music.
I’ve always been a big fan of music anyway, so it stands to reason that I’d find it to be useful when exercising. I’ve got a particular playlist of music – it starts off slow, builds and then slows. It repeats twice and then finally it slows even further for walking.
There are some really great places to find running playlists for every level of runner – beginner, intermediate or advanced. I was really inspired to find complete audio or video workouts at both iTrain and PumpOne. These are great for going the extra distance. Also a new program – BeatScanner, found at BestWorkoutMusic. The free program searches your music library for upbeat tunes so you can create your own great exercise sets. I did this and it put together songs that I’d never considered, and yet, it all works together beautifully.
One more freebie – MotionTraxx has free (yes, FREE) 60 minute podcasts of music 140-160 beats per minute updated every two weeks.
Now you have NO excuse not to lace up your shoes and get outside!
(photo via Flickr user hernan.seoane)