Run to the Rhythm

Its not often you get an interesting article in the daily papers about running. The Independent, however, had a good article on running to music today; a subject about which my husband, Mark, and I have totally different viewpoints. Well, you are either in the music camp or not. I definitely am. He definitely is not.

Music is one of the most important aspects to my training. After food, that is! I am sure that I run faster with music, especially if it is a long-distance run. According to Costas Karageorghis, a sports psychologist at Brunel University, most runners find the exercise more pleasurable than usual if they run with music. They also run further and for longer. He looks at it as a "legal drug" as it apparently blocks fatigue-related messages to the brain and reduces those negative feelings that I am sure all runners get from time to time! Even Haile Gebrselassie runs to dance music - Scatman? - click for the utube video.I know Paula Radcliffe trains to music as I have seen her playlist. I listen to a variety of music, from naf disco music to Bach, but I have to say that the best music to run with for me is Bach's Goldberg Variations, a recording by Stefano Greco, which is awesome.If you can find music which transports you into another world you can quite often forget the pain of the long run.

Mark is a purist and reckons that it takes the focus away from the running and that you should listen to your body. That is all very well, but sometimes if I listened to my body I would stop and walk!

Run to the beat.