Running buddies – 1
Usually I run alone, but of late I have added in some buddies to keep me company and help me keep the running rhythm. Well I am just trying to be cute, I started to listen to music while running and find is strangely appealing. After a few runs, I am starting to get the feel that some music works better than others. There is a need to find ones natural rhythm and find music that suits it.
My first best was to load up the iPod* with a bunch of tracks that I thought are good for running. Some Pop, some Rock, some Jazz, some Dance and some I have not heard in a long while.
Michael Jackson: This was a surprise. The songs are either too fast or too slow for me. I guess they are designed for MJ to dance or as ballads. I cannot keep up either way. However, I realized there is a lovely funk riff in Scream, which incidentally will go into my running playlist.
Thelonious Monk: A definite No. I guess most jazz is going to be difficult to run to. There is a strict emphasis on rhythm but Monk’s music is very fragmented. It is great to listen to but running to fragmented rhythm is not something I want to do. Needs lot of experimenting to find the right songs, but I guess it is all part of training.
Mahavishnu Orchestra: This is a surprise, I thought it too fast, but I can actually run at half the pace 
. I will experiment a bit to find the right songs…
Weather Report: Same as Mahavishnu Orchestra. Too fast but just nice at half pace. And the music is crazy wonderful.
Placebo: I never thought I would listen to placebo for more than a few minutes. But they seem to compose music at the right pace for me. Many many songs work well for the run.
U2: Ugh. I love the band, but their pacing is so inconsistent song after song, I find it very distracting to run with.
Simon & Garfunkel: Good pacing, especially when I want to take it slow, but the motivation drains. I will have to intersperse placebo with S&G and get some interval runs (though it seems yucky to play them one after another).
Wir Sind Helden: Another shocker. I got their albums from a friend and they found their way into my playlist by chance. But it is another band that plays just for me to run. Good pacing. It also helps that I don’t understand German
There is a lot more music I can think that will be good to run to. Soul, funk are areas I have not experimented yet. REM seems like a running kind of band. Have not tapped into electronic music yet. Not that I have particular interest, I may end up discovering new music through this process too. I am kind of liking the idea of music motivating the running and run motivating new discovery. It can only be good I think.
* Note: iPod is synonymous with “a music player”.
Related posts:
May 14th, 2010 00:22
Hmmm… instead of trying hard to find the right songs to pace your run, why not find a willing soulful natural singer like me? That way, you can easily adjust my singing speed, either fast or slow to your liking. Haha…
May 14th, 2010 09:19
Well, if you can sing and run at the same time, I will be too de-motivated to run at all
May 16th, 2010 04:12
She has a point. I play music to myself. All you have to do is to memorise the entire song, the bass parts everything. Then you can adjust the tempo yourself. (Admittedly this is like using a 20 MB MP3 player)
And secondly, who’s the wonderful guy who introduced you to Weather Report?
May 16th, 2010 16:54
If I had music memory half as good as you do, I might try that. Imagine this, it took me 10 years befor I found out Scream had a funk riff, and I had to listen to the remix (scream louder) to figure that. So I prefer to pay apple tax and carry my music
I have been listening to weather report for may be 4-5years, my beloved brother, jazz-man pointed me to them
May 17th, 2010 11:03
In general, brothers with cool musical tastes are a godsend to their siblings.
May 17th, 2010 16:32
And friends who lend their CD’s freely too
May 23rd, 2010 20:24
Ahh…Weather Report’s “In a silent way” – made famous by Miles but composed by Zawinul. Good luck, running! I like running to Jack D & Bill Frisell’s “The Elephant Sleeps but still Remembers”, “Ode to South Africa”, and most of Metheny’s stuff. Dave Matthews has a special place in my heart for long runs. RUn together next weekend mid summer’s night?
May 24th, 2010 09:40
As long as you are in the mask
I know you are not into placebo, but they hit the spot when I am running. So is this German band Wir Sind Helden.