Music to Your Ears? Running with or without Music

I never run with music. Being an introvert I am usually pretty happy when on a long run in my own company. That even includes my recent 50k ultra, which was very much a solitary experience.

Originally when I started running in my childhood I remember my marathoner dad warning me against the drawbacks of running with music, primarily due to the fact that running to a playlist with different beats will basically affect your pace as you naturally want to run in sync with the rhythm. I thought this was a good enough explanation and never really questioned it.

Fast forward 30 years and I have now moved on to running about 3k to running up to 50k. Still that transition has happened over this period without me even thinking about adding music to my workouts. I always find the first kilometres are a bit of a struggle mentally and physically but once past that 5-6k / 30 min mark, I find myself ‘in the flow’ and deeply buried in my own thoughts.

So what goes through my mind? Sometimes, it’s an issue, technical or else, I have been struggling with. Sometimes it’s the kids. Sometimes my husband. Sometimes it’s work. Sometimes it’s my pace (am I too fast or too slow?). But most of the time, it’s ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

That’s right, nothing. And that’s probably why I enjoy running so much. Being a perfectionist working mum (probably worst combo ever), my head is constantly filled with an endless to-do list that follows me to bed at night and occasionally wakes me up because I just remembered something important that I had forgotten and need to immediately pick up my phone add it to my Trello to-do-list. I honestly don’t know why I have to do it but it’s totally compulsive. I just can’t trust myself to remember it the next day.

So to me, running without music is a blessing as it gives me that much needed time alone with myself. I once told my husband that I thought that runners wearing headphones were not serious runners. I’ve changed my view since but this is an ongoing joke with him, who always rightly thought it was complete nonsense from me.

But I now actually have a pretty opposite view and I think that carefully selected music may actually be performance-enhancing, as some studies have reported statistically significant improvements.

So what is ‘carefully selected music’? I am a believer that the right cadence (defined as number of steps taken per minute) is an essential component of a good running technique and improves running economy. That cadence varies with each athlete but the optimal range is between 160 and 180 strikes per minute. I find that sticking to a high cadence (I tend to be comfortable in the 170-180 spm range) keeps me from overstriding and moving from heavy heel strike to mid foot strike, and most importantly hitting the ground less forcefully, which is a great advantage when suffering from Morton’s Neuroma.

This is where music can help. Just imagine a playlist of tunes that all have in common to have a beat that matches your optimal cadence? This will encourage you to keep to that said cadence and not affect your pace in itself (although the cadence doesn’t prevent you from altering your pace as this is something you can use your stride length for). So some time ago I researched and came across a site that had already done that hard work for me. Go and visit jog.fm to find the songs that suit your cadence and ‘voila!’.

So if you’re a music-less runner, you’re all sorted. But if you’re a headphone lover then go and compile your own cadence-appropriate playlist and see where that takes you. Just remember the safety aspect of it, i.e. to keep the volume low enough to remain aware of your surroundings, being cars, bicycles or people. And beware some race organisers will not let you race with headphones for safety reasons.

Happy listening!