Good morning!
I was so excited when my alarm went off this morning because that meant that I could run today! :) After a quick check of how I was feeling I deemed that it was a run day. Yippee.
Before I left, I had half of a Glo Bar. This bar doesn’t even exist yet! It is a trial from several weeks ago that I popped in the freezer.
Yum.
After 15-20 minutes of digesting and reading, I was on the road. It was a cool and sunny morning. Perfect for running! I didn’t bring Dwight with me because I wanted my body to tell me how fast it wanted to go and not have any watch feedback. I find the best way to get back into exercise after several days off is to ease in slowly and let your body tell you what it feels up for.
I ended up running my 3 mile route and I felt pretty good, albeit a bit more ‘rusty’ than usual.
I was excited for my first Green Monster since before the Chicago trip. We haven’t had any spinach or kale in the house, but I picked some up last night when I got a huge craving for a GM.
In the mix…
In the GM = 1 cup Almond Milk, 1 tsp Raw Maca Powder, 1 scoop Amazing Grass Wheatgrass, 1/2 ripe banana, 3 cups organic spinach, 1 juicy nectarine, 2 pieces ice.
Mmmm it was silky and delicious! The nectarine was really nice in it too.
And of course loose leaf…
Does Music Make You Workout Harder?
This morning I read an interesting article on the NY Times website about music and exercise. Tara Parker-Pope writes, ‘It’s music’s dual ability to distract attention (a psychological effect) while simultaneously goosing the heart and the muscles (physiological impacts) that makes it so effective during everyday exercise.”
Personally, I have always been a huge fan of pumping the fast beats during exercise and I do believe that it helps me train harder and not give up. However, I will admit that sometimes music just doesn’t seem to be that effective and can even be annoying.
What I thought was most interesting was that research shows there are limits to the impact music has during exercise, most notably during intense exercise. Research suggests that when you exercise at an intense level music doesn’t really have much of an impact. In a recent review of the research in 2009, Karageorghis and Priest claim that music narrows attention and distracts the mind from fatigue during moderate exercise, however during intense exercise “perceptions of fatigue override the impact of music, because attentional processes are dominated by physiological feedback.” Despite music not having as great an impact during intense exercise, many participants still claimed that they enjoyed listening to the music regardless!
I can totally relate to this research because I find that music works great for me during training runs, but during all of my races, I found that the music didn’t have as much of an impact on my performance. At times I even found the music was annoying during a race, but during other times a certain song got me through a difficult mile. It really varies for me! Sometimes during a race I will turn my music off completely and just listen to my breath and focus on my stride, pace, and the course.
What about you, does music make you workout harder? Does it help your training? What about during for intense exercise?
I strap on the iPod for long runs but leave it at the house for anything short and fast. I have two friends that run with their iPods because they have asthma and say that it freaks them out if they hear their own breathing. Not sure if that’s a good idea but it seems to work for them!
I am a die-hard no-music runner. I just don’t like having earbuds in my ears, I don’t like not being able to hear traffic or other sounds around me, and I don’t like the feeling of “escaping” my workout. I love focusing on breath, pace, muscle tension and enjoying the scenery. I find music WAY too distracting. For me, anyway! ;)
Question for you Angela: how many bananas do you go through in a week??? I never seem to have enough, whether I buy 4 or 10, they’re always all gone way before the week is done. Just wondering…
I’ve always loved running with music. Actually, if I have some new music it motivates me to run! However, sometimes I get sick of listening to intense music and would prefer to listen to the birds. During these moments, I just take my earphones off, and enjoy the world. I consider running to be a BIG stress relief. So, sometimes just listening to the silence of a suburban neighborhood is calming while I run. In the case of more intense exercise, I definitely think music pumps me up to go faster!
YES! The right kind of music can pump me up and make me run FASTER and HARDER! On the flip side, slow music makes me slow down.
I ususally run with music, and I find it helps towards the very end, when Im fighting my way up the hill I live on. But for the most part I dont know if it makes much difference. I got used to running without my ipod in the winter because it was dark out and I wanted to hear everything around me, so I can really go either way.
Music has no impact on me when I’m working out with high intensity. I don’t notice it at all. I’m so focussed on what I’m doing that I don’t find music helps.
The faster the music the more I push myself. Also if I love the soundtrack or songs I may go longer than if I’m in silence.
Music is a must for me. I can’t even recall a time when I have worked out without it. The right music can make even the toughest workouts/runs seem a little better.
I love running with music unless I’m running with someone, then I just talk with them instead. If I’m alone, I really think music makes a huge difference though. I tried running a 10K with no music (for comparison) and was missing my music the whole time. I definitely think music helped on my half marathon to get me through!
I would tend towards no music because I have heard elites say they don’t use music because they like to focus on running. Of course, I also can’t handle carrying an iPod and the earbuds never stay in my ear. That has a lot to do with it too!
Okay, so I don’t work out much at all. I’m lucky if I decide to go for a nice, long walk every once in a while. BUT when I do go for a walk, I like to have music with me. Otherwise, I’ll have some song I heard earlier in the day stuck in my head for the entire walk, and that is really annoying! I’m also “old school” in the sense that I don’t own and IPOD or mp3 player – I still listen to an old Walkman. Yeesh – I need to update my technology…
Some music definitely helps my workout!! There are a few songs that I find myself unconsciously pushing harder during, which is always funny. And downloading new songs on iTunes always motivates me to have a good workout as well!
It definitely depends on the workout I’m doing… For running, I definitely enjoy it but I don’t think it HELPS. And during my cooldown, I usually yank out my earbuds, annoyed at all the noise, hee hee :p
xx
I feel like when I am just going on a normal run, music rocks! But when I am doing my final sprints or sprinting ever, it distracts me and can frustrate me because it’s not what I want to hear. Really interesting!:)
I ran my first 10k without music (I made the mistake of thinking it was anti-social….when I got the race everyone had earbuds in and I was on my own!) and my second 10k with music. I have to say I didn’t notice a huge difference. There was a moment in the second race where “Don’t Stop Believin'” came on and it was definitely perfect timing – but I probably would’ve gotten through the moment without it as well!
Music really, really helps me to work out harder and longer! It keeps me entertained and motivates me.
I’m also one of those people who, when my ipod has run out of juice, thinks, “Can I even DO this? Can I legitimately work out to Gold Gym’s horrible playlist of Wham! and Paula Abdul?”
(JK. I love Wham. And Paul Abdul.)
The problem I run into, during cardio on the elliptical at least, is that I have this natural fixation on keeping time with the music. Which I’m noticing can either hamper me (I’m not pushing myself hard enough on slower bpm songs) or help me (pushes me to keep up with the music.)
mmmmmmmm. That looks like a GOOD green monster ;)
Music definitely makes all the difference in my workouts. When I have a playlist on with songs that I really like [fast beats, usually really catchy stuff] Then I go harder to the music and feel more accomplished b/c the music normally puts me in a good mood.
Doing sprints and very high intensity workouts music doesn’t affect me very much, but it definitely keeps me going during those lonnnng runs!
That green monster looks so refreshing! For me, music can make or break my workout. I need something with a good beat to keep me going throughout the workout. I usually wear my headphones at the gym so I can tune everyone out and focus on myself. When I am taking walks outside, I leave the headphones at home so I can hear my natural surroundings instead. :)