MarathonTalk.com
I know there are two camps when it comes to running with music- those who happily plug into their ipods and those who like to listen to their bodies and ‘enjoy the silence’. Well, I’m in two minds about this. For me it depends on my mood and the type of run I am planning. Music can sometimes keep me company, it can help me to forget the pain and monotony of a long run- especially if the weather is bad and you just want to get it over with; sometimes music really helps me to run faster, particularly so on a tempo run or when I am getting tired – Haile Gebrselasse’s favourite of Scatman really works for me – see post on running to music http://www.gofasterfood.com/?m=20081007.
Having said that, I can sometimes find music quite annoying; it can actually interfere with my running if it is at the wrong beat for my chosen pace that day, sometimes it makes me run too fast on a recovery run, for instance. I am starting to run more and more without music at the moment – maybe it is just a little phase I’m going through and I need to download some new stuff…we’ll see how it goes!
I do find however that I am having to run on my own a lot at the moment, snatching the moment to run is hard enough, without having to arrange to meet up with anyone else. It can be quite lonely with no one to share (or bore!) marathon stories with, and time does tend to drag sometimes – so I’ve started listening to podcasts rather than music. I’ve discovered MarathonTalk a new (and free to download from itunes!) podcast specifically for marathon runners, quite expertly broadcast by Martin Yelling and Tom Williams. It’s a bit like running with a friend, lots of gentle chat about marathon running, a bit of training talk, interviews, elite runners, nutrition, nerdy stuff and news about recent marathons across the world….basically something for everyone. It’s quite funny too – it made me laugh and smile my way through my last run so that must be good! A quality podcast, well worth downloading and subscribing to in my humble opinion…..
