Brian Gold
As spring and summer arrive in Wisconsin, many of us ditch the treadmill and head outdoors. The question is, will you be hitting the pavement with your iPod or other musical device? While running with music may not be a particularly controversial topic, there does seem to be a wide range of opinions on it. Even in an informal survey of my running friends, responses varied — everything from “I run with music 100 percent of the time” to “I never, ever run with music,” as well as a couple I would summarize as “It depends.”
The people who run with music have several reasons in common for doing so, including motivation, focus and simply because it keeps them out of their head. For tempo runs or other hard workouts, the music can provide a cadence that helps get you going. Personally, I usually listen to music when I run. I do it for all the reasons listed above, but also because I tend to run and train solo. When running with other people, I don’t use music, as we are generally talking. For me, music provides my brain the necessary distraction that allows it to turn off and let thoughts flow randomly. It’s amazing the problems you can solve when you’re not thinking about them.
The comments about running without music were equally consistent. These runners value the quiet time, hearing the noises around them, running with no distractions, and focusing on the run and the “music of my feet hitting the pavement.” Even though I don’t qualify, I tend to view running without music as the purer version of the sport, maybe because the more elite runners go music-free. In my opinion, running with music makes it easy to focus inward and zone out. Without music, you might tend to be more outward-focused and aware of the world around you. When I race, I usually start and finish without my headphones — I want to hear the crowd and let their cheers carry me to the finish line.
If you run with music, there are a few things to keep in mind. Unlike using a treadmill, when you run outside, the world continues to move forward — so make sure the volume is at a level where you can still hear what is going on around you. It’s important to be even more aware and alert, since your reaction time will be slower due to the musical distraction, even with the music at a low volume. As always, all other rules of the road still apply.
In the end, running with music is a personal choice. If it gets you up and out the door, then that’s great; we all have to do what it takes to hit our goals. While recent changes in racing rules allow musical devices more often now, race facilitators still recommend we race without them. If you are in a race and have a chance to win the whole thing, or even to win your age group, I would strongly recommend not wearing anything, or at least checking to confirm that doing so allowed — otherwise, your iPod may get you disqualified from any award. For the rest of us, I say: If you want, jam on!
Brian Gold wrote about running for Shorelines last week, too.