The Audio Fuel post got some good feedback, so I'm going to post 20 of my favourite running tunes at the moment (no particular order). There are definitely some guilty pleasures in here :) Music style is varied, but they all have a good beat to run along to. Let me know if you've any good music suggestions for me to download ...
Beautiful People - Chris Brown
Hello - Martin Solveig
Memories - David Guetta
Club Certified - Kylian Mash
World, Hold On - Bob Sinclar
Get Shaky - The Ian Carey Project
Greece 2000 - Three Drivers
Papillon - Editors
Talons - Bloc Party
Hard to Explain - The Strokes
Velvet Snow - Kings of Leon
Where Did All The Love Go? - Kasabian
Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park
Plug In Baby - Muse
The Bitter End - Placebo (top pace)
Leave It Alone - Operator Please (super stuff - download this ...)
1901 - Phoenix
I Can Talk - Two Door Cinema Club
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
Medicine Ball - Eminem (could actually listen to MM, Dre, 50 & co for hours when running)
The idea of running to music is nothing new. Every second person you meet running is wearing headphones. What if there was a real purpose to the music? What if the music you were listening to exactly matched your planned running session? Well a company have started doing exactly this – Audio Fuel.
Firstly, the name is great – Audio Fuel – it’s energetic and does exactly what is says on the tin. I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I first went in to download the music. I was particularly lethargic that evening – looking for an excuse to avoid getting out. Was I procrastinating by downloading music when I should be running? Perhaps, but the end in this case was worth the means.
I started off with the ‘3 Step Intervals’ session with voice coaching by Martin Yelling (Liz’s husband). After a brief introduction it was into a 155 beats per minute (bpm) track with voiceover ‘Feet to the Audio Fuel beat 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4‘. The warm-up track translated into about 4:20/km pace for me. Unfortunately the warm-up was only 5 minutes, but I went with it as the session was a gradual build-up in intensity. The session was essentially 3 cycles of 3 x 3 minutes off 3 minutes (i.e. 9 x 3min) with increasing intensity with each rep. The three intensity step increases were 160 bpm (approx 4:10/km), 170 bpm (approx 3:55/km), and 180 bpm (approx 3:40/km). Pretty tame session – more akin to fartlek running than a session, but it was enjoyable and I returned home feeling positive. I particularly liked the voice over coaching – similar to what you’d expect in an aerobics class, so particularly good for those starting out or making the transition from the gym to the great outdoors. Typical coaching voiceovers were:
‘Pick up your pace; find the run rhythm 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4‘
‘Look forward; keep your head up and your shoulders relaxed’
‘Control your breathing, strong legs, strong heart, strong mind’
‘Run tall, run strong, run free, run fast’
‘Hold your form, hold the pace, stay in control’
My first dabble with Audio Fuel was enough to grab my attention. The ‘3 Step Interval’ workout didn’t feel like a session, but perhaps that’s the beauty of this music. Some researchers suggest that music can help athletes increase endurance by 15%, but don’t believe that hype. It’s simply a way of making running on your own easier. My main criticisms of the ‘3 Step Interval’ session is that intervals are too tame and the recovery times are too long. But it’s ideal for someone starting out or for the seasoned athlete on a relatively easy day.
Next up was the long run sessions – ‘Run Free’ and ‘Run Wild’. Now these are really designed for the marathon runner. Each are 2 hours long, with ‘Run Free’ averaging 160-165 bpm (about 4:10/km for me) and ‘Run Wild’ averaging 165-170 bpm (about 3:55/km). Again these are available with coaching voiceover, which personally I like. Getting feedback on run form and progress within session is useful.
There are several other Audio Fuel workouts. I’ve also tried ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ (with voiceover coaching) and ‘Full Tilt’ (without voiceover coaching) and they are both useful for tempo sessions or high-intensity mid-week runs. I’ve also tried the ‘Sennheiser - Thru The Gears’ – it starts out at walking pace, so designed for the complete novice – a waste of time to anyone comfortable with running 5km or more.
In essence, I’d recommend Audio Fuel to anyone into both running and music. There are some negatives (a) the music is good, but the trance style may not to everyone’s taste; (b) the interval and tempo sessions are on the novice side – both in terms of intensity and recovery times, and (c) there currently aren’t enough session options. Where Audio Fuel need to get to either have a long list of session options or even better to give athletes the ability to dynamically build and customise music sessions. Can you imagine if they could utilise popular tracks in doing so? Software based mixing is possible (e.g. MixMesiter DJ software), so it’s only a matter of time before this is achieved. In the meantime, Audio Fuel is something I’ll use on a weekly basis on solo runs. It’s certainly a useful running tool. Thumbs up!
Prince Willie’s conjures happy memories within (the hill, not the person – time to rename this peak :) Two appearances, two victories – would three out of three be possible? I was keen to recover from defeat in Bray and my current nemesis, Tom Hogan, was back for the battle. I was well beaten in Bray, feeling particularly unfit after a recent injury spell. Two weeks later and I was feeling stronger.
The start was relatively calm. No Colm Hill this year to spice up the pace from the gun. Surprisingly Tom and I opened a gap within a short period. There were a few in the field who easily could have tagged along, but perhaps decided to play safe and race for third. Having been demolished by Tom up the hill in Bray (I almost went into cardiac arrest), my objective was to hang in until the top. This all went to plan, together up through the forest and along the Wicklow Way. I jumped into the single path up to the peak first to control the pace – didn’t want to make it easy on Tom to pull away. Felt very controlled up the hill, saving myself for the descent (mistake #1). To my surprise I actually opened a wee gap and probably had about 10 metres at the peak. Down the initial boggy hill and couldn’t hear anything behind – always a good sign, but then again it was bog so what was I going to hear?
I was quick, but cautious (mistake #2) down the hill. Perhaps a little too cautious as by the time we got to the gully beside the stone wall it was neck and neck. There was mutual respect down the dangerous descent through the gully and forest, with no one making a move – preventing injury a priority for both. At the forest exit it was race on. Initially I took to the front, but then on the fire road it was clear I was lacking speed training – Tom was pulling away. I caught back up briefly at the barrier, with Tom using the safe hand technique and I went for the clear jump to make time. Tom pulled away strongly again on the down section. I made a push up the sharp last hill and caught again, but Tom managed to get the apex of the turn first at the final gate (mistake #3). It was just too difficult to recover on the home straight. Tom deserved victory – he wanted it more – clear by his condition on the finish line. Really enjoyable race – thanks to all the organisers, particularly Eoin (although not sure about route change). Competition healthy – I’ll be back :)
Total Football is a term used to describe a fluid soccer team, where any outfield player can take the position of another in the knowledge that his behind will be covered. The concept doesn’t directly apply to running, but I’m coining ‘total running’ as a phrase for myself to work on every aspect that could be beneficial to performance. The idea to leave no stone unturned to get the most out of myself. In general I’m quite a lazy guy – I like to think that I get the job done, but typically by finding the path of least resistance - no more work than necessary. In relation to running, this has meant training hard but frequently neglecting other areas. There is obviously a clear direct correlation between training volume and intensity to racing performance, so that’s always been my focus to date. The benefits of other aspects like nutrition, flexibility, core strength, mental strength and rest are ambiguous as there are always anecdotal stories to leave the benefits of these additional areas subject to debate. From experience I now know that when one area goes wrong you need all of the others firing to maintain training and performances.
I find myself in a situation where I’ve advice and facilities at my disposal that I may never have again. Being part of the Marathon Mission squad is a huge benefit. The management team are really doing everything within their power to improve Irish distance performances. As an example, we now have facilities at DCU open to the squad, including all kinds of testing (blood, lactate, VO2, body fat, etc), nutrition analysis & advice, physical therapy and core conditioning advice. They’re getting some results now too, with some recent quality performances. I’d highly recommend for anyone with aspirations of top level endurance performances to focus on getting a squad qualification time. Our Rathfarnham coach, Adam Jones, is also using his recent qualifications to recommend a programme to target my current or potential weaknesses. Rene Borg is preparing a training plan based on Lydiard foundation principals. As I've mentioned before Vinny Mulvey is also there for advice & massages. All-in-all I’ve a support network around at the moment to enable peak performance, so it’s time to deliver. Discipline required – something I’m only occasionally good at delivering on – time to change a habit of a lifetime :)
Training is slow progress – patience essential. I’m not even close to where I want to be. I’ll spend the next two months building a base, essentially going back to the work I started in Colombia. Frustrating to start over, but it’s a necessary evil. I hope to run some hill races during this building phase, as I did in 2010, but only if it’s aiding performance improvements for the key targets this year – national track 10km and Dublin marathon. I’ve thrown myself in already in the first IMRA Leinster League race in Bray, finishing second behind Tom Hogan. Disappointing to lose, but it’s good for me from a motivation perspective and it’s good for the league. Hopefully I’ll improve every week and get performances back to where I want them to be. Time will tell ...
