Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Your Perfect Playlist

I've previously written about some of my favorite running songs, and I can still vividly remember what was playing on my iPod when I ran up the stairs (twice!) at Letna Park in Prague ("All These Things That I Have Done" by The Killers).

Gratuitous shot of Letna Park stairs leading to the Metronome.
Gratuitous shot of me, triumphant, under the Metronome.

There's nothing quite like that feeling when the air is moving in and out of your lungs, your feet feel like they're barely touching the ground, and the music makes you want to run faster faster faster wheeeeee!

Why leave that feeling up to serendipity? Dave just turned me on to a site called jog.fm that will help you find songs that match your running pace.


It's wicked easy to use... just hit the site, enter your minutes-per-mile pace – or desired minutes-per-mile pace – and the site serves up a list of songs with audio clips so you can listen right away – and, of course, buy the tracks on iTunes or Amazon.

I think the suggestions are right on! When I put in my goal time of 8:30 per mile, my list included Matchbox 20's "How Far We've Come," which is already a favorite on my running playlist. I also got some new fun suggestions in the 165 beats-per-minute (BPM) arena: Thin Lizzy "The Boys are Back in Town" and Fratelli's "Chelsea Dagger." FUN!

Not a runner? That doesn't mean you can't find your perfect workout playlist at jog.fm. Lifts and jump rope and met-cons are better with music, right?! (Science Daily says that endurance increases by 15% with music!) Just find the right BPM for your activity, then search the site by BPM for recommendations to help you power through your WOD. You can also sort by genre, what's new, and what's most popular – or browse other users' playlists to get ideas.

I'm seriously excited about refreshing my running playlist and hitting the trail on Saturday. How about you?!

Visit Jog.fm now.

5 comments:

  1. That's awesome! I seriously just sent it out to all of my runner friends. I'm gearing up to start training for Marathon number 4 (and will be mixing my crossfitting in on off days) - and I think this is just what I need to kickstart my training.

    Becca

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  2. I love this!

    I did something similar to this years ago where I made a playlist for my workouts. It started out upbeat but lower tempo for the first song, then I had 45 minutes worth of high tempo stuff (mostly Foo Fighters), then I had some really low tempo songs to help me with the cool down. Once I'm going, I like to keep going!

    I followed it up with varied music for weight training.

    Besides making you feel awesome during your workout, wearing headphones prevents people from talking to you, lol. At my old gym, that was a huge benefit. One of my co-workers wears his headphone with no sound so he won't be interrupted.

    Wish this was around back then because I was working with trial and error and one of my playlists forever had a song that wasn't as fast a tempo as I thought and every time I'd have to anticipate it or I'd find myself slowing down.

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  3. 8:30 pace?! WOOHOO! Get some! I'm still struggling at a 9:30 pace! Very cool site though. Thanks!

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  4. What a great idea! I am always looking for new tunes to workout to. BTW, love the leopard print gloves.

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  5. Becca --> Congrats on your upcoming marathon #4. May I recommend Lief Garrett's "I Was Made For Dancing"? It is SUPER silly, but has a great beat for running. Just a loving little tip from me to you ;-)

    Marcy --> That sounds AWESOME! Like a lot of work, but super awesome.

    Wells Family --> That 8:30 pace is my goal. I did a mile in 8:19 last week, but that was ONE mile, so I have some work to do. But big goals can be fun.

    Jean --> I would wear leopard print everything if I could find it!

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