Can you believe I’ve NEVER done a best running songs post?!
Writing since 2007 and I’ve never talked about the tunes that can help you push through a track sufferfest or bang out that final mile in your never ending long run.
I’ve rattled on about my love of running podcasts and audiobooks for long runs, but music is scientifically proven to help you push through a tough workout!
“Music distracts people from pain and fatigue, elevates mood, increases endurance, reduces perceived effort and may even promote metabolic efficiency.
When listening to music, people run farther, bike longer and swim faster than usual—often without realizing it.”
Running Playlist
Let’s be honest, one of the reasons I’ve never talked about this is because I am THE WORST at taking the time to make a playlist. I think you’ve heard me say that my half marathon race day list is 3 songs on repeat.
Since that would kill many of you, I have a pretty cool new app to introduce you to the music app made specifically for running/working out: RockMyRun.
Working on your running cadence?
Awesome, you can pick from a list of songs with different BPMS. An easy run might be 160ish for footfalls, while when you’re really pushing you want to aim for 180 footfalls per minute.
So much more enjoyable than listening to a metronome app, finding songs you can naturally begin matching your footfalls to will help you increase that turn over for faster running.
Tired of your same old songs?
No worries, you can check out a bunch of different options from every possible genre and might just find some old songs you’d forgotten how much they psych you up. See my recommended RockMyRun playlists below!
Too lazy to make a playlist?
Me too. For a recent 6 mile goal pace run, I was able to filter down to a list that was over 60 minutes, over 160BPM!
Run by effort?
You can actually set it up to have the music tempo adjust throughout your run based on your Heart Rate! WHAT?! Yes, if you’re pushing too hard it’s going to go in to something to calm you down and if you’re doing an interval it’s going to see the recovery and help you ramp back up.
And it’s super easy to set up:
- Turn on you Bluetooth or Ant+ heart rate monitor
- Select your favorite downloaded RockMyRun mix from your MyMixes
- Hit play and then select myBeat™ Heart
- Follow the one time setup to pair RockMyRun with your device
