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Long Run: To iPod or not to Ipod?

About to start 12 week beginner HIM plan for my first HIM.  Typically run with my iPod for the obvious reasons.  Simple question:  use it to pass the time, etc. or ditch it and get used to being without it and resorting to interesting conversations with myself?

Comments

  • Jam, baby, jam!
  • Oh yeah, I totally rock out on all runs. I find I talk to myself anyway image but if I didn't have the music I'd find it a lot less enjoyable and it's supposed to be fun! Race day there's obviously no music, but I find the other stuff I'm concentrating on is engaging enough that I don't need to train like that too.
  • I iPod.  Need the music to push me through the intervals.  I do not have that much interesting stuff to say, plus I already know it, so any conversation with myself would be endless eye-rolling.

  • Surely an iPod fan, but boy do i need to change up the music. Funny how quickly i forget to do it as soon as i get home!

  • Very rarely do I use and Ipod for run I have enough voices in my head

  • Running outside, I NEVER use an ipod. This is why some marathons don't allow it too, unless it's a closed course. Also along the lines of "train like you race", since USAT doesn't allow it.
    Inside, dreadmill, use it EVERY time. No way I could not use it there.
  • I love mine. Lately, I've been doing Macca-inspired workouts once/week. - No ipod. No Garmin. It helps me be more in my body and less of a data geek.
  • I usually run with mine but always make it a point to get some runs in, especially a long one, without it for race prep purposes.

  • Posted By Henry Sacco on 16 Jun 2011 10:58 AM

    Surely an iPod fan, but boy do i need to change up the music. Funny how quickly i forget to do it as soon as i get home!



    This^^

    My music collection sucks anyway, never been much of one to buy, listen to music. I just turn on the radio and search. But for long runs I load up podcasts.

  • It depends on the purpose of the run and where I am running. Back when I did 90-110 minute slow distance runs, the iPod was useful to just zone out. On the other hand, when I need to pay attention to what I am doing, or I am running in high traffic areas, I don't use it. As others have said, you should practice running long without it to prepare for race day. On the other hand, you can sometimes take yourself back to a good training session by singing the song in your head that was playing on your iPod during that session.
  • Love my ipod for training runs- where I run is perfectly safe. But if I'm running trails, I leave it at home. I use music to help me get through intervals (I am always in search of good 90/180 bpm stuff) and I listen to podcasts.
  • I've never run with music. Perhaps I should start, since most of the time I'm playing mental games like "I'm 50% of the way to the halfway turnaround".
  • I use my iPod when I go out to break the monotony of long, easy pace runs, though I don't use it for my regular weekday runs because it distracts me from speedwork then.
  • i use mine 100% of the time and need to start using it in the water...Need a little hells bells starting here in a few weeks.
  • I will not allow myself to listen to music during my race prep phase runs but for the rest of the year I do.
  • running is like going to church or listening to your wise granpa/ma or meditation or observing a rarely seen animal in an endangered rain forest, etc.

    put yourself in these aforementioned scenarios and then imagine yourself listening to and blasting music!!! instead of paying attention.

    gh

     

  • I'm an iPhone runner. Just knocked out my last long run listening to the soothing voices of Coach Rich, William, Dan and Carl. I know more about Kansas 70.3 than I care to. But as Matt said, I also get some runs in where I listen to nothing but my owns voices.
  •  I've downloaded some audiobooks from Audible.com and listened to them on longer, steady runs I'm not doing intervals on.  EN podcasts are useful too!

  • I use it and listen to audiobooks and sometimes music. However, I run with only one earphone in. I was told by a police officer once to do that so that you can still hear your surroundings.
  • I wear my iPod almost all the time running. Much of the time I am listening to podcasts. With music, I have a distinct tendency to entrain to the tempo. As a result, I went out of my way to make a playlist of songs with tempos right in the 93ish region. My collection is large enough that I have a few dozen songs in that range. On days I want a little help making the tempo or threshold paces, I'll listen to that music instead of podcasts...it really does help me keep going at the proper pace.

    I keep hearing about people that think they have to train without it...and maybe I'm just weird, but I usually ride my bike with an earbud going and run with two 99% of the tiem....and the thought of having an earbud just doesn't even come up in my racing. Way too focused. But maybe I'm not representative on this point.
  • No music for me; I have done a podcast once I think. I run to set my mind free....
  • Nike +Plus for me.  She (I chose the female voice) gives me time, distance, & pace.  Then, I don't have to run a pre-measured course & have flexibility to invent & explore new routes.

  • No ipod for me. I like to "be there". When the workouts get tough by pace or lenght, I don't want any distractions. Jan listens to books on tape for her long runs.
  • and the thought of having an earbud just doesn't even come up in my racing. Way too focused. But maybe I'm not representative on this point.

    Well, I can at least let you know you aren't alone. While I don't ride with an iPod, I always do training runs with them. But I have never raced with one and never feel at all the need to "practice" running without the ipod. I just automatically switch to race gear somehow and don't need or want the music. I carried my iPod with me at a half marathon once thinking that maybe I'd like use the music for a little motivation towards the end- but it never made it out of my pocket.
  • WJ, I agree, way too much to think about in a race to "need" the distraction of music.

    However, tomorrow I'm TT'ing down the coast about 115-120 miles, working to catch some people. Will likely be solo for much of it. I plan to stream Pandora the whole way. 95% of my other rides are in the mountains = no reception = I need to listen to a playlist but my music sucks so I don't so I just listen to the voices in my head...
  •  I almost always run with my ipod when I am alone.  I like it.  Certainly never miss it when racing.  I also listen to tunes a lot in my office, car, pretty much all the time that I am not watching tv.  I also like running in the TM and watching TV sometimes even when the weather is nice.  Watching sportscenter and CNN for 40 minutes while running is a good way to stay in shape and reasonably informed.  I also clearly have some sort of ADD and have been know to watch TV while listening to music and serfing the web on the computer while texting so YMMV

    Never music on the bike outside

  • I mix and match music or not depending on my mood and objective of the workout. On long runs I find that being able to hear my foot strike helps me keep my form intact. If on the bike in area any any real traffic, no tunes. But I have an course were I can see 3-4 cars in a 3 HR ride and will do tunes if the mood strikes.
  • I never use music outside but will watch a movie or listen to music or a podcast on the treadmill.  Running and riding outside are when I clear my head.

  • Podcasts and a bit of music - always..both on the bike and run

    Podcasts are great for forgetting the pain :-) and some dance/techno music for speedwork :-)
  • iPod always on the run. Helps me stay in my box. I run against traffic, so I feel I can keep both earbuds in. On the bike, I have one earbud in so I can still hear traffic. I tend to listen to podcasts to pass the time on longer rides. I've been into "Stuff You Missed In History" lately.
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