I’m still a snowball”¦that’s my running identity.
I first described my running identity back in August 2007.
I mentioned back then what I felt were the three types of runners:
“¢ First there is the “rabbit” who will try to lead the pack from start to finish and starts off as fast as he/she can”¦but eventually will slow down.
“¢ The “turtle” starts off and ends slow but is consistent and steady throughout the entire race.
“¢ Then there’s the “snowball.” That’s me. I start off kind of slow and pick up momentum, as does a snowball rolling downhill. I have run in races in which my last mile was as much as two minutes faster than my first mile. I can’t explain it”¦it just happens.
Well anyway, I am still a snowball today but not just a plain old ordinary snowball runner”¦I have one more thing going for me and that is music.
For the very first time in a long time I have been running with music, using a tiny iPod shuffle that I carry in a small pocket in my running shorts.
Why?
Well I’ve done some research on what music can do for you and I have found out that music can be a runner’s best friend.
I’ve heard such things as that music aids in getting your heart to bring nourishment to your body during training sessions; that it relaxes you in a manner that helps prevent your muscles from getting too tight during long runs, and most of all it helps you get into a cadence with your body and makes it easy for all your “stuff” to work together to make your run, your workout, or whatever, more enjoyable and less stressful.
It was music that certainly played a huge part in getting me through the 2010 Walt Disney World Half-Marathon monsoon.
Actually the music had me focused so much that unfortunately I did not even catch some friends rooting for me along the pathway, notably my friends Melanie and Julie…sorry guys.
Anyway, since the 2010 WDW Half-Marathon was my first race (note that I’ve been running for 40+ years) in which I listened to music, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
During my training for the race I played with my music and tried to figure out what songs worked for me and in what order.
My shuffle can hold a gazillion songs so I could put as many songs on there as possible because I knew that I would eventually finish the race before I ran out of songs.
That meant I had to pick the “right” songs for the race and in a blog a few weeks before the WDW Marathon Weekend I talked about song selection.
Well, now that I’m gearing up for the Princess Half-Marathon in March my musical needs are changing.
I have found that during the January race that some songs worked better for me than others and it was because of my runner’s identity as a snowball.
Here’s what happened, the first few miles of the race saw Mike the snowball trying to get into a rhythm and eventually get into a cruising pace.
The middle five miles of the race are crucial and that is where snowball runners begin to pick up the pace”¦HOWEVER in my case I don’t think I picked it up as much as I would have liked and I think that part of the problem, besides other things, was my musical arrangements.
For snowball runners music should gradually increase in tempo and mine was all over the place and in some cases there was a song here and there that would change tempo and sort of throw me off.
So since January I’ve put a lot of thought into my musical medley and have decided that I can make best use of music that reflects my running identity.
My musical medley for a half-marathon distance starts off with music that will eventually get me into a rhythm”¦for example one of my early songs is the music your hear as you enter EPCOT.
As I get warmed up and ready to move into a faster pace I will listen to music like that which you hear prior to Illuminations.
Finally when I need a little push I hear songs that have a stronger and faster tempo, much like Phil Collins’ “Strangers Like Me” from Disney’s “Tarzan.”
This has taken time for me to properly arrange the musical selections to fit my running identity for a particular race I am training for and it’s important to note that the arrangements are based on BOTH those components.
So if you are one of those runners who looks towards music to assist you in your workouts or races you may want to consider what your running identity is and then use that information to figure out how to make the music work for you.
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