Read Your Ears

Everyone who runs in the melted pot of our city has a secret sauce they profusely swear by for increasing their likelihood of finishing first place in their next marathon. After sampling many recipes, I’ve found the best sauce to be the audible sauce - playlists.  I often wonder what Napolean and Genghis Khan preferred to hear while amping themselves up, and contrast this with what Obama or Glen W. might have listened to in the gym this morning.  Many divergent tastes abound, and one person’s Lady Gaga is another’s Phil Collins. While I won't seek to impose my own audio tastes upon you, I have been asked to offer a strategy that you can adapt to your own taste....

GO RHYTHMIC

No brainer.  Whether you are into trance, hip hop, house, soul, rock, funk, or your favorite salsa and mambo hybrid - find the tracks with as much rhythmic backbeat as possible - your stride will briefly change your personality.

MIX IT UP

Especially for longer runs, mix up the tempo and genres as much as you can.  Your sanity will thank you. 

TRADE

Swap with other runners and fans of endorphins - ultrarunners by definition have the most interesting strategies.  Also sign up on MOG Music Network or Spotify to stream and swap playlists for your preferred listening device while you're on the run.

PUT IT ON A BIKE

On warmer days, be sure to take your playlist to the streets by strapping a boombox to your bike handlebars and riding around slow.  Turn up the volume until the speakers blow out the sound.

MOVE AND POINT

Try moving your hands and fingers in beat to the rhythm.  As if performing voodoo.  I don’t do this often, but it works if you find yourself tiring.  Point directly at the runner passing in opposite direction for best effect.

RECOMMENDATIONS?

Recently, my favorite work-out tracks (this changes weekly) are anything by CAN (an experimental and percussion-heavy group that could double as Radiohead covering Pink Floyd), Cymande (an obscure carribean funk band from long ago), and Matias Aguayo (a South American multi-instrumentalist virtuoso I’d first met while moving into a Brooklyn loft with a bag of laundry and an oil painting under each arm).

Here's a link to one of my playlists (more than 20 songs).  Feel free to email and post other stuff you've found.

Jon B.