Running and ITM

I ran my first 5K charity race yesterday. I created a playlist on my iPod that contained a variety of up-tempo music for the run, including some ITM. I had some doubts as to whether or not trad would keep me pumped up like rock, but I found that jigs are particularly good for running. The tempo coincided with footfalls pretty well.

So, in restrospect, the music that worked best for running for me ended up being AC/DC and jig sets.

Now I know what to concentrate on for playlists as the wife and I prepare for the half marathon coming up in January.

I like walking and jogging to ITM, too. I’m just getting back into it, and I’m thinking of making my own Couch to 5K mp3s with nothing but ITM.

running to slip jigs - now theres a challenge

When I produce porn videos, I usually run hornpipes and strathspeys for the backing track.

I used to run 50 miles a week. My head was always playing tunes while I ran, paced to my stride, and I could push myself by imagining Bothy Band tunes. 🙂

A bad injury (while running) a year and a half ago has ended my running career, so now I play tunes in my head during hikes in the mountains.

Jimmy B, I’d say ditch the mp3 player and run the tunes in your mind’s ear. This will help with that learning-on-the-fly business you asked about on the other thread.

You may have something there.

Dont be Running Slide’s for goodness sake -- lol

jim,,,

if your running a marathon, a good slow air would be perfect for the slow motion finish

Cycling, too! On one particularly grueling climbing ride, I had tunes looping through my head and motivating me for hours. By the time I got home, I could play Road to Lisdoonvarna/Imelda Rowland’s right off the bike… 🙂

I’m no athlete, but I listen to tunes while making pottery. One day I was making a mess of everything I set to the wheel, when another potter shyly - and insightfully - suggested, “have you considered listening to slower music while you work? It might help…” Ah, she was right. That’s the tradeoff for internalizing rhythms, I suppose.

(And, oldstrings, thanks so very much for that image. There’s a double entendre about the Boys of Bluehill in there somewhere, I’m sure.)

You’s guy’s Must be Fit ok - I use Jig’s and lately Hornpipe Timing just to get me up a Hill -- lol..
jim,,,

To take Oldstrings’ comment the other way up (so to speak), I wonder what Jigs and Reels would sound like done in “porno” style? Maybe there are already recordings out there like that!

I think I remember seeing it … with dwarfs dressed up as leprechauns and a bearded lady.

New genre? - “Lepre-porn”

Like Will I used to be rather obsessional about running. I still lumber round 3-4 miles daily at a glacial pace, and race 5k’s and 10k’s regularly. No justification or apologies it’s part of who I am, having run on and off (mostly on) for getting on 40 years, occasionally at quite a high standard.
I think it helps flute playing as you need good lungs and good stamina for 3-4+ hour sessions. Good for the mind as as Will says you have tunes going round in the head all the time.
I have never had an ipod or or walkman on while running - even if it were the best trad music around I think it would annoy the life out of me - but each to their own.
This was quite a recent endeavour:
https://thesession.org/discussions/13790/comments

I don’t really do running, except for buses. But I do quite a lot of walking. I don’t like to use any kind of music reproduction device - I prefer to hear the sounds - or silence - around me. But there is usually some tune or other going round in my head. Sometimes, these can be quite helpful - for example, strathspeys are great for walking uphill. But, without a doubt, the most annoying and unhelpful tunes to have in your head whilst walking are Bulgarian horos in 7/8, 11/8 etc. The problem is that your step keeps shifting from the strong to the weak beats (syncopation in 11/8 is simply too much for my W. European musical cognition to bear). So you have to either slow the tune down to near-death, in order that you have one note per step, add extra notes into the tune, to make it fit into a regular time signature, or walk unevenly, so that you have short steps (=1/4 note) and long steps (=3/8 note).

…but then, that’s what’s usually called “dancing”, isn’t it?

“Lepre-porn” = 1st Slipjig - 2nd Double Jig - 3rd Slide -- lol….

jim,,,

I hate walking about or - worse - running with earphones in. It might have something to do with being hit by a car when I was five. And in those days there were hardly any cars on the roads.

Up to ten years ago I used to run daily, and if I happened to be playing that night i would find myself going through a programme of jig, reels etc. Nowadays I’m afraid it’s slow airs only..

I understand the comments about not using a music device and hearing the sounds around you. I’m definately not the type that needs to have electronic sounds and music constantly running like some. I actually do enjoy the sounds of silence and of nature, so if walking or hiking, no music at all. I just use it for running because it helps with my breathing. For some reason if I can hear my breathing, I think too much about it and it seems to affect me negatively when I don’t breath properly.

In the rest of my life, I only listen to music either while driving alone or at home when I’m dedicating my attention to it. Or live music, of course.

It’s up to the individual. I personally couldn’t be doing with extra sounds when I’m running. But each to their own. I once tried multi-tasking by recording my subject notes on tape then going running listening to them, before an exam, but that didn’t work, it was just annoying. Passed the exam though.

Yes, Jimmy B. I can appreciate that running is a very different thing from walking - more about focusing on a goal than simply enjoying the experience itself, perhaps?

For a three legged race, try running to a waltz :D :D :D

* 😀 😀 😀

Creadur Dave, yes it is a different experience. I suppose it is more goal-focussed. More tiring at the beginning until you’re warmed up, and then right at the end, when you are, ermm…tired.
But more enjoyable in my experience.

Each to his own, Danny. Here’s a man who walked to Portugal because a pushbike was too fast.

“For a three legged race, try running to a waltz”

But, for racing cockroaches, would you use a muiñeira or a jota?

Wow Dave that’s impressive. Did you do the pilgrims route to Santiago then forget to stop?

I once won a gold medal in a whitewater canoe race of 15 miles by 20 sec because of a piper at the end who gave us a rhythm for winning.
A true story. 1967.

I’ve won tons of races. Medals to prove it.