The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner

Running is hard. For some of us, the whispy, the waifish, the spindly, it can be pleasant. I ran cross country and track in high school and I generally enjoyed it. In the post-college era, I put together a few stretches of months in which I ran regularly. Lately, I've been having fun on my runs, and I have the NY Times to thank. It turns out that if you focus on an object intently, and repeat an internal mantra, it becomes easier to put to use the endless existential angst that comes with running longer distances. With a little practice, one can stay almost entranced, and those thoughts of failed careers and relationships, of frustrated aspirations, and other nagging questions sort of fade into the background. This is almost academic if you run with other people, or can zone out with your iPod, but remember that races tend to ban iPods these days, so best to learn to run for several hours without musical distraction.

More importantly almost, the internal mantra focuses one on regulating strides to create an optimal cadence of 85-95 (oddly enough, this is also just about the optimal bike cadence).

Finally, it still helps to have good music. In fact, there's a science, apparently, to choosing music. I'll give a brief glimpse into my running playlist -

Let's Get it Started
Moby's James Bond theme remix
Yer Country
Stronger
Lose Yourself
Firestarter
Jump Around
Galvanize

One might think it's like having a dance party on the road, which is I suppose accurate, but the bigger idea is to have music that keeps the cadence, but not necessarily the intensity up. After all, remember that intensity makes establishing the all-important fitness base more difficult when improperly applied.

Ironically, despite really liking Belle and Sebastian's song the Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner, I don't listen to it while running.