If I'm running on my own, I always have my nano with me...that being said, it's more for background noise than anything else, although sometimes I do find myself doing a little jig as I run. I don't find it makes any difference to my mental toughness..when i train, i am thinking about everything I do and just like the music to be there to keep me company...in the race, there is so much going on around me and I'm a bit of a talker on course (usually only to volunteers) that I'm cool either way. I don't miss it come race day.

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Good athletes train when they want to, great athletes train when they don't......

I train both ways but do much of my running with music and it isn't about being bored but just some entertainment. I can concentrate on my running and have music at the same time. I think that training in a group all the time can have more of that effect than music does. There are times that I really enjoy running without my music but using it doesn't make you soft. I have never been in a race and thought "if I just had my ipod" I would feel better.

Training outdoors with music is weak. Indoors is a different story. Life on a treadmill or stationary bike without either music or college basketball on the TV is impossible. Maybe I'm weak?

But I do have a mental toughness story. Two days ago I got draged into having dinner with extended family before my run. I ate half a platter of fried calamari, some bread, a cup of soup, and a monster plate of fettuccini with giant meatballs. I washed it down with two glasses of wine and 37 minutes later I went on a five mile run at 6:35 pace. I almost died. Maybe I'm just stupid.

I would sat that sounds more like a steel stomach than mental toughness...more like a mental lapse!

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Good athletes train when they want to, great athletes train when they don't......

I think it depends on you, your personality, and your training style. I listened to music for all of my rides and all of my runs in training for IMWA last year. All of them. I trained almost entirely alone, so for me it helped to pass the time on long sessions. For long rides, I was clocking some scary hours on a trainer in my basement, so I built up my mental toughness that way - learning to cope with being bored. Using visualization techniques, focusing on my breathing, my pedalling/stride/turnover, etc. I can do all of that while listening to music.

You want to get mentally tough? You gotta do mentally tough sessions. 6hrs on a trainer is mentally tough. 2.5 hrs on a treadmill is mentally tough. For other folks, other workouts may be tougher.

I found that 6hrs on a trainer made the IM bike leg seem ridiculously easy, made the time on race day pass so incredibly fast. Ditto on the run leg - the time just flew by.

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I always run with music and ran the marathon last weekend with music (yes, I asked the RD and yes, he said it was okay). I don't race tris with music and I don't bike with music. But I like music -- it makes me feel like I have a life soundtrack. I don't need to prove to anyone how mentally tough I am -- I have what I need (for a MOPer doing this for fun). Different strokes for different folks.

I think if music helps you get throught the workout and keeps you motivated and focused, then by all means do it. If you don't need music or it becomes a distraction then don't. Whatever keeps you focused because on race day music will (or at least should be) the last thing on your mind. If you're not focused on race day, no amount of sensory depreivation training (ie treadmill/trainer without music) is going to help. That being said, I think it's just plain dangerous to listen to music while biking outside, so you should have some time uder your belt musicless before the race.

I think the music does help by association. Even though music can only be used safely during indoor training it helps "program" or condition the athlete as well as motivate them. It can almost be like self-hypnosis, with the music being a catalyst for certain levels of exertion, etc.

Now, here's the thing, since you can't listen to the music during the event you sort of have to do a mental "download" so you can remember it in your head vividly enough for it to be recalled in the race.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I do the opposite. I train by listening to Aqua's "Barbie Girl" on repeat.

When I race I don't have to listen to it and thus have a mental advantage.

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Your favorite mafia sucks.

But how can a person effectively execute the "1-2-3-shuffle-turn-hop-chicken dance" move every mile without some music to work to?

That said, I don't train with music.

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Adrian in Vancouver

i listen to music on long runs by myself but i also do long runs without my shuffle. a good combination keeps things freash.

I couldn't imagine running - indoors or out - without my MP3. The only time I don't wear it is when I'm running on the trails because it takes away from the solitude of that experience.

I'm OK on the bike without it - indoors or out. I can routinely go as long as 3 hours (and last week went over 4 hours) on the trainer with no music or movies - just staring at the garage door. I find it waaaay to distracting on the trainer for some reason. On my long trainer rides, i actually find that once I get into the right mental zone, they go by more quickly without the MP3.

The Quesion "Training with music defeats mental toughness" -- I would have to answer as YES.

BUT

That does not mean you should do all your training with No music.

Do you do all your training runs at race pace??? (I hope not)

So - Greyhound has the best solution. Do both.

Run with music, relax and enjoy the runs with music. Put a good mix on your MP3 and do pickups and intervals. Put on an hour worth of relaxing songs and then an hour of pump songs and practice running faster the last hour of your run.

Then - run with no music and work on your mental toughness.

I do as many of my training rides and runs in the rain, or on cold windy days as I can. I only swim in cold water. When I do ride a trainer on nice sunny days when the wimps are out on the road, there is no TV or music to distract me from my suffering. I go to great lengths to make sure I am as miserable as possible to increase my mental toughness.

Unfortunately, all my workouts are only 20 minutes long so I keep getting beat by soft wimps who train happy.

LOL. That is hilarious. :)
Thanks all for the great replies and insight. Answered my question perfectly.

I basiclly listen to the same cds for various training sessions. Now I have noticed that when I forget my Ipod, My mind is playing the music and I am singing along. Does that make sense.

[reply]i'm new to music with training, and now i've found that i come to rely on it during running. it's not a good thing.[/reply]

I started out running with music after about a year of training, and also came to rely on it to relieve the boredom of running over the same few areas all the time. I found that when I suddenly didn't have the music on race day I was lost. Since then I do about half of my training with and without the music, and actually enjoy running without it as much as with it. The I know I can concentrate better on form and efficiency running without the music, but gawd...I can't imagine running thousands of miles on the same streets without some variation.

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Oh, great thanks for reminding me of THAT song.

P.S. I have 10 Barbie dolls, I'm female and I am not gay.

I find the biggest difference between training and racing are the external motivators: cheering spectators, passing and being passed, and the pressure of the race. Using an iPod with a mix of music to some extent re-creates these emotions. A slow song that lowers your emotional level (being passed), a kickass rocking song that pumps your adrenaline (cheering spectators).

I don't think it hurts. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. It turns a long, slow day into an emotional rollercoaster, just like race day.

I rarely train with music, and like it that way. But here is my problem with racing without music. I ALWAYS get some song stuck in my head on race day. It will settle in halfway through the bike, and during the run it will just be there playing over and over in my head. I usually try to get something like "Eye of the Tiger" going, or some ACDC, but my last race, I got Aerosmith's RagDoll stuck in my head, and kept singing the same first line over and over again. It was driving me crazy. I would have paid $100 for an ipod for the rest of the race, just to get that song out of my head.