My girlfriend is an avid cyclist and when we started dating (10 months ago) she said “I want you to kick my butt into triathlon”. I’m no USAT-level coach but have been at this long enough that I thought…hey great! She’s training for Olympics distance racing now. However, my biggest challenge has been to wean her off of using the iPod for cycling and running. We’ve gone to great lengths to try a rig a iPod+speakers setup attached to her bike. She still uses earbuds for running. Once I stopped her from running in front of a car she didn’t hear. For me, it’s mostly a safety issue, but also I think you learn more quickly about your body (respiration rate, pace, foot-strike cadence, etc.) when you have chance to listen to it.
To reflect for a second…in college I made the shift from music to none and granted… it was a challenge for a week or two but obviously the right choice. Given that races don’t allow it (as it’s a GREAT distraction and safety issue) I think that it’s good to train under those conditions. I’ll admit that music would make those IM training rides go a lot faster…but hey, if you don’t want to ride outside…then that’s what 7 hrs. of Spinervals videos are for !! Seriously…any thoughts on this?
Firstly, riding with music is a serious safety issue and should just never be done (I mean outside riding). Riding with traffic and people around is dangerous enough.
Secondly, I run with music sometimes, but I don’t do it all the time. I think it helps my training because I can run harder and longer when I have music along. But, I don’t want to be dependant on it, so I don’t bring it along all the time. When I do listen, I’m usually on paved walking/biking paths and I keep it low enough that I can hear other people on the path around me, or I’m on the treadmill, so I don’t believe it’s a safety issue then. IMO, there’s no problem with using it for your runs as long as you don’t need it. She should be able to do one or two runs a week, including her long run, without it.
Training outside I almost never use my iPod, though sometimes when i’m going on a longer run it is nice. When I’m training inside I almost never have my iPod off, people like to talk too much at the gym. The last week of training for my race I didn’t use music at all with the idea of replicating race conditions. But I’m a newbie so take whatever I say with a grain/block of salt…
Outside training I-pod next to never. Maybe once in a great while on a run on the trail or track, No traffic.
Inside on trainer or treadmill almost always. You should be able to train outside without in my opinion.
Hmm…Humans lived, worked and exercised for thousands of years without the use of earbuds. Music is part of the human experience and I wouldn’t want to live without it, but I have music in my head when I’m training. I bet once your girlfriend gets used to training without the iPod she’ll get music in her head too!
I listened to music when I started cycling and running, so I understand the attraction. Back in the '70s it was the radio mounted on the handlebars and the ear-muff-like AM/FM headphones for running. I guess the need for them went away after a few years.
I regularly use my iPod when running, inside or outside. Sometimes its music, sometimes its podcasts. I really feel I am able to train longer if my brain is entertained and I can usually train harder (ie tempo runs or intervals) with the right music. Yes, its nice sometimes to hear the birds chirping and the sounds of the city, but that is not what inspires ME to train longer or harder. I frankly do not see what is wrong with it and I have never missed my music/sounds during a race. Race day carries a certain magic energy that changes everything.
I don’t use earphones on outside rides EVER. But I definitely use them on the trainer. Anything to get me through a trainer ride is a good thing.
I never train outside with music. I consider it too dangerous. Also I like to train like I race, I believe training without music is good for my mental training.
Why are you choosing to push the ipod thing? It’s not going to make a huge difference in a race, or none at all. Let it go, push her and motivate her in other areas that really will improve her speed. If listening to music motivates her and keeps her going, then its a good thing.
This however is separate from the safety issue. If she really is doing her road rides with headphones on, it is a pretty big safety issue, and I would certainly make that an issue. Running less of an issue…if trail/path running, music is ok, road running, well again I think it’s not very smart if there are cars around…but at least you are running against traffic and can see it coming.
You don’t really give us the full information on under what conditions she is using the ipod.
Ok I will probably be the one person going against the grain. Let me first state I run occasionally with an IPOD but never bike with it. As to the bike, I would never feel safe listening to music and agree with you on that one. I say if she is just training for olympic distance, no harm no foul for running with music. If music keeps her motivated to train than let her ween herself off of it when she wants to. My wife runs with music alot. Does she need it, no. She never used it while running cross country in college, but she likes to have it know to pass the time. She has a whole different mindset during a race (that mindset being “no one with hairy armpits is allowed to pass.”) I would argue that 7 hours of Spinervals is only slightly different than riding with a IPOD, it is still an outside stimulus (but I think that is the point your making.) I have 2 friends whom I train with that always are listening to music. I can tell when a song comes on that they like because our workout intensity increases to a point that in order to keep up, I am left gasping for air.
Agree completely. When I was training for my first marathon I followed the advice of not training with music, because it wouldn’t be there on race day. I found myself dreading the long runs and walking a lot, but I wanted to HTFU! Well, turns out there is so much stimuli in the air on race day it didn’t matter. Spectators, other participants, and just the simple fact that what you trained for is here! Now I always run with my iPod, unless its dead. Never ride, but always run and enjoy it a lot. So I went from dreading training to thinking of a 2 hour run as a chance to listent to 2 hours of music!! When else do I get to do that?!
I recently discovered Podrunner. Its a podcast done by a DJ who spins continuous music (stuff I would never hear elsewhere) to a specific set bpm. Today I listened to his 149bpm set while on the trainer. Its great, because it holds a great beat and its not the same old stuff I put on my iPod over and over. Highly recommended.
Others have already covered the safety issues, but I do not use earphones outdoors ever because doing so would largely deprive my brain of creating its own experience as I train. Sometimes I have music, sometimes I think about my endless to-do’s, and some magical times my brain just wanders down its own path and I have the most enlightening and creative thoughts. Doesn’t happen all the time, but the times it does makes it well worth the effort.
Perhaps you could persuade the GF that she is missing out on far more than she would give up if she learned to train without the tunes.
**and some magical times my brain just wanders down its own path and I have the most enlightening and creative thoughts. Doesn’t happen all the time, but the times it does makes it well worth the effort. **
Wonderful. This happened to me 2 weeks ago. I was doing an easy 1 hour run, one that wasn’t particularly taxing on the brain, and I started thinking about the Rubic’s Cube and how I used to love the challenge of it when I was a kid.
Than I thought that it would be cool to have a virtual Rubic’s Cube. So I started designing the idea in my head-how it would move in 3d space so you could see all of the sides, how the columns and rowas could be manipulated, how you could “design your own cube” with pictures or custom colors, forward and back buttons, auto-solve and auto-jumble features, and so on.
I was completely jazzed on this concept when I got home that I went right to a notebook (okay, I showered first) and started putting pen to paper. Then, reality smacked me down and I tentatively went to my computer and googled “virtual Rubic’s Cube.” There are only about 10 bazillion hits for it.
Still, I wouldn’t have traded that hour of fantasizing for another hour of having noise and nonsense pumped into my ears. The bike trainer…well, that’s another story.
When I first started, running and biking (paths only) without the Ipod was unthinkable, now I never use it.
The solution is to approach the time in the saddle or on the run as a way for your mind to do its thing without distractions. Plan a vacation, solve a problem at work, re-design the house, plan a speech or presentation, write a paper or business plan, or just plain daydream, the list is endless.
I even believe that brain activity and creativity is enhanced during exercise, so why waste it listening to music?
No. I HAVE to train without music. Being constantly bombarded with music offends my senses and reduces my ability to focus on what I’m doing. IMO there is something lacking in people who need a constant stream of outside stimulation in order to train. I have found it irritating when music is blaring before a race starts or at the finish line. However, I realize that’s just me and many people seem to like having the world distorted to fit their own needs.
!! Seriously…any thoughts on this?