When I talk to my non running friends about running a common theme bubbles to the surface; ‘don’t you get bored?’, ‘how do you keep going?’
I certainly didn’t wake up one morning and say to myself, ‘I’m going to run for 3 hours this morning’, it’s been a slow and gradual process over about five years. I’ve experimented and learnt a few lessons and tricks along the way.
Music:
Music is always a great option for keeping you entertained on a run. Try to tailor it to the goals of your workout with upbeat songs for tempo days, angry songs for speed work and laid back acoustic for the long slow stuff. If you are a Spotify user, they can even pick the songs for you when you select your required tempo. Be aware though that the tempo of your music can affect your cadence, so if that is important to you choose music wisely.
I’m super cheesy when it comes to music. When I’m pissed off and going for a run to clear my head so as not to punch someone (physically or verbally punch) I love plugging in the emo rage of my youth and smashing it out. Not all running is about the perfect workout, sometimes you need to just get out there and work some shit out.
I also love the old inspirational tracks to keep me going when things get tough. This playlist is particularly helpful in the last stages of a race when every muscle in your body is screaming at you to stop. Thinking ‘What would Beyonce do?’ doesn’t always help, but a ‘you can do it’ song might.
Podcasts:
I can’t believe I ever survived without podcasts. I love them. I chew through multiple per week, sometimes per day.
My top 4 Favourite podcasts:
1. The Rich Roll Podcast . –Great conversations, long form so you don’t have to switch mid run, with inspirational guests who talk all things from nutrition to sporting achievements, spirituality and the arts. Pretty much every guest is epic! My faves- Samantha Gash, Drs. Dean & Ayesha Sherzai, David Goggins, Josh LaJaunie, Robin Arzon, Dr Robynne Chutkan, Charlie Engle and Ray Cronise.
2. The Physical Performance Show. Australia based, around 30 minutes per episode. Guests are all elite athletes with something to learn from.
3. Found My Fitness. She’s taken a break lately to have a baby, but Dr Rhonda Patrick shares some fantastic insights into current research and science into nutrition and longevity. This is very science based and can be quite heavy if you don’t have a science background but she does a good job making it digestible to the masses.
4. Runner Chats. a Brand new podcast based in Melbourne, Australia. These guys are fresh and only 5 episodes in. Big in the Melbourne running Instagram community, these guys are the Hamish and Andy of running. They get a bit off track sometimes but it’s great that they are interviewing real folk from Melbourne about what they love about running and Melbourne.
Notable mentions:
Full admissions, I don’t subscribe to the podcasts below, but when I run out of the content from the ones above I go searching through this list for guests that peak my interest. I use Apple Podcasts as my platform just because I have an iphone.
· No Meat Athlete
· The Tim Ferris Show
· Finding Mastery
· The Good Life Project
· The Joe Rogan Experience
· The Ground Up Show
Audio Books
On average, I run about 7 hours per week and commute 15 hours per week. That’s 22 hours of available audio time!
I’ve chewed through quite a few audio books in between episodes of my favourite podcasts. I use the Audible platform (not sponsored, just true).
My faves (in no particular order)
· The Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes
(Before running, there was Grey’s Anatomy)
· Born to Run, Christopher MacDougall
(every runners favourite!)
· Finding Ultra, Rich Roll
(Ok I’m a RR junkie!)
· Eat and Run, Scott Jurek
(The original ultrarunning vegan, who also happened to be the best)
· Short Fat Chick to marathon runner, Kerre Woodham
(hilarious, don’t listen to on a fast run day!)
· The Long Run, Matthew Long
(epic story of a marathon running firefighter who gets hit by a bus!)
· Running Man, A memoir, Charlie Engle
(He was a junkie, he got clean, he ran across the Sahara and ended up in Federal prison)
· Fat Man to Green Man, Ira Rainey
(Regular joe runs ultra)
· Finding Gobi, Dion Leonard
(lovers of dogs and running rejoice, he met his best friend in the Gobi desert)
Disclaimer of sorts: I very rarely wear headphones on a trail and I only ever wear one headphone at night or if I’m not visible to the public (ie going through a park) or in a very busy area like the CBD. Be safe folks. At night cars can’t see you (more on that later) so you need to be a bit more aware of your surroundings and personally if some creep (not that I’ve ever encountered one, touch wood!) wants to come up from behind me I would like to hear him coming.