Playing for Pace

I often use music in my life. Some loud rock and roll helps make boring chores more bearable, and a little blues always lifts my mood. I often run with my tunes and love sharing all kinds of music with my indoor cycling classes. I also find that I automatically run to the beat of the music if it is close to my natural running tempo. With that in mind I have begun a campaign to improve my running speed by increasing my foot turnover rate. Studies have shown that fast runners seem to graviate to a turnover rate of 90-95 foot strikes per minute per foot. There is a belief that this is some sort of ideal match between effort and efficiency. As well there have been some recent suggestions that walkers should aim for 100 total steps per minute to achieve the best results from their walking programs.

With this in mind, my list this week is 10 songs with a tempo of 80-90 beats per minute. My plan is to mix them into my running workouts and pick up the pace when they appear, slowing down if needed to recover afterwards. To make the list all the songs needed to have an easy beat to follow and get moving right from the get go. Only "Lose Yourself" has a longer intro, the rest get you going from the start. As I get stronger I hope to put in a few more in the faster tempo range but that will be for another post.

1. She's A Rebel, Green Day, 84bpm
2. Always Where I Need To Be, The Kooks, 84 bpm
3. Straight to My Heart, Sting, 84 bpm
4. Can't Look Down, Zox, 86 bpm
5. Someday Baby, Bob Dylan, 86 bpm
6. Black and White Town, Doves, 88 bpm
7. Lose Yourself, Eminem, 88 bpm
8. Misery Business, Paramore, 88 bpm
9. Runnin' Down A Dream, Tom Petty, 88 bpm
10. Rompe, Daddy Yankee, 90 bpm