Songs For Running

I started running about a year ago to burn calories and get/stay in shape. Last fall I decided to take it up a notch and work on improving, and I started by working on my cadence. Your cadence is how many times your feet touch the ground in a minute. A faster cadence leads to improved performance: you take shorter strides and spend more energy moving forward than up and down. Less vertical movement means a softer impact for each step as well, reducing your chance of injury. Internet research and many experienced runners will tell you an optimal cadence is 180 steps per minute (90 when counting on just one foot). I'm not  in a position to refute them, but right now I'm most comfortable at about 165. 

To help me maintain my cadence I rely on a running playlist made up of music with a tempo of roughly 83 or 165 beats per minute (BPM). The idea is to make sure each foot touches the ground on each beat for 165ish BPM songs. For the songs in the 83 BPM range just one foot matches the beat with the other landing on the off beat. This simple tool allows me to offload the task of managing my cadence from my brain to my iPhone, a familiar pattern these days. 

It took some time and trial and error to compile a good playlist for my cadence. I chose songs that not only match my cadence but also help motivate me, especially on more strenuous workouts like a tempo run or repeats. You can check out my favorite 165 BPM songs in this Spotify playlist. For those that don't have a Spotify account, I'd highly recommend getting one, but here are the songs for now:

• Bridge Burning, Foo Fighters (170 BPM)
• Check Yes Juliet, We The Kings (166 BPM)

• A Day Late, Anbelin (84 BPM)

• Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head), Ben Folds (82 BPM)
• Hold On (Single Version), Ghosts (166 BPM)

• Hurricane, Something Corporate (82 BPM)
• Let's Go Back, Everyday Sunday (84 BPM)
• Survival, Muse (165 BPM)

• This Too Shall Pass, OK Go (158 BPM)

• Waking Up, In Stereo (84 BPM)

• Where the Sky Begins, Over It (162 BPM)

• Work It Out, Capital Lights (162 BPM)
• Worth As Much As a Counterfeit Dollar, Capital Lights (170 BPM)

Some comments on a couple songs:

Hiroshima, Ben Folds

You gotta love a guy who writes a song about falling off the stage and hurting himself, especially when that song is awesome. Apparently it is tough to see the edge of the stage with all those lights on you and the white tape that normally marks the "do not cross" zone was absent that day. It's a fun song and works well for running. 

Hold On, Ghosts

This whole album is good (The World is Outside) and for some reason it's not on Spotify. "Hold On" is a good song to go into "robo-runner mode" and just cruise. I like the moodiness of it, perfect after those aggravating days at work. 

Survival, Muse

This is definitely one of my favorites for running. The beat is perfect for my cadence and the lyrics seem like they were written to motivate one in the pursuit of athletic perfection...which they were. "Survival" was the official song of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was written for the purpose. The music video features scenes of triumph and defeat from Olympic games of the past. It's a bit corny, perhaps, but I like it anyway.

Worth As Much As A Counterfeit Dollar, Capital Lights

This band has a number of perfect songs for running. Very clear beat and easy to run to. "Work It Out" is on this playlist as well because I had trouble deciding which is better. Both always give me a boost. 

I'm always looking for more songs to run to. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Nick Vigabool

@MrVigabool