Running music?

[mousme]

Okay, flist, I need your help.

I know that some of you are runners and/or work out regularly. I am going to cave and get myself an iPod (a Shuffle), because running on the treadmill is so excruciatingly boring that I often contemplate committing hara kiri with my water bottle in an effort to end the agony.

That being said, I have very little by way of digital music, at least not in mp3 format, because I have up until now listened almost exclusively to CDs (ever since I had to give up my beloved cassettes and vinyl records). I also have very little that would serve as good work-out music. The stuff I listen to is either too mellow, or doesn't have the right kind of beat to it.

In short, I need recommendations for mp3s that I can load onto my iPod so as to make my workouts less mind-numbingly boring.

Suggestions? Please?

Comments

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I have a couple of suggestions for this! I just saw that you're familiar with the C to 5K program, so it all depends how picky you are about your music genres (and if you are, there's a solution for that too.) This guy seems to be the gold standard for c25k podcasts (and he's got the runs available as mp3s as well.) He does each of the prompts in a podcast for each week of the program, with music included.) There's another one that I've tried, a girl who does the same prompts but with hip hop. And here's some other guy I haven't checked out yet but keep meaning to.

If you have any music editing ability, I remember seeing a site out there where they just had the intervals and you could use your own music (alternately, you could record your own voice at the proper intervals) but that's back to your original question about what sort of music to use!

I have no idea where your musical likes (or phobias) might lay, but there's tons of stuff with high 'energy' out there. Some pop/hip-hop/top 40 stuff is really bouncy, and really anything that makes you want to dance or move is good (I remember using a lot of disco when I wanted to get cleaning and housework done.)

Tangentially related: if you do go the iphone route, there also seems to be tons of different apps out there for the running program! Example