It’s been a few weeks now and the fall TV season is in full swing. It seems like there are music shows on every channel ranging from shows like x-factor which has a lot of flare and hype to the sing off, which isn’t as hyped but still has good music. I may do a TV running playlist soon, let me know if you want me to put one together. Speaking of TV shows, when I first saw Scotty McCreery I knew he’d be successful and now, his first albumClear As Day is out and it sounds like it was entirely written for the radio. Most of the songs are very light and easy to listen to and would be very successful on the radio. Scotty isn’t as poetically sophisticated as the country veterans, but if he doesn’t mess things up for himself, he’s going to have a huge career. Anyway, to the subject of today’s running playlist. What if I told you that you could be getting an Ivy League education, for free, while your run? On long runs, there’s only so much music you can listen to without needing a break, especially on long slow runs. So enter iTunes U. For those of you who aren’t familiar with iTunes U, it’s basically a free service iTunes has that shares classes from the top universities in the country (and maybe even the world). There are actual classes that were recorded at places like Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and even Stanford (which is not Ivy League, but definitely should be on this list) and they are all free to download. Many classes are videos, which are great if you’re running on a treadmill, but when I run outside I download the audio classes and just listen to one or two lessons while I run. So far, I’ve taken two full semesters of history classes at Brown and Yale and a computer science class at Stanford and I love the fact that I can get access to the amazing minds that teach these classes, for free and without having to attend those universities and all while I run. One tip, if you run in a noisy area, you may want to do a volume adjustment in iTunes to the class files (right click the class in iTunes, go to “Get Info” and go to “options”) to adjust the volume because sometimes the recording volume isn’t as loud as I like it.
I think I mentioned this in the past, but I’ve been listening to a lot of iTunes U classes lately while I run and I think they’re great!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Running Playlist – learn while you run
Friday, September 30, 2011
Running Playlist – The Soundtrack For Your Run
Lately I’ve been working a lot on the running playlist iPhone and Android apps and that got me thinking.
What is a running playlist?
Besides the fact that it’s music that you listen to on your run, you could also think about it as the soundtrack for your run, just like the soundtrack for a movie.
Now what if we take this concept one step further and actually run with a real soundtrack?!
Running can get boring at times, even with great music. But what if your run becomes a movie starring you?
With the right soundtrack every run could be a different story
- You could be a washed up runner, about to be kicked off the team, but given one last chance for the run of your life.
- You could be a strapping young law student escaping rogue government agents who want to kill you because you discovered a dark secret (can you tell I just watched the Pelican brief:)
- Or, you could be a hunter running through a primitive jungle chasing your prey or Is it chasing you?
I did a quick Internet search and found a lot of interesting resources for great soundtrack music but one really stood out. The site is called jewelbeat, and it has hundreds if not thousands of actual soundtracks that you can get for free or for very cheap. It’s even searchable by theme, so if you want motivational music or suspenseful music or whatever, you can find it easily.
Now I have a soundtrack running playlist on my iPhone and every run can be a different movie.
I recently ran to the running playlist below, and I have to say, it’s a very interesting experience to run with a movie playing in your head. I especially liked the final track which made me imagine running to the finish line and the crowds cheering my victory…
Get this running playlist and other running music at running playlist, I would love to hear your feedback on this, so please comment, or contact me onfacebook or twitter.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Running Playlist app – now on Android!
It’s been a while since I posted, and now I can tell you what kept me away from publishing my usual running playlists (or you can guess from the title of this post, either way…:)
Since I launched the running playlist iPhone app, it’s had over 120,000 uses, and I’ve gotten multiple requests for a similar android app. It sounded like a simple task to me, but little did I know, that it would take months, and not weeks to complete. The reason was that the developer I hired for this got into some technical difficulties and decided that he’s dropping the project midway, so I was basically left hanging with some unfinished files, and ended up reading a lot(!) of android websites and documentation, learning how to program for android and finishing it up myself. I would definitely love to hear your feedback on this app and any thoughts on how to improve it (that goes for the iPhone app as well btw). This is the original version of the running playlist app (no pace calculator) and if I see interest in it, I’ll add more features like with the iPhone app. The app is on the Android market now so go ahead and give it a try. As usual, it would be great if you tell your friends about this and also let me know what you think so please comment, or contact me on facebook or twitter. I’d also appreciate it if you “like” this post on Facebook or “+1″ it if you are on Google+.
Friday, August 12, 2011
10K Running Playlist at 160 BPM
Continuing the series of 10k running playlists organized by BPM, we now arrive at the 160 BPM zone. This running playlist is 1:13 minutes long and averages out at 165 BPM. And now, here’s the list, I would love to hear your feedback on this, so pl
These songs are starting get very fast, so if you are not ready for speed just yet, you might want to stay away from them.
Get this running playlist and other running music at running playlist, I would love to hear your feedback on this, so please comment, or contact me onfacebook or twitter.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
A Running Playlist from Ultrarunnerpodcast.com
This week, I’m going to share something a bit different from the regular running playlists I usually share. I usually post music for running from my personal running playlist collection, but recently I discovered a great set of podcasts at Ultrarunnerpodcast.com I usually listen to music when I run, but my runs are getting longer and longer now, and I find that if I listen to podcasts (or classes I download from iTunes U, which is also a great source for interesting information on almost any topic) I can make better use of the hours I spend on the road or trail and learn something in the process. I recently found Ultrarunnerpodcast.com and while I am not an ultra runner (yet…:) I do find their interviews very motivational and fun to listen to. It really puts things in perspective when I’m whining about running for 2 hours in 85 degrees and then hear an interview with someone who got back from Badwater (100+ miles in Death Valley). They also have some great podcasts about nutrition and podiatry that are worth listening to. Even if you never plan to run an ultra, these guys are just fun to listen to and learning more about running is always a good thing. What does all this have to do with running playlists you ask? Well, at the end of every interview, they play a running related song. I really enjoy their taste in music and though I’d share their list. This running playlist is 52 minutes long, and averages at 129 BPM. I didn’t sort it in any particular order so feel free to use it as a whole or to pick and choose songs from it as you need.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
10K Running Playlist at 150 BPM
It’s Thursday again and it’s time for another high BPM running playlist to get you going for the weekend. This week, it’s a 150 BPM running playlist. For some reason, this playlist ended up filling up with rock music from the 80′s and early 90′s, I’m not sure why, but I guess the 150 BPM range was popular back then (or maybe I just have a lot of songs from that era… This playlist is 1:13 minutes long, and averages at 154 BPM. It’s starting to get faster, so be careful and don’t overheat when you run this summer. 
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
iTunes top 10 BPM analysis: Running Playlist 2011-12-07
The iTunes top 10 never stops surprising me. This week, we don’t really have any new songs that are good for a running playlist, but we do have some news worth mentioning. First, we have another country song in the list Dirt Road Anthem. While I’m a big fan of country music, I don’t really like this one since I’m not sure what the rap (is that what he’s trying to do?) parts really work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for exploring new styles and mashing up music, but this one just doesn’t work. We also have a couple of new quiet songs,Skyscraper and Good Life, that aren’t bad, but not high enough BPM for a running playlist.
