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Rhythm is a Dancer

I learned that you need a metronome for running. I used to hate running because I thought you just ran flat out until you were tired.

The reality is you have to pace yourself. It’s not really a lot easier to go more slowly, but you can endure for a lot longer if you get a rhythm with your footfalls.

Today I was able to tackle the 7% grade without slowing down. Wanted to run up it, but I was too fast on the prior section and ended up in the brisk walk interval at the hard part. There’s always Friday!

What helps is good music. I picked Chemical Brothers, “One Too Many Mornings” as a source song and let itunes genius make a playlist. It worked out surprisingly well!

Posted on September 12, 2012 by , 2 comments
Posted in general and tagged as , , , ,
  • Dave Frey

    I just read the bit in Born to Run where the trainer tells the author to get a metronome and set it at 180/min; I know that style is meant to be short, choppy strides, but man that’s a lot of steps.

    Another friend swears by training with a heart rate monitor, he researched the right rates for his kind of training, then ran (or walked, especially at the beginning) at a pace that kept him in the range. But that’s a non-trivial expense. My cheap approach has been to pay attention to how I’m feeling, and I never hesitate to slow down or walk when I feel I’m in the red.

    Great that you’re doing this, keep it up man!

  • http://fleshy.org.nz/ Jonathan

    I should check that book out. I’ll admit I have some hesitation with how to books because I feel like I can just understand and figure out on my own what they’re saying, it’s a lot of the underlying assumptions, the “whys”, that I don’t know.

    For example, intellectually I understand that having a rhythm is good, but couple with all the talk I’ve ever heard about “this is what you do to go faster”, it makes me think “I need fast music to run”. The reality is (for me at least) I need to slow down. I get burned out too quickly otherwise.

    That 180 seems really high. I think my brother ran across that number as well. I think mine is a mix between your method and the metronome method.

    Also, big fan of the middle path here, which I’m sure you can appreciate.

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