If you’re not sure what this is about, start by heading HERE and reading the introduction to this section of my blog.
I prepared a mix for my first run while performing this project. This one is actually very simple and also not very open to many musical genres or even artists for that matter. I went with this since it was a mix I used unofficially for about 6 months back when I was still running in New York. I think its a great jumping off point since it outlines the different types of running songs perfectly. In the coming weeks, I’ll be taking songs out of the mix and replacing them with others, commenting on any new additions and why they worked or didnt for me.
So, lets start with just a list of the mix itself, which you can also listen to HERE.
1. Marry the Night – Lady Gaga
2. Born This Way – Lady Gaga
3. Judas – Lady Gaga
4. Government Hooker – Lady Gaga
5. Americano – Lady Gaga
6. Scheise – Lady Gaga
7. Bloody Mary – Lady Gaga
8. We Are The Champions – Queen
So… Obviously if you dont like Lady Gaga you probably wont enjoy this mix very much. This is almost exactly the first 7 tracks off of Born This Way. It actually started out as just me listening to the album while running. The pacing on the album actually works great for a run. Heavy on bass beats if you know what I mean.
Marry the Night is and excellent Warm Up track. The first 30 seconds serves as and excellent walking point as you gear up to start running. My legs always tense up at the 37 second mark when the song starts glitching a bit and then I push off into a jog once the bass hits. The song has a perfect ebb and flow between verse and chorus where it kind of hangs back a bit in the verses and then builds faster and more forceful with each chorus and really gets your legs ready to run faster. Lady Gaga works very well because her music constantly adds little flourishes throughout the songs. This is important for running since the major weakness of a run is not becoming tired but becoming bored. Those extra moments keep you running. I constantly think, I just need to make it to that next little part!! My favorite one on this song happens at 3:37.
Born This Way is next and has a great beat for a Stride. The most important thing about a Stride is that the beat encourages you to keep with it in repeated steps. The underlying bass beat of the song keeps me going every time and a sing-song chorus always helps you in the mood to move. The “OOH there aint no other way, baby I was born this way” has such a happy bouncy feeling to it that I always find myself literally leaping with each step. Once again, Gaga adds little flairs throughout her songs so that you don’t feel like you’re listening to the same exact thing for 4 minutes.
On the album, Government Hooker comes next but I actually switch it with Judas so that I encourage myself to run a little farther without a break. For me, Judas is a Burnout song. Burnouts are always tricky because your emotional attachment to the song plays a big part in how much it gets your blood pumping. The epic feel of the opening already has me in its grasp and once the song reaches the 37 second mark and the beat drops, I couldnt stop my body from sprinting if I wanted to. A Burnout needs to make you FEEL powerful. It doesnt have to do this every moment as long as its sprinkled enough throughout the song to keep you going. For me, its the moment where Gaga sings “Bring em down down, and then sings a wordless ah ah section. Today my body was ready to give out halfway through the song. Then the bridge came on and I was back to sprinting. A good bridge can keep a Burnout going longer and this is very important since these are definitely the most tasking sections of the run. Most of the time, I would say to try to keep a Burnout under 3 minutes. Judas is an acception for me.
Ok now I’m ready for Government Hooker. I actually am not a huge fan of this song but I LOVE the beat for a Stride. It has this constant bouncing beat with these little digital noises that keep you going and going. One thing about Strides is that they arent necessarily songs where you are guaranteed to be running fast. As long as they keep you at a specific pace, whether that be 3mph or 6, then they are doing their job. After Judas I really needed to slow down so I was thankful for this respite.
Americano is another great Warm Up and works very well in the center of a run to bring you back after a moment of rest. It starts off slow enough with some great acoustic guitar. Then you get all these “La-la-la” bits with the hand clapping that start to speed you up and once you here that gun get cocked, you’re ready to burst into a sprint. The song does a great job of slowly building on itself to get your body moving faster and faster.
I used Scheise next as a Stride and while it does its job, I mostly used it because the song was always next on the album. I think I’d really like to replace this first for a better song.
If I haven’t beaten the point home yet (no pun intended), the beat is the most important part of a good Stride. You want it to have the right amount of push in it to keep you going. You also want it to have enough variety that you dont get bored. Too much variety and it looses its ability to keep you going at a steady pace. Bloody Mary is a perfect example of a Stride done right. The beat that drops at the 19 second mark has just the right amount of depth to put my foot down with conviction on every pace and the chorus keeps the stride steady while also changing things up and pushing you forward to the next time that deep Nine Inch Nails beat comes back in.
Cool downs are where you get to have the most fun. I decided to go with the obvious choice of We Are The Champions. You want something that has lots of lyrics so you can sing-along or at least get your mind engaged in the songs meaning. It also helps if you pick something that feels like a reward for all your hard effort. Obviously this song passes with flying colors!
That’s it for my first workout mix. I haven’t quite figured out exactly how I’m going to introduce new songs into the mix. For the moment, I simply copied over all the songs into their own posts to categorize them. I’m also creating a list HERE with links to playlists that will contain any new songs I add to each type of song and as the lists grow, you will be able to pick through them for your own mixes. This is all new to me so if you read this and have any types of requests, questions or suggestions, please feel free to let me know here in the comments. If you like what I’m doing, please leave words of encouragement or like the posts. It goes a long way towards me continuing to do this.
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