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No iPods or music players in road races
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I use my ipod when I'm out because I find I think too much about what my feet are doing, what my clothes are doing, my breathing etc and I mess myself up. I always run to one side, and if I'm going to overtake someone or move round a pothole etc I always look behind me. I do it in the supermarket even when I haven't got my ipod on.
I've only done one 'race' and it seemed to be the groups of people running together having a chat three abreast across the path who were paying least attention. They must have known they were taking up the whole path, but still insisted on making people ask them to move every time - I saw it as I approached. I don't have the stamina yet, so I rely on momentum - don't make me stop!
Erm... I love love love love my ipod. I hate hearing my heavy breathing and shuffling feet. I couldn't consider doing a half marathon without it, however, I did use it at the GNR and found that I wasn't actually paying that much attention to it, I was 'in the zone', however, I felt it was necessary to have it with me. I had it on low enough to be able to hear around me. You shouldn't have it on too loud anyway as you will damage your hearing.
Maybe have a special ipod pen at the start? a special womble pen? a rhino pen? I'm being silly now...
Reading these forum thread I also start to feel a tad guilty for:
1)wearing an ipod
2) entering a race and getting under everyone's (faster) feet cos I'm a slower runner
So I'm just a ticking timebomb of health and safety - sorry!
It's just occured to me that maybe the reason I didn't find people getting in my way too much on Sunday is because I was the one getting in everybody else's way....
If ipods should be banned because runners using them can't hear (a) other runners coming up behind them, (b) marshal's instructions, then are the ban-the-ipod brigade saying that deaf or hard of hearing people shouldn't be allowed in races?
No? Surely they're just as much of a health and safety menace as a person with earphones in?
btw, I have no personal axe to grind - I don't even own an ipod/MP3.
I ran the Halstead Marathon Sunday and saw a guy just miss getting hit by a car because he was running in the middle of the road and was wearing an Ipod and couldn't hear ..... It took another runner to drag him to one side.....
Oh and without saying thanks, he put his headphones back in and started running in the middle of the road again....
I've never really run with one.... I was seriously considering getting one for training runs? But now not sure?
I do hope your post was ironic: if not, you may care to reflect further on what you wrote.
I run with my ipod but i can't find any songs slow enough for my pace !LOL
have to agree with the comment about water bottles etc, navigating them is like a minefield
Personally i don't think they should be banned but that's just me.
I am really uncomfortable about all this Health and Safety malarkey, which is as much driven by the thought of expensive legal actions as any desire to "protect" poor little runners.
Do we really want to run, and indeed live, in a complete no-risk environment, wrapped in cotton wool to the extent we cannot feel the thrill of taking risks and we instead live in a hermetic bubble with all the excitement, unpredictability and variety sucked out of all living?
I say no.
Running has risks - you may get injured, it may be physically exhausting, you may be in for a world of pain, sometimes accidents happen. If none of those things existed it would be about as challenging as flicking channels on the tv.
Bilbo-
In a road race, it would only ake one careless driver to lose control, and mow down dozens of runners, and it wouldn't make one jot of difference if they were wearing ipods or not.
The only safe way would be to close the roads to traffic.
BTW it wasn't me who nearly copped it on sunday, but i was there....with my MP3
I took mine off after about 20miles, because it was getting on my nerves, but i don't listen to it very loud, i mean, i could hear the birds singing above the volume.
I think another truth is that cars are becoming extremely quiet these days, and if one was coming from behind you, and you were upwind of it, and it was travelleling at speed, i doubt you would hear it untill it was upon you anyway!
I've had an ipod since xmas and it has made a big difference to my training especially on long runs. So far I've competed in one half marathon with it and I set a new pb. I'm sure this new time was mostly down to more consistent training but in the last 2 or 3 miles when I started to struggle the music did help take my mind off the pain.
As for not being able to hear race marshalls or stewards instructions. In the 2 years or so that I've been running I've never heard or seen a steward give any instructions. I don't say this as a critisism but as a complement to how well the events have been organised.
There is the usual pushing and shoving and cutting up at the start as people get into their stride but this happens with or without ipods/mp3s.
angelrunner: if you can't find music slow enough to run to, have a look at podrunner's running podcasts. They create constant bpm tracks that typically last about an hour.
they range from 135/140bpm up to 170-180bpms. The music is trance/techno/house style (normally I style of music I absolutely hate), but to be honest, I find it fantastic to run to. - it's lyricless, dare I say mindless.. but great when you get right the bpm for you stride.
I think you just put your finger on something there Iain.
I'm a lifelong lover of both running and music, and for years I used to fantasise about being able to listen while I ran. The advent of the mp3 player (mine's a Creative, Apple can go do one) finally gave me that chance. And guess what? I HATED it.
I love 60s & 70s music of various genres, and I like variety - so my player is always set to "shuffle"- and I found it impossible to get into any kind of running rhythm. The whole thing just distracted me - I realised that all these years of running without music had tuned me in to "listening" to my body - breathing, heartrate, muscle state, stride length, etc., and anything that got in the way of that was an annoyance.
Yes, the BPM thing would probablywork better, but I'd rather drink my own bathwater than listen to trance/techno/house "music". In fact I'd rather give up running - I feel THAT strongly!
So now the mp3 are for quieter moments, and the running is as nature intended.
Mike..
Until I actually tried it, I would have 100% agreed with you. That kind of faceless, easily forgettable, "music" is something I've always loathed and hated for decades, since it first emerged. As an indie kid, it's always been the antithesis of everything I hold dear about music.
Until I tried it.
I would never listen to this kind of music at any other time, as it just doesn't "do it for me" - well maybe if I was "luvved up" , maybe I would.. but as that has never happened I can't really comment!
I too also found that I hated running to music, I could just never find my rhythm and never really understood what people saw in listening while running - I too used to listen to the rhythm of my body: my feet, my breathing etc. But it was only when I tried fixed bpm music that it suddenly dawned on me the problem I'd had all these years:
I've looked at the bpms of my music collection (60gb at last count) and most of it is 130-145 beats per minute... way way slower than I run - when I started running again back in Feb, I was running to 150 steps per minute, now I'm regularly 162-165. (not that I'm fit - I'm not, just long legged)
all my music was way too slow, so no wonder I was having problems running to the beat!
all I can say Mike.. try that kind of music and see what you think- it really suprised and shocked me just how much easier my running became. It's completely changed the way I run.(for the better)
If you're racing for a time then I would definitely go without.
Then theres nothing to go wrong - no earphones to annoy you, no volume to be fiddled with - no tracks to swap.
Just focus on the race and not Barbie Girl or whatever...
Well Iain, you've got me at least considering it, against my better judgement.
Though at a recent half I tried to talk to runners as I went past and nearly all of them were wearing head phones so missed the banter.
LARDARSE...
lol I have nothing against IPOD users and I'm 50/50 whether to buy one for training or not?
Totally agree a speeding car on a road race would be an issue, but i was just saying that some people do have them so high, they can't hear anything.....
Because I want to wake up and be able to make a choice not have a blanket ban because of so called health and safety issues.
But why shouldnt they be banned if the Sport's governing body or local race organisers decide that is what the rules of competive racing should be ? H&S aside sports and competitions (races) have rules so why shouldnt the people who makes those rules be able to decide what they want them to be ?
Racers with ipods turned up so they cant hear things going on around them are a danger to themselves, fellow runners and the organisers too. Why have marshalls out for runners if the runners cant hear them ?
If you enter a race - you agree to their rules. Otherwise we'd all be turning up at 10ks on Yamaha 600s.. And getting pbs left right and centre ?