Seashells Love Music: My Audible Go-To's For Training, Racing, and Tuning Out to Fire Up.

 

I used to create playlists for races, music for training, and spend hours crafting the perfect mixes of tempos and beats to get me rocking on my feet.  (See what I did there?)  These days though, with the increase in popularity of podcasts and streaming music services like Pandora and Stitcher we can almost outsource the heavy lifting and reap the rewards of another's musical curating.

 

So here are some musical tools that I use to get going:

 

MUSIC AND OTHER PODCASTS

• PODRUNNER: Workout Music (and a subset of that is PUDRUNNER INTERVALS
• PODRUNNER is great in that DJ Steve  organizes each track (episode) by BPM of the music.  It ranges from 120bpm (great for walking and easy efforts) to 180 BPM - that is what we call WORK!  Some tracks (episodes) contains an interval based workout where he takes the music and starts at a moderate tempo and then adds in faster tempos to sustain a nice workout, or you can just find a BPM that works with your preferred effort and listen to tracks (episodes) that are centered around that one. 
• This is great for anyone who doesn't want to think and just wants to run.  Let the beats guide you!
• Motion Traxx: Upbeat Workout Music
• Similar to PODRUNNER, this podcast has some great music sets to workout to, not just run to. 
• Ben Greenfield Fitness
• This is not music but it is a great podcast filled with interesting information that I enjoy listening to when I have a longer, steady state effort run or bike trainer workout to do. 
• Meditation Oasis Podcast
• This is more so for relaxing my busy mind and getting ready for sleep after a long day at the office, in school and out on the roads training. This podcast has many guided mediations each for a specific purpose - sleep, energy, focus, getting ready for a big event, calming nerves. 
• The Meditation podcast
• This is very similar to the Meditation Oasis Podcast mentioned above.
• Endurance Nation Triathlon podcast
• This is my Training and Racing team's podcast and is a great resource for anyone who loves to hear about triathlon training and racing. You will find nutrition and racing tips, interviews with team members following epic races (both good and bad performances so that we all can learn about what works and what doesn't!) as well as information on training and happenings within the haus. 
• The Dirtbag Diaries
• This podcast is about trail running and those people who love to run the trails. 

 

 

ALBUMS/SONGS/ARTISTS

• Girl Talk - All Day
• GirlTalk is a DJ (Gregg Gillis) that does the most amazing, let me repeat this AH-MAY-ZING mashups of songs.Do yourself the favor and download this album this moment!  It plays as one continual track and makes my swim sets and long runs go by like nothing.  
• Balkin Beat Box - Blue Eyed Black Boy (Album)
• This is an amazing full of energy album that I listen to all the way through as I run.  It is a nice change of pace to normal music, taking cues from Roma (Gypsy) culture and many varying beats, different instruments and amazing addictive vocals.  Find them on Pandora and be amazed during your next run!
• Lana Del Rey - Born To Die (Paradise Edition - Album)
• Now if you know of Lana Del Rey then you are probably wondering why I would put her under music to get me pumped but honestly I appreciate the wildly different and eccentric music she puts out.  On Born To Die the songs go from upbeat and fun to slow and trance-like but all seem to work together to create this tapestry of stories and feelings that you cannot help but get sucked into.  She has a really good pace to this album meaning that the tempo changes with every song, so you are never in a lull or an upswing too long. 
• Lana Del Rey - West Coast (ZHU Remix Song)
• This song is a great mix and I love how it takes a cool song and amps it up!  Look for any Lana Del Rey song that has been mixed with some electronic or club music and you have a winner!
• Fitz and the Tantrums
• Love this album!  It is another that puts you in a good mood and has some great tunes to keep carrying your feet in the forward direction. 

 

 

APPS

• Google's "Play music" App (no subscription required but you can subscribe to the unlimited database and get all music you could ever want for a low monthly price)
• This is great because you can find any assortment of music from their entire database to fill your needs.  They have pre-arranged music playlists based on activity - lounging around, relaxing, getting ready to go out, partying, working out, beating the afternoon lull, etc.  and so you are sure to find something that you like. Plus you can make your own playlists right in the App which is a fun feature as you can sort through all sorts of artists and genres.
• Pandora (no subscription required but you can subscribe to the unlimited database and get all music you could ever want for a low monthly price)
• Similar to Google's Play Music, Pandora is the mother of all internet radio apps allowing you to create stations based on your preferred songs and or artists.

Both Play Music and Pandora are great in that you can be exposed to new music and maybe find your next favorite artist, album or song!   

• Audible (requires Audible subscription or to pay for individual audible books)
• I like to listen to talk radio in my car, so that also transfers to my workouts where I like to listen to books on audio.  Audible is a great choice to multitask if you have the ability to.  I like to listen to David Sedaris, Tina Fey, and any number of other funny memoires or stories that keep me entertained and thus going because I want to hear more.  I do not want the story to end so I keep running and usually feel sad when I have to stop before the story does.
• I also like to hear actors read epic storybooks because they end up performing them - my current favorite that I am a few chapters into now is Scarlett Johansson performing Alice In Wonderland.  Do yourself a favor - listen to this! 

 

 

What are some of your go-to's for motivation, getting pumped up, or for the long haul?  Do you like music or spoken works?  Do you even train with music or do you prefer to go naked?  I am always looking for new things to listen to so leave your suggestions here or you can pop over to the Iron Seashell on Facebook and leave a comment there. 

 

 

Happy Training!

The Iron Seashell,