Mile 020 The Power of Music!

Music can be a powerful motivational tool for runners. With the advent of small MP3 players (with no moving parts to jog about!) it is now very easy to take our favourite sounds (including podcasts) on the run with us. We make our own playlists of songs we like, or ones that have meaning for us. We can however now utilise the latest scientific research to help us to use music to its maximum effect. On Mile 020, Dr Costas Karageorgis from Brunel University in London explains how through his world leading research we can all select better music for our runs.

Dr Karageorgis (above) is one of the world leaders in this area of research and explains how his studies have shown that the correct music can increase exercise output by 15% at the same time as our believed exertion falling by 10%. Dr Karageorgis was also previously an accomplished athlete and has worked with many established and rising sports stars.

I discuss all this with Dr Costas, and also tell how (whilst I shelter from the rain during a run) you can link your pace to music. I also talk about some online resources that can help you work out what music will best fit you and check the BPM of your own music library.

We discuss what unexpected track Haille Gabrselassie uses to motivate him in training, some other famous uses of music in sport, and even if you dont listen to music during your run how you can still use music BEFORE a run to good effect.

We talk about Run to the Beat http://www.runtothebeat.co.uk/ a recent event in Greenwich London, that linked music and a 1/2 marathon. Dr Costas programmed the live music for this.

Music on today's show courtesy of the podsafe music network at music.podshow.com is:

• Summers Day - Amb26 (A Mile with Me theme)
• Secret of Sound - Polished Chrome
• The Music - David Usher
• Reasonings in Dub - Messian Dread

Also a brief excerpt from "Scatman" by Scatman John who died in 1999. Born with a severe stutter, John Larkin had grown up on "Scat" singing style popularised by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. His wife Judy convinced him to not hide from his stutter but to use it in his music as an inspiration for those impacted by the ailment.

Links
http://www.runtothebeat.co.uk/ Check out some of the science and register for next year!
http://www.run2r.com/running-music-store.aspx - Running to Rhythm. Check out the BPM calculators and links to software downloads
http://www.download.com/BPM-Calculator/3000-2356_4-10193282.html Calculate the BPM of your favourite tracks!
http://www.mixmeister.com/download_freestuff.html BPM calculator and free Mix /Scratching "all this music's making me itch!"
http://www.runcast.tv/ for the video showing where I run, the church in the pictures is where I am sheltering in the porch
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1731941 check out Pachelbels Canon sketch by Rob Paravonian
http://www.robprocks.com/ ... and other great satirical songs by Rob, at his website and blog

http://www.amilewith.me.uk/ my website
SteveChopper - on Twitter
Chopper - on Runcast.tv
chopper@amilewith.me.uk Dont be shy to email me with any comments on this or other episodes!

Mile019b Where I Run

Whilst I am finishing the next episode "Mile020 - The Power of Music", I have loaded a short video showing the area in which I live and run. This is compiled from some of my photos and short movie clips. Its only using a trial version of a wmv to MP4 converter but hopefully you can get an idea of the scenery I run through and describe on the podcasts!

You will get the video delivered by itunes as usual if you are a subscriber to "A Mile With Me" (if not click "subscribe" on the right, to get each edition downloaded free as soon as its ready). To watch the video on this site, click the play button on the player in the righthand section against mile019b.

Also, look out for Mile020, out this weekend, as I talk with a professor who is the worlds leading authority on the science of Music and Running!

A Mile with Me .. Get Motivated

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Originally uploaded by SteveChopper

What is "A Mile with Me"? Its my personal Blog and also the home of a podcast. The podcast is amateur and designed to be downloaded and taken on your ipod so I can keep you company during your long runs. On it you can hear me running about around the countryside, hear my race reports and me generally chatting with people who have done inspiring things in their running, along with a bit of music to keep the cadence up!!. On recent episodes I have spoken with Danny Dreyer, author of Chi-Running, Carole who has just run from Lands End to John O'Groats solo, Sam Whittingham at 81mph the worlds fastest self-propelled man, plus Steve, an ex-team mate of Laurent Fignon who tells us all about the crossover between cycling and running training. In the current edition (below) I tell the story of when I recently met Tommie Smith, the 1968 200m Olympic Gold Medalist and multiple world record holder. Its all free and totally "unprofessional" but thats half the fun !! - so why not come "a mile with me" ?!!

Find out more as A Mile with Me is featured on Page 74 of this months "Runners World" in the UK

Pick up a copy of the mag or click the link below to read the article if you are not in the UK, (select "all sizes" in flickr to get a large readable image)www.flickr.com/photos/32101715@N07/sets/72157608653897298/

See Mile 019 (below) for how to download the latest episode and join the online running community!

Mile 019 - Tommie Smith, the Sound of Silence

As any salesman knows, there is nothing as powerful as silence, and silence plus an image can convey more than many pages of text.

In Mile 019 of the A Mile with Me podcast, we will discuss the story of Tommie Smith who I met a few weeks ago at a charity event. Tommie took his platform and moment in time to make a stand for human rights, a stand for which he was to pay a heavy price. Olympic Champion and holder of 11 track and field World Records simultaneously by the age of 24, his stand at the 1968 Olympics led to a life of death threats. 40 years on there are many who hate him for this, but still more who have come to realise the importance of what he did and its resonance today.

Described (by a fan who had travelled 40 years and across the globe to be at the dinner) as the "greatest sprinter of all time", listen as I tell Tommies story interlaced with contemporary clips and also sounds from the dinner as Tommie answers a couple of key questions.

Its a long podcast, but I wanted to do Tommie's story justice, so take me on your long run and hear me as I run in various locations and explore the reasons behind the satnd and why Tommie has received so many human rights honours for it

Music excerpts in todays show, some supplied courtesy of the podsafe music network at music.podshow.com

Neville Brothers - God on Our Side
Boston - Star Spangled Banner
Michael W Burgess - Silence
Flocabulary - Let Freedom Ring
Youssou N' Dour - Chimes of Freedom
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - San Jose
AMB26 - Summers Day (a mile with me theme)

Links

http://www.tommiesmith.com/
http://www.100bmol.org.uk/

Thanks to Ron Daniel for the link to the charity work of the 100 Black Men of London
Tommie's Book is "Silent Gesture"

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Gesture-Autobiography-Tommie-Sporting/dp/1592136397

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