Get the right Playlist to lose weight

As I’m sitting here at Dulles airport waiting for a flight to Munich, not able to connect to the ‘free’ wireless (Blackberry to the rescue), and not able to listen to the iPod as I need to hear them call my name to see if I got an exit row seat, and all that lovely leg-room, my thoughts returned to my exercising the other night.

There I was running along, with The Jam, Boomtown Rats, Madness, MIA, and others blasting a beat into my ear. Then it happened… a Sigur Ros song came on… no beat to run to, my rhythm fell apart, quickly I pushed the little button on my bluetooth headphones, and disaster was averted as Gorillaz pumped a fresh beat into my ear.

Of course, I realized what I’d done, rather than playing my running playlist, I’d played my general playlist. Having a running / workout playlist is a great way to keep yourself on track. Pick songs with a constant beat, and you’ll find yourself keeping pace with them, without the beat it becomes more difficult (at least for me). Now, when I run actual races, I’m not one of those that wears their iPod (many races actually ban them), because I can use the other runners to pace myself against. But at home on the treadmill, or running around my neighborhood, that playlist keeps me going.