What I Listen to While Running

What do I listen to while running? It’s a common question, and the answer varies. From the peaceful sounds of nature to the intense energy of techno, my running soundtrack adapts. In this post, I’ll share my experiences with different types of running audio and offer some personalised recommendations.

🌄Sounds of the Surroundings

The running purists of the world argue against listening to music or podcasts. They focus on their running and listen to the sounds of their breath, foot falls and the sounds of their surroundings. In millennial terms this could be called ‘raw dogging’. Doing it without the protection of music or media, and being left alone with ones thoughts.

I enjoy running without headphones. It can be meditative to fully focus on the movement, breathing and cadence. Without headphones there is still plenty to hear. I love trail running listening to the sounds of my surroundings. The birds chirping, creeks babbling, rustling of trees and the animals scuttling away in fear of me. I suspect I gain some medicinal benefits from ‘forest bathing’. This is less appealing when running through suburban streets, but even in the streets around my house there is still interesting things to hear. Such as bogans arguing, cars doing burnouts and ambulance sirens.

Whenever I do a hard workout it is almost always without headphones. I find that the sounds become overwhelming. Interval sessions are important workouts that require a lot of concentration. I think it’s important focus on the purpose of the workout and performing it correctly. Although I agree that sometimes a good pump up track can help get a bit extra out I rarely do workouts with headphones. For longer efforts such as Tempo or Steady State runs I find music can help me stay in the zone.

When I am running alone my thoughts often run wild. I feel like running sends extra blood to my brain and gets it functioning on a higher level. I often have delusions of grandeur, dreaming up ambitions schemes and goals. They rarely get taken any further once the run ends but I enjoy going on the imaginary journey. One of these grandiose schemes is my goal to run a 15 minute 5k. I have acted on this ambition but am still a long way from achieving the goal.

🎶 Music to Enhance the Experience

I’ve found that music can significantly enhance my running experience and performance. Rather than relying on playlists or individual songs, I prefer the immersive experience of recorded DJ sets on SoundCloud. These sets, often over an hour long, seamlessly blend together a variety of tracks, guiding me through a continuous musical journey. The build up of a good set helps me get into a pure running flow state.

My preference of genre is flowy and euphoric electronic music. This music makes me feel like I am blissfully floating along the trails. I often listen to the same sets over and over and associate them with running strong and feeling good. This helped me a few years ago at the UTA100 when I was struggling. I put the headphones in a switched on an old faithful set and it took me back to a happy place.

My favourite source is a Soundcloud account called Flow Music. They produce series called Flow Sessions and 333 Sessions. The 333 sessions are all 3 hours and 33 minutes long, far longer than most DJ sets which allows the producer to be more creative and take you on a vibrant journey. While I may stick to a few favourite sets, the diversity within each one prevents monotony. This approach eliminates the decision fatigue of choosing individual songs, allowing me to simply dive into the music and enjoy the run.

These are a few of my personal favourite sets at the moment:

📖 Audiobooks

I read a post by a Redditor who credits their good mental health to regular exercise and reading. I agree and think it applies to me. I’m at my happiest when I’m active and learning. Running while listening to audiobooks combines these two activities into one. Adding a dose of nature, such as trail running, mental illness doesn’t stand a chance.

Audiobooks are my go-to companion for solo runs. Their long format keeps me entertained for weeks. I enjoy learning from non-fiction or diving into captivating novels. I particularly love getting deep into an audiobook on a solo long run.

An added benefit from listening while running is enhanced memory recall. One of the issues with audiobooks is memory recall, if you are not actively listening the information can go in one ear and out the other. When I run and listen I end up associating a geographic location with a section of a story or piece of information. Then when I run the section of trail at a later date, sometimes years on I recall the specific section of the book I was listening to.

I pay for an Audible subscription. It is kind of pricey but I think I get decent value by choosing long books and taking advantage of the free books in the Plus catalogue. Using my library card I get access to a catalogue of audiobooks on Borrowbox and Libby. I have found many amazing books, especially on Borrowbox which hosts many great Australian books. It’s worth looking to see what your local library has on offer!

Here’s a few books I have been loving this year …

Non-fiction to learn while running:

• Empire of Pain (best book I have read this year!!)
• Red Notice (Included on Audible Plus at the moment)
• Into the Silence
• Quarterly Essays (some are free on Audible Plus)
• Training Essentials for Ultrarunners (my go for Ultrarunning training knowledge, I keep going back to it)

Fiction books I have loved this year:

• This Tender Land
• The Lincoln Highway
• Magpie Murders

🎙️ Podcasts

When I’m not immersed in an audiobook, I turn to podcasts. While I listen to audiobooks more often, a good podcast is still a great running partner. I primarily listen to running podcasts, but I occasionally explore other genres. Here are a few of my favourites.

Running and fitness podcasts:

• Koopcast
  • Podcast hosted by Jason Koop a well known ultrarunning coach. Lots of interesting trail running knowledge and science.
• Some Work all Play
  • Podcast hosted by the David and Megan Roche. Jason Koop and these guys have what seems to be a long running feud. Some of their stuff seems to border on pseudoscience but David Roche recently won and set the course record at Leadville then backed it up with another win at Javalina Jundred, so I now take more notice to his advice.
• Freetrail Podcast
  • Hosted by Dyland Bowman, good podcast to stay up to date with running news
• Mile27
  • An Australian based podcast hosted by coaches from Mile27. There hasn’t been any new episodes in years but the old ones are good content still.
• The Drive by Peter Attia
  • A great podcast about the science of health and longevity

Non running podcasts:

• 99 percent invisible – One of my all time favourite podcasts about the invisible design of the world around us.
• Equity Mates – Good Aussie finance podcast
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore Histories – Awesome history podcast to take you back in time

🎧 How I Listen?

I use Jabra Elite Active 65t as my running headphones. I bought them years ago after a bout of buying cheap headphones from Amazon. After burning through about 4 pairs of cheap headphones I decided to invest in a higher quality set and the investment has so far paid off. They are almost 5 years old and still going strong.

I sometimes have issues with them charging and the proximity sensors can get clogged which makes one side quieter than the other. But I have worked out how to resolve these issues. Otherwise I am pretty happy with them. When they inevitably die I am going to look into bone conduction headphones such as Aftershokz so I can hear my surroundings better while running or I might just get another pair of Jabra’s.

Conclusions

So now you know what I listen to when I am not with mates listening to their constant banter. I enjoy running with headphones but I believe that the most pure running experience is had by listening to ones surrounings. I hope you find some interesting content amongst my recommendations.

What do you listen to while you run?

Do you have any podcast or audiobook recommendations? Share your thoughts in the comments!