Sportunes - music for sports

We get this question a lot. Running with music seems to be like a religion sometimes. We talk to people who wrinkle their noses and with contempt tell us "Running with music? Of course not. No real runner uses music!!" We have also encountered a lot of runners who like to listen to the birds, or runners who run in groups and like to smalltalk. And that's all OK.

The point is: If you don't WANT to run with music, you shouldn't.

However, if you are one of those millions of runners who enjoy running to good music and who are driven by the beat of a great song, you might as well get the most out of it. Running with music gives you many advantages, why not use them?

Photo Source: aboutpixel.de

One thing you should consider when you run with music, is running on beat. This is not always an easy task, Why not? Well, most runners regardless of fitness level and experience run naturally at a pace (Beat per Minute - BPM) between 150 and 180. Some websites will tell you that a moderate stride is also around 130-140 BPM, but be careful. Studies show that running at a very low stride rate may lead to injury (Read e.g. this article in Runner's World). So keep your focus and your pace at around 150 BPM and above.

The problem with a BPM above 150 is that most popular music is composed at around 120 BPM. So running on beat with chart music is virtually impossible

Why is running on beat so important? Well, numerous scientific studies (for example by Dr. Costas Karageorghis, 2008, Brunel University in West London) show that running on beat provides the following advantages:

1. Improved endurance of up to 15%
2. The strain of the exercise is not as prominent in the athlete's mind, when listening to music
3. Improved technique as the musical beat makes movement easier to repeat.
4. Less oxygen intake due to easier repetitions of movement.

Photo source: aboutpixel.de

And we shouldn't forget the motivational and fun factor of having a great beat to help drive you forward.

Note: Sportunes has music for runners from 150 BPM up to 200 (just in case anyone needs something reallt, really, really fast ;-)). Our lower BPM songs are mainly for walking, spinning, cool down and warm up purposes.)

What an amazing event it was. The Challenge Roth 2001 triathlon will stay on people's minds for a long time and for a number of reasons.

First of all it was the 10th anniversary race of Challenge Roth. The Challenge series which emerged after the break up with the IronMan triathlon brand, has so triumphantly survived hard times. The series has now grown to include 13 events all over the world, and there are probably more to come. The 10th anniversary race was the crown for all the hard work that the Walchshöfer Family, their faithful crew of race directors and thousands of volunteers have put into bringing the Challenge name forward over the past years.

Secondly, the race experienced two amazing world records from German triathlete Andreas Raelert and the queen of triathlon from the UK, Chrissie Wellington. Standing on the bleachers with thousands of other spectators and watching these two cross the finish line was absolutely awesome.

Thirdly, the Challenge feeling gets under your skin. It makes you want to be part of it all. It makes you want to cross that finishline. And the urge was so big that I spontaneously formed a relay team (yes, I still have all my senses) with the very talented Timo Reichart from the Designlöwen, who for some reason volunteered to run the marathon, and Gerry Kiener, the Austrian triathlete from Triathlon Team Zugspitz Arena who is going to fly over these 180 km of cycling. So next year I will be a finisher as well, even if it is just going to be after 3,8 km of swimming. I can't wait to run into that stadion with my team mates.

Welcome to the finishline. We are Triathlon!!

Some have asked us for good links to sites where you can download training plans for running at various levels, beginner, advanced, 10K, marathon etc.. We have gathered a small collection here:

Here are some good sites to get your training plans from:

IFORM (Danish)

Dourun (Danish)

Runners World UK

Runners World DE

Lauftipps.de (German)

If you have some good sites with recommendable training plans, which should be on our list, please drop us a mail on: marketing@sportunes.eu or leave a comment below.

Mmm - apples. Healthy :-)

So I'm 24 [for:ti]. How on earth is it possible that my son is 14? I was always good at math, so that can't be the problem, but I've always had a problem with biology. Got my worst grades ever in that subject. Still get nervous ticks when someone says "photosynthesis".

Now back to my story: Once upon a time on this long and winding road that is called my life, my mind decided to separate from my body. My mind had tried for years to tell my body not to let itself go, but it just wouldn't listen. The body loved it on the sofa, whereas the mind wanted to slip on a miniskirt, a pushup bra and a skimpy pink top and go dancing.
"No way I am wearing those 6inch heals," shouted the body.
"You're a boring fart," the mind hissed. And decided to split.

It wasn't one of those long and ugly divorces. It was quick and dirty, and based on irreparable differences and because I am sometime absentminded anyhow, my body barely noticed that my mind decided that it was not prepared for a lifetime commitment with a lazy slob. It simply moved out. Didn't even take anything with it. Left all the garbage that had been collected over the past 40 24 years for my body to deal with.

I will spare you the details of the depression phase right after the separation. The words "fat", "blown up" and "airbags", will give you a picture. (If you knew all the details, I would have to kill you anyway. And we don't want that.) But after a while my body felt lonely and started to look around. At first it saw nothing but unshapely flesh, but looking a bit farther, it noticed other people moving around. It saw people running. "Hooray," it thought. "I can do that". And started snail galopping around the neighborhood being careful not to squash innocent little children on its way. (Gosh, some kids are so small...)

At first the body had to learn to ignore nasty comments. "Hey, is that an elephant on the run?", or "Look at the size of her t...! Hey, lady, don't knock yourself out with those!" But after a while the movements were easier, and the body started to enjoy itself. It felt taller and fitter, and other runners didn't get their running distances doubled anymore, when they had to the pass on the running trail.

And one day the body and mind met again.
"Oh, dear," blushed the mind, "you look great!"
"Been doing a little bit of sport," said the body. "Wanna hook up again?"

Ok, ok, it took a bit longer than that. But they did get back together.
And have decided to live with each other happily ever after.
Amen to that!

Last week I read an interesting article in the Danish newspaper, Politiken. The article was written by Danish doctor, author and runner, Bente Klarlund, and it contained some very interesting facts.

Bente Klarlund's introductory question was: Do runners become runners, because they are smarter? Or do runners become smarter, because they are runners? And then she listed some facts from various studies all pointing to the fact that running (or any sport leading to an improved physical condition) actually also makes you smarter.

The reason for this (in layman's terms) is that  a period of around three month with regular exercise makes the hippocampus grow and improves your shortterm memory. The hippocampus is the part of the brain - the "door" - through which all memories pass.

There are various other factors also playing a role in influencing a person's memory, but in general, Bente Klarlund points out, we can count on the fact that exercise makes us smarter. I can certainly enjoy this benefit in my own personal life, but looking at my children, this theory becomes even more interesting.

In my own completely non-scientific observation of my own children, their friends and thinking back to my own school days (Yes, it is a looong time ago) I seem to have observed, that the children involved in regular sports generally did better in school than those who didn't exercise at all. Of course it is a trend, and I am sure that most of you will have more than one example of a football jock who did nothing but sports, and still didn't get good grades, or the computer nerd, who didn't move at all and still did great in school.

However, the article - especially in relation to our children - certainly gave me something to think about. And again it was confirmed that exercise should always be an important part of our lives.