Music is Your Ultimate Training Partner

It pumps you up, saves tough workouts, and makes you a better (happier!) runner

DOES YOUR RUNNING MUSIC REVEAL YOUR TRUEST SELF?

Distance running has its hazards. We expect the sore knees and the tight hips; we navigate the early mornings and figure out something for the surplus of race T-shirts. But on top of all of that, I am dealing with something uncomfortably personal. Thanks to running, I'm navigating the world's silliest identity crisis.

Here's the deal: I must run to music, and I start off every long run like the indie rock guy I consider myself to be. An open road and a new Arcade Fire album, I tell myself in mile one. And that works...for about 20 minutes. Then the endorphins start and my mood lifts and my fingers make decisions my conscious brain might not condone. I click away from the cool bands, and I call forth the divas. Wet Leg gives way to Chaka Khan. My headphones become the world's most exclusive discotheque. The data does not lie, and the data tells me I do this a lot. Like, approximately 100 percent of the time that I run.

It was Spotify that diagnosed my split personality. Recently I looked at my algorithm-generated Daily Mixes, and the truth could not be denied. Mix 1 was Fontaines D.C. and Sam Fender, music I am comfortable telling people I like. Mix 2 was Ariana Grande and Beyoncé, music I am in the closet about loving. The app put it as plainly as possible: Mix 1 is who you want to think you are, but Mix 2 is who you are.