Tune Up Your Performance

More and more runners are looking to music to power their running. In a recent poll of Runner’s World readers, around 50 per cent of you said you regularly listen to music when you run. But is tuning into your MP3 player and tuning out from your body really going to make you a better runner? That depends, say experts, on what kind of person you are.

Athletes are said to have two types of mental strategies: association (tuning in) and dissociation (tuning out). Those mind-sets are further defined as internal (focusing inwards) or external (focusing outwards).

Runners who internally associate pay attention to how their body feels while running by monitoring fatigue, soreness and breathing. Those who externally associate home in on things that are important to the race going on around them, such as checking a pace band or watch and looking for mile markers. For these people, music is an unhelpful distraction from the task in hand.

Sights and sounds can be crucial, though, for runners who use dissociation. Forms of internal dissociation include song lyrics, mantras and mind games. And people who externally dissociate use their surroundings – including music from their MP3 player, scenery, spectators, or chatty running partners – as diversions.

Competitive runners tend to associate more than dissociate; runners who are less concerned with time often rely on more dissociative techniques. "If you’re not outcome-oriented, you’ll look for distractions, including music," says Dr Costas Karageorghis, a reader in sport psychology at Brunel University in London.

Music isn’t only good for when you want a diversion from the miles you’re running, it could make you a healthier runner too. "Listening to music that makes you feel good can actually boost your immune system," says Professor Daniel Levitin, a Canadian neuroscientist and author of This is Your Brain On Music (www.amazon.co.uk).  Even if you don’t listen to music when you run, consider taking the time to relax and listen to some of your favourite tracks when you’re stretching or when you’re on a recovery day.

Think about leaving the headphones at home for races, though. "You’ll run better if you associate," says sports psychologist Dr Cathleen Connolly. "When you’re associating, you’re in tune with your body, and you tend to run with better form and maintain pace – things that can allow you to run stronger," she explains.

This strategy works particularly well during shorter races. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the USA discovered that non-elite runners who stayed focused ran a 5K more than a minute faster, on average, than their dissociating counterparts.

However, in a longer race, music might help distract you from fatigue and allow you to finish strongly. There is also evidence that listening to music leads to greater oxygen efficiency, according to a study in the Journal of Sports Medicine.