Podcasts

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Podcasts are a great tool when doing C25K because they provide music and — more importantly! — audio cues about when to run and — more importantly! — when to stop and walk. This allows you to focus on only the running, not on fumbling with your timing device, remembering what your intervals are for this week, etc. It is much easier to run when told to run and walk when told to walk

I like variety during the week. Partly because I like variety, and partly because I will figure out pretty quickly that hearing “hey girl get your funk on” means I have 30 more seconds to go … when I was darn certain I’d been running for at least twice as long as intended already. So I rotate between the podcasters for my workouts.

There aren’t many published podcasts; if you download and use a podcast with copyrighted music, then I can only assume you already have those songs in your playlist and are using the podcast for convenience sake/verbal cues only.

I’ve rounded up most of those I could find in the sidebar, along with a tutorial for making your own. The mothersite, C25K.com, has other alternatives for making your own and information on newer apps that make that easy to do. There are also several iPhone apps that allow you to set the run/walk cues to play over your own music.

When you reach a point of doing longer runs — i.e., less verbal cuing required — you might want to look into some playlists and mixes that focus on matching your running music to your optimal/desired speed.

One such site is JogTunes: “Tunes for running, jogging, and working out exactly to the beat of your music. The best running music, workout songs, a podcast, playlists and mixes, iMixes, and links to iTunes Music Stores and Amazon/MP3. And we determine the BPMs (beats-per-minute) so you don't have to!”

Another is Run2Rhythm: “The world’s first website with specially composed running music. It’s not just about teh music. It’s about running to the rhythm of the music. And it’s not everyday pop music — it’s great running music. Don’t take your music on a run, let our music take you on a run!”

I also bookmarked fitMusic (mostly due to the word “free” in their slogan: “fresh. free. fitness music.”): “fitMusic.com is the free online source of new and original music specifically for people who love to listen to music while they spin, run, walk, exercise—however they like to keep in shape. Our music and mixes is all about pumping the fun factor in fitness!”

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