A 20 Minute 5K? I don't think so!!

I went for my run yesterday and was going to do my "long run". I usually listen to music on my Ipod touch while running the 45 minute run on the C25K app. My run went down hill fast (Kinda). About 3 minutes into the running portion of my app, My music died on me. NADA, NOTHING. I've never run with out my music on. It was an eye opener. I decided I wasn't stopping to fix the darn thing (I mean really, If I was in the middle of a race and my music died would I really stop and try to fix it? I don't think so!). So here are a couple of things I noticed (other than the sounds of nature, running water (I run next to a small creek), and my own labored breathing) I have become dependent on my music to set my pace. I don't like that idea. I usually turn on my music, settle into a pace and then go what ever distance I have set for that day. I now think I was setting that pace to slow! I also noticed that I had a hard time "breathing"  yesterday as opposed to when listening to my music. I think part of the thing was my pace was faster than I've done before so I was putting more effort into the run and couldn't find my "sweet spot" breathing wise, I just seemed out of sync the whole run. When I got home my C25K app showed I was only about 16 minutes into my run. UM...NO. There is no way I did my run yesterday in 20 minutes! I am not that good! So I have to do a complete wipedown of my i-touch and see if that will fix whatever glitch I hit. 

In the meantime - Any one have any suggestions on breathing technique? I am going to run this week without my music and see If I can figure this whole thing out. I really have to get away from this dependency on the music thing.

 When I read this, I was thinking, wow, how the heck did you read my thoughts!?  Yesterday I ran my second 5k in a local series.  I wore my  headphones listening to music, and I ran around 31 minutes.. now I am not setting out to break any records, but in my long runs of 5 or 6 miles, I have been averaging sub 9 minute miles - but, you guessed it, I usually don't wear headphones as I worry a bit when running on the road.   Hence, I really think there is something to music setting the pace for me.

On a side note, I use a droid phone (android os) and there is an  awesome application called cardiotrainer that I use - it will map your runs, tell you your pace and distance in real time, pretty cool.  It also has a race mode where it will tell you if you are ahead or behind your pace on runs you repeat... http://www.worksmartlabs.com/cardiotrainer/about.php    

Congrats on your 2nd race in your series! I am going to really pay attention what happens when I don't play the music vs. playing it. I usually run with one ear piece in but I run along a greenway path so the only traffic I really have to watch for are other walker/runners and kids on bikes (I tell you those kids can be dangerous!!)

After thinking about my "problem" yesterday I really think that running to the music wasn't challenging me enough. Granted I at least got through the C25K program using music and I'll run on occasion with music but after discovering all these new "revelations" yesterday I'm putting my headset down and running away from the music!

Thanks for the tip on the cardiotrainer! I'll have to look into investing into something eventually!

I would suggest running often without your music and listen to your breathing... Getting in touch with your body is far more important than getting in touch with your music. The more you do this, the more you will become aware of your gait, strides per minute, breathing, and RPE. Try it out by choice rather than by being forced to, you will learn to love it...

Dan - Thanks for the tips. I really thought I'd been paying attention to my body etc. But didn't realize how much my music was playing into setting my pace! I don't think I've been challenging myself enough after yesterdays run! Time to kick it up! No more music for me for awhile until I've gotten better at running.

Most of the time I don't use the music, I actually don't really hear it.
But when I do, I like to use the things like military running cadens or hard fast music.  Something with a hard beat that is easy to keep.

Some times I just count my steps over and over. 1234, 1234 every time the foot hits the ground.  Some kind of distraction to keep me from thinking am I done yet.

If you do decide to go back to music at all and you don't mind the techno type music there is a whole series called pod runner.  You can pick the tempo you want.  So if you are worried about challenging yourself, just download a faster tempo song.  Personally I don't like that music, so I have only used it once or twice.

I'll check out some of the pod runner series, thanks for the tip! I'm going to experiment a little with doing the no music thing and then do something different, so maybe the pod runner will work.