I’m not much for running, frankly, I’m too lazy and too slow to find it in any way enjoyable but were I to run a half-marathon (I won’t, ever) I’d want to do one like this one in London on October 5. Designed by British sports psychologist Dr. Costas Karageorghis, the inagural “Run to the Beat” half-marathon will feature 17 live bands along the course with ecletic genres of music.
“Music is like is a legal drug for athletes,” says the good doctor, “It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15 percent. The synchronous application of music resulted in much higher endurance while the motivational qualities of the music impacted significantly on the interpretation of fatigue symptoms right up to the point of voluntary exhaustion.” Maybe Ricky Williams should look into marathons instead of football, it might help with all the temptations…
Karageorghis also pointed out that in recent research he conducted, runners listening to artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna and Queen ran further, faster and longer but also apparently enjoyed themselves more, even to the point of collapsing from effort. Although it is just as likely that the runners were collapsing from being forced to listen to Madonna…
Each band will play “scientifically selected” music for the runners as they go past that intends to help the runners reach peak performance.
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