Running & Music

Its been a years and debatable hot topics, should you listening music when running? Outside or inside (in treadmill)? There's so many pro and cons also many research to find the right "answer." In the beginning, i run without music..but its just only a 1km distance....when i started run further...ill try to listening music when do that and it's still continue until now. I'm aware i should consider the traffic and environment, if not safe i just hear music from my left ear..i let my right ear open to hear surrounding. It work well but honestly, i prefer run with my ears fill with the IEM.

So, i'm in pro side in this. I'm just recreational runners and wanna get fun in my "torture" session. Yes, i called my running season it's a torture...but somehow its addicted and push me to keep my concentrate and so called "meditation", i need to stay focus to control my breath and my cadence. Music help me to seal myself from any distracting sound and pump my spirits.

It's my experience, so this is opinion and research results about that:

‘Pro’ music is psychologist Lindy Emsley, who loves pairing her fast-paced road and treadmill runs with upbeat electronic music tracks. She’s what sports psychologists call a ‘dissociator’ – she spends her runs looking for ways to forget her protesting quads as she approaches a monster hill. “I find listening to upbeat songs distracts me from how tired I’m feeling,” she says. “Sometimes, a distraction is all I really need during a run in order to push myself.” Researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada examined the influence of music on self-paced running. They found participants who listened to fast-tempo music were more likely to self-select a higher running speed, elevate their heart rate to a higher level, and find the experience of running more enjoyable. 

Furthermore, Robert Jan Bood, a researcher at the MOVE Research Institute in Amsterdam, found that music significantly delays time to exhaustion. That’s because motivational music helps you to focus on the positive aspects of running, like happiness, and less on the negative aspects. “An external stimulus such as music can actually block some of the internal stimuli trying to reach the brain – such as fatigue-related messages from muscles and organs,” says Dr Costas Karageorghis, a sports psychologist who has studied music’s positive influence on athletes. According to Bood, music doesn’t appear to influence what you feel, only how you feel about it.

From a scientific viewpoint, Bood says, keeping the beat helps runners to maintain a consistent pace, by coupling cadence to the required tempo. When Emsley tried running with music that had a prominent and consistent beat, she says, it helped her boost her pace from 5:10 mins/km to 4:30 mins/km. “Music makes me run much faster. My body unconsciously adapts to the rhythm – when the beat gets faster, I tend to speed up with it.”

In 2009 study by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University in England looked at the effects of music of different tempos on stationary cycling performance. Twelve subjects rode bikes for 25 minutes at a self-selected intensity level on three separate occasions while listening to popular music. Without the subjects' knowledge, the tempo of the music was manipulated so that it was normal in one workout, 10 percent faster than normal in another workout, and 10 percent slower than normal in the remaining workout. The subjects' average power output over the full 25 minutes was found to be 3.5 percent greater when the music tempo was increased. Their power dropped by 9.8 percent when the music was slowed down.

So runners work harder, as a result of the motivational aspect of the music; and more efficiently, thanks to a consistent beat that matches their cadence, says Bood. What the researchers at Dalhousie University also found is that listening to slow music, post-exercise – again, as opposed to no music – resulted in faster heart rate and blood-lactate recovery. That’s because music actions the bits of the nervous system that conserve energy, and one of the ways it does so is by slowing down heart rate. 

Interestingly, listening to static noise (or fast music) didn’t lower participants’ heart rates at rest. Healthy individuals and athletes who engage in high-intensity interval training could use slow music during active rest periods to hasten recovery. A study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research found the most important factor for relaxation was how much participants liked the music. Listening to motivational songs (with a tempo that matches our cadence) helps improve our times, and calm songs accelerate our recovery.

Also a new research, presented at the american collage of cardiology has confirmed listening to upbeat music can increase endurance. it's thanks to feel-good chemicals released in the brain, which can stave off fatigue and pain.

So, i'm not alone in here...maybe you agree or disagree with this information. In terms of fun running, you must consider the safety reason when decided to run with music plug in you ear, don't raise the volume too loud and make sure you do that in low traffic environment. If you hesitate, just let one of your ear open, so you can still get the "pump" from music and aware the situation in the same times.


Source:
Runners World SA 11/2016
http://www.active.com/running/articles/can-music-make-you-a-better-runner
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-debates/should-you-listen-to-music-while-running
http://www.runnersworld.com/workout-music/running-debate-running-with-music


Run On!

Exercise Induced Asthma

Exercise induced asthma (EIA) is an obstructive airway disease that results in a reduced expiratory airflow during or following exercise. Most people with chronic asthma experience symptoms of asthma during exercise. However, there are many people without chronic asthma who develop symptoms only during exercise. There are a number of triggers that cause EIA such as breathing large volumes of air, dry air, cold air, high pollen count, pollution, presence of chest infection, dust and a chlorine environment such as indoor swimming pool.

When we who are susceptible to EIA, exercise in the presence of these triggers we initiate an inflammatory response that leads to a constriction of the smooth muscle that surrounds the airway. This constriction of airway smooth muscle and inflammation narrows the airway so that airway resistance is increased and expiratory airflow is decreased. Typically this happens most often after short, hard intense exercise but can occur during an endurance race. 

Endurance athletes are more susceptible to EIA than the general population because of the sustained high ventilatory demands of training and competition. During intense training and competition we breathe large quantities of air through our mouth, which requires the lower airways in our lungs to warm, humidify and filter the air. In susceptible individuals this causes an inflammatory process, which leads to the constriction of smooth muscle around the lower airway.

Although symptoms are a poor predictor of EIA, some athletes may experience coughing, expiratory wheeze, excess mucus production, chest tightness and difficulty in breathing. Many athletes may not recognise these symptoms and put a post training cough or tight chest down to simply training hard. Using the symptoms alone to diagnose EIA results in 50 per cent of athletes being misdiagnosed.

A secure diagnosis of EIA should involve an objective airway challenge that demonstrates the presence of an airway obstruction and the reversibility of the obstruction when treated with an inhaler such as salbutamol. Although GP practices can conduct assessments for asthma many practices do not offer assessments for EIA. You may have to ask to be referred to a specialist respiratory consultant in order to gain access to a suitable test.

Before you go to doctor, you may try to spot the difference between EIA and Dysfunctional breathing.

Exercise induced asthma

• Can limit exercise performance but narrowing of the airways typically occurs 5-10 minutes after exercise
• Wheeze on breathing out
• Fall in lung function post exercise
• Sound is primarily from the chest
• Symptoms relieved after inhalation of reliever inhalers

Dysfunctional breathing

• Occurs during intense exercise and resolves within 5 minutes of stopping exercise
• Wheeze on breathing in
• No fall in lung function post exercise
• Sound originates in the neck Symptoms remain after inhalation of reliever inhaler

Prevent The EIA

Asthma inhalers or bronchodilators used prior to exercise can control and prevent exercise-induced asthma symptoms. The preferred asthma medications are short-acting beta-2 agonists such as albuterol. Taken 10 minutes before exercise, these medications can prevent the airways from contracting and help control exercise-induced asthma.

Another asthma treatment that may be useful when taken before exercise is inhaled cromolyn sodium, such as Intal or Tilade,15 to 20 minutes before exercise. Having good control of asthma in general will also help prevent exercise-induced symptoms. Medications that may be part of routine asthma management include inhaled corticosteroids such as Qvar or Pulmicort.

An inhaled long-acting beta-2 agonist combined with a corticosteroid, such as Advair or Symbicort, may be added to the treatment regimen. In addition to taking medications, warming up prior to exercising and cooling down after exercise can help in asthma prevention. For those with allergies and asthma, exercise should be limited during high pollen days or when temperatures are extremely low and air pollution levels are high.

Source:

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/exercise-induced-asthma?page=2

Triathlon Plus, Winter 2016

Ride On!