Music is Your Ultimate Training Partner

It pumps you up, saves tough workouts, and makes you a better (happier!) runner.

- By Dave Holmes, Matthew Huff, Liz McCaffery, Aram Mrjoian, Rozalynn S. Frazier

DOES YOUR RUNNING MUSIC REVEAL YOUR TRUEST SELF?

Distance running has its hazards. We expect sore knees and tight hips; we navigate the early mornings and figure out something for the surplus of race T-shirts. But on top of all of that, I'm dealing with something uncomfortably personal. Thanks to running, I'm navigating the world's silliest identity crisis.

Here's the deal: I must run to music, and I start off every long run like the indie rock guy I consider myself to be. "An open road and a new Arcade Fire album," I tell myself in kilometer one. And that works... for about 20 minutes. Then the endorphins start and my mood lifts and my fingers make decisions my conscious brain might not condone. I click away from the cool bands, and I call forth the divas. Wet Leg gives way to Chaka Khan. My headphones become the world's most exclusive disco. The data does not lie, and the data tells me I do this a lot. Like, approximately 100 percent of the time that I run.

It was Spotify that diagnosed my split personality. Recently I looked at my algorithm-generated Daily Mixes, and the truth could not be denied. Mix 1 was Fontaines D.C. and Sam Fender, music I'm comfortable telling people I like. Mix 2 was Ariana Grande and Beyoncé, music I am in the closet about loving. The app put it as plainly as possible: Mix 1 is who you want to think you are, but Mix 2 is... who you are.