Performance Enhancing Music: My Half-Marathon Playlist

I will admit to no EPO, no steroids and no blood doping in yesterday’s half-marathon race. However, there was one crucial external factor that affected my performance and which is “highly discouraged” by the New York Road Runners Club: the use of headphones. To this, I admit that I am guilty and I freely state that “I have used performance enhancing music.”

Having divested myself over the years of far too many bad habits, there are still a few things to which I am addicted and use to make my life a better experience. For instance, I can’t go for more than about a minute without a big hit of oxygen and sometimes take huge deep breaths and even have been known to practice Kapalabhati, a sort of yoga binge breathing technique. But, all of my drug use now, if not for the practice of internally applying alcohol for some of life’s small injuries, is of the endogenous variety. If it is not a finely nuanced pinot or a fruity but dry sauvignon blanc, or perhaps a hoppy Porter or one of the darker pale ales, my altered states are almost exclusively due to endorphins or some variant of the met or leu enkaphalins, otherwise known as endogenous opioid peptide neurotransmitters. (The selective production and use of endogenous adrenaline will be the topic of another posting.) And, as is the case for all of the endogenous opiates, they are free and you are your own dealer. All you have to do is practice one of the various endorphin-producing behaviors like dunking your body in icy cold water, eating highly spiced foods, yoga or participating in endurance sporting events, of which I prefer the latter three activities in particular.

There is, however, an external multiplier agent that is often used by long distance athletes to enhance the neuromodulator experience: 160-190 beats per minute hard core rock and rhythm and blues (primarily of the southern variety), applied extra-aurally through the use of headphones and at high decibels.  This habit, also referred to as “cranking up the tunes” helps to accelerate both heartrate and stride count, providing an energizing effect, pushing performance up close to the human “red line” and triggering the necessary endorphin production to keep pace with the music. And, in the interest of full disclosure, here is my playlist from yesterday’s epic run through Central Park, Midtown Manhattan and along the Hudson River to downtown.

Ride Like the Wind – Chris Cross

Beast of Burden – The Rolling Stones

Let’s Get it Started – Black Eyed Peas

Takin’ Care of Business – Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Piece of Me – Brittney Spears

Old Time Rock & Roll – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne

I’m So Excited (12” Extended Mix) – The Pointer Sisters

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

Rehab – Amy Winehouse

Crazy in Love (featuring Jay-Z) – Beyonce

Lose Yourself – Eminem

Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

Candyman – Cristina Aguilera

Sexyback – Justin Timberlake

Jump – Van Halen

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – Kit Tunstall

Sympathy for the Devil (Original Single Stereo Version) – The Rolling Stones

The House is Rockin’ – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Surfin Safari – The Beach Boys

Born to Boogie – Hank Williams Jr.

Rock This Town – Braian Setzer Orchestra

Pon de Replay – Rihanna

Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones

Rock & Roll Never Forgets - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (from the Nine Tonight album)

Let it Rock - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (from the Nine Tonight album)

Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down – Alicia Keys (for walking through the finish line area)

Caution: the use of 180 beat-per-minute music during sporting events should only be attempted by trained athletes or the top of your head may fly off while singing along in the final mile of a half marathon to Bob Seger:

So you're a little bit older and a lot less bolder
Than you used to be
So you used to shake 'em down
But now you stop and think about your dignity
So now sweet sixteens turned thirty-one
You get to feelin' weary when the work days done
Well all you got to do is get up and into your kicks
get in into the mix
If you need a fix
Come back baby
Rock and roll never forgets