15 Songs To Push Yourself To

Half of my running workouts I do with my iPod. So I spend a good couple hours a week plugged into the music as I bob and weave alongside traffic or down the park trails or up some hills. After years of listening to the same music in the same order (once again, hello compulsiveness!) I’ve recently embraced the “shuffle” function for each of the four playlists I run to.

The list I keep going back to these days is my pre-IM one. The day before the race, Chris and I sat in the Java Coffee house in downtown Coeur d’Alene. I think I ended up lying around on their comfy couches for at least 2 hours. With my giant headphones on, I played this set of tunes over and over again.

Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside. - Elvis Presley

Now these songs are imbued with even more memory and context. Fragments of lyrics speak to me. They are mantras. I mutter a lot of Drake’s words when I need to push myself. I quoted Rhianna and Drake on facebook in the early morning hours that Sunday. U2 reminds me of the swim. I associate it with liberation, freedom and feet in my face. Taio Cruz was the last artist I heard before heading to the beach. He was my sendoff guy. I still dig the song. I sang Magic to myself in the final miles of the bike. And, as usual, I sang One More Mile during the last three miles of the run. Sun setting, fans cheering, abs aching and smile stretching across my salty face.

No wonder I keep going back to it.

Music is personal, of course. And I’m first to admit this isn’t the most musically insightful collection. This isn’t “art” per se. But they get me moving and that’s what counts. Maybe these songs will work for you, maybe they won’t. If you are looking for a little variety in your digital world, here are some high-energy selects for you:

Heart of a Champion - Nelly
Find Your Love - Drake
Got Money - Lil Wayne
I Made It - Kevin Rudolph
Beautiful Day - U2
Ridin’ Solo - Jason Derulo
Solo - Iyaz
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Magic - B.O.B featuring Rivers Cuomo
Happy - Leona Lewis
Trinity - Paper Tongues
Run This Town - Rhianna/Jay-Z
Over - Drake
Forever - Drake
One More Mile - Paper Tongues