Podcast - Why I Always Run with Music (And Why You Should Too)
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[00:00:00] Despite multiple ultra runners hating on the use of music, including one of my personal ultra running heroes, David Goggins, today I'm going to share with you why I always bring music with me on my runs. And why you should too. Especially if you are a runner or an athlete with asthma. Now, there are plenty of people out there who ~say that when you run with music, you aren't. Now, there are plenty of people out there that ~say that running with music is cheating, that running with music can become a crutch, that running with music takes away from the running experience.
Well, I completely disagree with all of these reasons and believe that the use of music needs to be strategic and can be used to help you become,
The runner or athlete that you want to be.
[00:01:00] Welcome to the athlete with asthma show. I'm your host, Johnny Havey, an ultra runner endurance athlete. And yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer, nor run a marathon, let alone 100 K ultra. I proved them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
The first reason why I always run with music, and why you should too, is because music can be [00:02:00] used to help you with your breath. It can help you breathe better and calm down your breath while you're running. Now the use of music isn't just for running. As some of you may know, I am a yoga teacher and music is extremely important to the yoga that I teach.
Along with teaching a specific yoga flow class for runners, I also teach numerous yoga sculpt classes. Now I first got into YogaSculpt about a decade ago and I got into it as a exercise to really help me with my asthma.
High intensity interval training classes of any sort can be vital to you and your asthma. Increasing your lung capacity, strengthening your lungs as an athlete with asthma or as an athlete in general. So when I first started going to Yoga Sculpt, it was with [00:03:00] this in mind. ~I remember I, ~I remember in college when I first got introduced to yoga, I was doing what all college students do.
We were looking for free classes all around town. ~Well, the great thing is Core Power Yoga at the time was running. Well, the great thing is Core Power Yoga. ~Well, the great thing is Core Power Yoga ~to this day. ~has numerous free classes that you can check out every week. Now these free classes are typically a normal yoga flow class where you're just going through a vinyasa flow, ~different postures and, different postures and matching breath with music.~
~And yes, there is music. Okay. Where you're ~matching different postures with your breath. And, guess what? There's music. ~Well, you know what? ~Well, if you're lucky or if you look around enough, you may even find a free yoga school class. ~Well, ~this is what happened to me 10 years ago. ~I, ~I wasn't playing soccer anymore.
I was biking and I was starting to get into long distance road biking, but I really wasn't doing anything high intensity to get my heart rate up. ~And then in turn, teaching me to bring it back down. ~Then I found a free yoga sculpt class and I went and I was [00:04:00] hooked. Within five years ~I decided pretty immediately ~I went from going to yoga a couple of times a week to going almost every single day.
And there was a time when I was even going to multiple yoga classes a day and it was because of how I was able to harness the power of my breath ~and my ~with the movement of yoga, adding weights for strength, cardio, and music. And I'll tell you this, I have taken so many songs that I've learned in the yoga sculpt class over the years and brought them to my running playlist, brought them to classes that I teach now, because back in 2018, I decided that it was time for me to go and deepen my yoga practice and become a yoga sculpt teacher. Even if you don't want to become a teacher, it really helps you deepen your practice. And for me as an athlete with asthma, it really helped me to harness yoga and specifically yoga [00:05:00] sculpt with yoga to improve my asthma and my breath.
Now, some of my favorite songs that I use to this day to aid my breath, my breathing while I'm working out in any capacity. If it's in the Yoga Sculpt Studio, maybe it's doing a spin class or maybe it is training for one of my ultra marathons. I have a handful of songs that I learn about in different yoga classes that I take into whatever workout I'm doing to help me with my breath. ~Right now, some of my favorites are seven, ~Right now, some of my favorites are Any Variation of Seven Nation Army and The Stars Are Mine. Both of these songs have amazing beats that I'm able to, no matter what mile I am on in any sort of ultra or just a training run, I'm able to put the song on.
and start focusing on my breath. And I teach people how to do this in my yoga classes. I was [00:06:00] just teaching a class yesterday and when Seven Nation Army, the glitch mob mix came on, I gave my little spiel ~about how we use the songs,~ about how we use the beat of the song to zone our mind in, and push our exhales out. Earlier this year, I also got into doing something called cryotherapy.
Well, cryotherapy is very similar to a cold plunge. ~And basically, when you go into a cryotherapy chamber, that's ~The difference between cryotherapy and a cold plunge is a cold plunge is you go and submerge your body into cold water. While in cryotherapy, you go into a chamber or a room that is negative hundred plus degrees Fahrenheit. ~Well, well either way, if you're cold plunging or doing cryotherapy, one thing ~Well either way, if you're cold plunging or doing cryotherapy, if you want to get through it easier, you're going to need to use your breath. So what I was able to do in the cryotherapy chamber was actually play some of these [00:07:00] songs.
And The Stars of Mine was my favorite song to listen to while doing cryotherapy.
Now the key with matching your breath with the beat of the song is to use air. Audible exhales. Audible exhales have many benefits for you if you have asthma or not. ~No matter what, if you have as if you have asthma. ~All of us get an energy boost by using an audible exhale because our bodies literally become more efficient with our energy usage by using an audible exhale, you are forcing CO2 out of your lungs, therefore opening your lungs up to take in more oxygen, and you're telling your brain to focus on your breath, therefore increasing your energy production. Well, from an asthma perspective, this allows you to take control of your breath.
~When, ~before I started [00:08:00] using this breathing technique, ~I would find myself losing control of my breath deep in, ~I would find myself losing control of my breath in soccer games, in HIIT classes, yoga school classes, and while running, and I would have to stop, slow down, ~and catch control. ~and catch my breath. Well, by training yourself to breathe to music, you can train your brain to calm yourself down with your breath. So this is why even if you don't choose to listen to music throughout your entire runs, it is paramount to have music with you because you never know when you may need to use music to catch your breath. For me, ~yes, I have trained myself to, for me at this point, ~I have trained myself to get into my audible exhales without the use of music. But whenever I play music, my brain doesn't even have to think about doing audible exhales.
So, Especially if you have asthma, make sure that you train yourself to breathe on beat and always have music with you. Now this past year, [00:09:00] I ran my first 100k race. And as some of you probably know if you've listened to ~my videos, ~prior episodes, I was able to win it. ~Well, one of the reasons is because I have taken control of the, well, one of the reasons is because I have very, ~well, one of the reasons is because I have strategically taught my body how to run with music.
and without music. And during this race, I actually ran the first 26. 2 miles without music. Now I did this because the reality is, if I was going to listen to music the whole time, my phone would probably die. ~Also, I was using, also for, ~also my goal was to use my Bluetooth earbuds for the part of the race that I was listening to music. Now, I always, ~when I'm running, ~bring wired earbuds just in case, because you never know when you may have a mishap with your Bluetooth earbuds, especially if you're running for 12 hours. Even if you're running a marathon, you may have an issue with your Bluetooth earbuds ~actually ~keeping their charge the whole time.
So you want to make sure that [00:10:00] if you are going to use music ~to help you, ~to help you with your breathing, ~or to help you with the, or to help you with anything else I share with you in this, ~or to help you with anything else I share with you in this show, You have to make sure that you have a backup. And this is one of the things that people talk about is~ if you rely on music to help you run ~if you rely on music solely 100% To help you run, to help you work out, and then you don't have it, it can be a motivation killer. And that's why if you do find ~yourself ~that you really need music, especially if you're an athlete with asthma and you need music to help you with your breath, always make sure you have a strategy to have your music with you. And remember, if your headphones die, if you can't get your wired headphones to work, you can always play the music on your phone speaker so that you can get into your breath.
Now I have a disclaimer in the show notes and the description below the video on YouTube. I am not a healthcare provider. I'm not a healthcare professional. I am ~just an athlete with asthma who has, I'm ~just an athlete who's had asthma [00:11:00] since birth. So everything I talk about on this show comes from my experience.
So always check with your healthcare professional before integrating any of these things into your life, especially if you have asthma.
Hey friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed.
So I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely anywhere. free by clicking the link in the description. This [00:12:00] guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life to start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to Athlete with asthma dot com forward slash healthy dash living dash guide to grab your free copy.
Now, let's get back to the rest of the show.
So the second reason why I always run with music, and you should too, is because music literally acts as a painkiller. And this is why David Goggins doesn't like to run with music. ~Could you blame him? He is the, ~he is one of the hardest core endurance athletes in the world, and he is a purist. So he has [00:13:00] literally trained himself to not listen to anything while he runs.
~Well, if you want to be a purist, then, well, if your goal is to be a purist, then, ~well, if your goal is to be a purist, the great thing is, you can still be a purist. and have music with you, especially if you are an athlete with asthma ~and this trick ~and if this method of matching your breath with your music works for you, ~because ~just because you have music with you doesn't mean you have to listen to it. For my 100k race, I knew that I would need to run at least half of the race without music to feel comfortable and confident that I would have music, podcasts ~like this one, ~and audiobooks ready if ~and when ~I got to a part of the race where I needed to use it as a painkiller.
I needed to use it to distract myself. So that means that I trained myself to run without music, but I always have it with me. And using progressive overload, you can train with music and eventually get to a point where you're running a marathon without music. ~You're running a 50 mile race without music.~
You're [00:14:00] running a 100 mile race without music. Just because you start listening to music and you use it to get yourself going as a runner doesn't mean you always have to listen to it. And that's why I strongly disagree with people out there, including David Goggins, when it comes to the concept of not listening to music. When I first started running, I always listened to music. It could be a three mile run. It could be a 10 mile run. Either way, I'd be listening to music because I did feel like I needed it. Now I slowly weaned myself off of it and that wasn't really difficult. All it takes is knowing that if you need music to get started, then listen to music to get started, but then take a break a mile or two in, and run without music for half a mile, run without music for a mile, and ~just ~tell yourself, this is my challenge for the day.
You can use progressive overload to do this. ~Remember, progressive overload is progressively increasing. Now remember, progressive overload is when you, ~now remember, progressive overload is when you [00:15:00] progressively increase something, ~okay? ~For running, it could be progressively increasing your mileage. ~Four years ago, I'd never ran more than, ~four years ago, I'd never ran more than six miles.
And those six miles I was running, while listening to music. Fast forward to a couple months ago and I ran a full marathon on my way to running a 100k race without music. And then yes, I turned on music around mile 28,
But you see the growth I had within four years and you can have the same growth. So if you need music to get going, to get out there, to get started, to take your mind off of running, to act as a painkiller for you, a natural painkiller, by the way, I personally would rather listen to music as a painkiller while I'm running ~than take any sort of er ~than take any sort of over the counter drug as a painkiller while running. So, these are the things you gotta think about.
So, even though someone may say Oh yeah, I never run with music, but I take all sorts of painkillers while I'm running. And I'm an ultra runner. ~I'm taking painkillers. ~How [00:16:00] is that any different than running with music and using that as your painkiller while running? During my 100k ultra, I didn't take any painkillers The only thing I did was listen to music Especially when I got to mile 37.
So 37 miles into my 100k ultra my left hamstring cramped up really bad. I was fighting it for a couple of miles and it wasn't seizing up and I was drinking water. I was doing everything I could. I was getting electrolytes in. I wasn't near an aid station at the time, so I couldn't get salt and really make sure that my body had the fuel it needed.
~So I was doing everything I could. ~I was listening to music. I was rubbing out my hamstring a little bit as I could while I was running. I did everything I could in the mile 37 it seized up excruciating pain. ~Um, ~And what did I do? I called my trainer. She told me what I needed to do. ~She,~
she reminded me that it would pass and she told me to get to the nearest aid station as quickly as possible. Good thing is I was one mile out from an aid station. I put on one of my [00:17:00] favorite songs. ~I walked through it after about a quarter mile. I, ~after about a quarter mile I was able to push through the pain using my music, music, using my breath and I got all the way.
to that next aid station to refuel, get salt in my body, drink a ton of water, add salt to my camelback, keep going and ultimately end up winning that race.
So I ask you, would you rather take an over the counter painkiller? or listen to music as a natural painkiller during your run.
Now my third and final reason why I always run with music and why you should too, is because music can literally get you into flow state. So what is flow or a flow state? Flow is when you are completely immersed in an activity. You feel energized. You're focused. and you are in complete control of what you're doing. Who doesn't want to get into flow state? No [00:18:00] matter what, if you use music to get into flow state, or you have some other sort of routine to get there, the best athletes and the most productive people in the world know how to get themselves in flow state. Tony Robbins talks about this all the time, where when you get into flow state, you are in a place of creation and pure possibility.
Well, You can use music to help you get there. Remember when we talked about earlier how you can match your breath with the music? ~Well, by, well, Well, if you do, ~well, if you do it long enough and you personally connect with a piece of music, you will find yourself in flow. And this is why I use songs over and over and over in my training. ~I ~I not only listen to songs like Seven Nation Army and The Stars Are Mine while running, I listen to them while teaching YogaSculpt.
I [00:19:00] listen to them while I work out. I listen to them while I'm doing a 30 minute workout and I listen to them while I'm doing ~a 3, 4, 5 hour running. ~A 3, 4, 5 hour long run because I am telling my brain that this song is important to me. And by matching my breath with the song in all of these different scenarios, this creates repetition.
And these two specific songs that I like to breathe to have amazing beat that allows me to get into a sequence, that allow me to get into a pattern that I don't even have to think about. So when you combine all of these things, you are able to harness the power of music and even get into flow. This happened to me 55 miles in to my 100k ultra. Going into my last lap, I've never ran more than 50 miles before. And while I was feeling pretty good, I was [00:20:00] tight. ~My body had, ~my body was entering uncharted territory. So what did I do? I used music to get myself into flow. Well, with the pace I was doing at that time, ~that is just under an hour is ~it took me just under an hour listening to music, focusing on my breath to get myself into flow. But once I got myself into flow, ~I kept I kept, I listened to, I literally listened, ~I listened to myself and my body ~and the physil, ~and the physiological response that was occurring in my body when different songs were coming on.
And at the time, at mile 55, Seven Nation Army, the glitch mob mix, is the song that was speaking to me. It was the song that made it easy for my brain ~to ~to let everything go on autopilot. It was the song that was easy for me to breathe to. So I started looping it And at mile 55, I was able to catch the first place male contestant, that I had been chasing for nine hours.
He passed me [00:21:00] two hours into the race, and I had been chasing him since that morning. ~Well,~ well, when I passed him, I was in a completely different state than he was. I was in flow. I knew That I had this race. I knew that I had what I needed within me. to win this race. So when I passed him, ~I not only was listening to this song, ~I was breathing extremely loud on beat.
I literally became a machine. I was in flow state where nothing could touch me. ~And I felt that way for the next seven miles. And I felt that way for the next seven miles. ~I felt that way for the next seven miles. And with a mile and a half left, my brain told my body, ~You got this. ~You got this. It's time to empty the tank.
And I ran a sub seven minute mile for the last ~seven miles. ~mile and a half of the race and ended up beating the second place male runner by 25 [00:22:00] minutes. I ran the last seven miles of the race 25 minutes faster than he did, and it was because I was in flow state. Now, when I first got into running I made a lot of mistakes and I have another episode that you can watch
about the 5 biggest mistakes runners make and how to avoid them. Well, one of the things that I did when I first started running is I started to overeat. Now, I didn't think I was overeating at the time because, you know, ~when you start running, when you start working out, because ~when you start running or start exercising, a lot of people tell you, hey, You can eat whatever you want.
So that's what I was doing. I was eating whatever I wanted. Now I was eating pretty healthy because I was eating home cooked food. I wasn't eating out a lot. And I have always really eaten relatively healthy throughout my life. When I ran the Honolulu Marathon, the second official marathon that I ever ran, I felt terrible.
I was [00:23:00] 40 pounds overweight. I weighed just under 200 pounds and I'm five foot nine. So I was significantly overweight at the time. And even though I was moving, I was running a lot, I was missing the two other pillars of healthy living. There are three pillars of healthy living. Movement, tracking, and accountability.
And what I've done, because since then I have not only lost 40 plus pounds, I have kept it off, ~and I have become a, and I have become~ And I have become an ultra marathon winning competitive athlete with asthma. Well, what I've done is I've taken these pillars and I've put them into a free, healthy living guide for you.
That will take you less than three minutes to read and start integrating into your life. You can grab your free copy of the healthy living guide in the description of the video or in the show notes below. ~If you're listening to this on pot, if you're listening to this as a podcast, In the description below the video ~if you're ~listening to this on YouTube or in the show notes if you are ~listening to this as a [00:24:00] podcast.
Or you can go to www. athletewithasthma. com forward slash healthy dash living dash guide to grab your free copy. Thanks for watching and listening today. I'm excited to hear how bringing music with you
has helped you become the runner and athlete you want to be. I'll see you in the next one.
Thanks for tuning in to the athlete with asthma show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It's about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals. And if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast with [00:25:00] others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
