iPod Arm

I love music. And I am big on wanting to block things out in certain situations - in law school, I took almost all my exams with headphones on, back in the days when even recordable CD's were not commonplace. The one time I was asked to remove the headphones, I was lost, and couldn't focus. Having not gone to that class at all may have also figured into the negative experience, but I really felt I was better off writing about immigration law with Tanya Donnelly's sweet voice in my head.

Well, as you know by now, personal music devices will be verboten at this year's AT&T Austin Marathon and Half Marathon. Last year, without an enforcement mechanism in place, and before USA Track and Field officially banned them at USATF-covered events, they went with just strongly discouraging their use.

Many large marathons, including the Marine Corps Marathon, immediately, and probably eagerly, complied. The Twin Cities Marathon warned people headphones were banned, but people ignored the warnings, or perhaps couldn't hear them over the Justin Timberlake rattling in their skulls, and 176 runners were disqualified. I'm not clear yet how it will be enforced in Austin. I note that there seemed to be more headphones than ever at 3M, despite their ban.

The flap from the average headphone-wearing runner crowd is pushing the USATF to reconsider, but for now, the rule stands. I do wonder how much influence Nike, obviously a major sponsor in many events, is going to impose on the race director community, since they've put so much into their partnership with Apple.

In large part, the USATF enacted the rule to conform to the policy of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which is mainly concerned with the use of two-way radios in competition.

For most races, though, the main issue is safety. I can't think of the last race where I didn't see a number of examples of people being completely oblivious to their surroundings because they were wearing headphones. I've seen people not able to hear the sirens of support vehicles passing them, or the shouts of "wheelchair up" when a wheelchair racer needs to be able to pass. I was even observing at 3M that when moving through a not-too-thick crowd, a runner will hear you come up and often move over just a little to help you pass through a tight spot. Runners with headphones tend to be in their own little world, though.

I also believe (pause for effect) that headphones have a deleterious effect on running form. Yeah, that's right. I'm tempted to submit an article on "iPod Assymetry Syndrome" and submit it to a medical journal, except that I'm lazy.

I started thinking about this watching an avid marathoner I knew for well over a year that would wear her iPod on her right arm. She also wore her long hair in a ponytail, and many times, running behind her, I could see the ponytail didn't swing evenly. You could trace the asymmetry to her shoulders, and to... the arm with the iPod strapped to it. From there, you could even see the slight imbalance in her stride. She even had some issues in the leg that ended up getting the shortened stride, which could be due to any number of factors... but you had to wonder.

I know when I run with an iPod on my arm, it's easy to get caught up in cord management (pardon the pun). Watch runners, and most of them carry their music-bearing arm differently.

As we've all figured out by now, the high repetition of the motions of running means that imbalances and eccentricities have consequences, and will likely be mirrored elsewhere. Everyone should, by now, be feeling and seeing the link between the way you move your arms, and your stride.

When you shorten the travel of one arm, it's likely to play out in the stride, because you're essentially throwing yourself out of balance. There's also the added tension in the shoulder from carrying that arm out slightly. Over any appreciable distance, it all translates to "no bueno."

When I do take the iPod on a training run, I use a little Shuffle and attach it to my waistband - it doesn't move through a range of motion, so the cord stays stable. Even then, I make the the cord short enough or run it through my shirt so that I don't have to move the arm on that side any differently to clear it.

Finally, and most importantly to me, I don't want to race or even train much with music, because it's a crutch, even a cheat. Clearly, we want to run with music because it benefits us - it keeps us from getting bored, it motivates us. There's a reason the Nike+ iPod system has a "Power Song" feature. Hell, I want to add a Nano to my ridiculous Apple product lineup just so I can push the button and immediately go to AC/DC's "Hell's Bells".

One whin- sorry, "runner", in one of the articles said "I need my music to get me through it. A marathon is a mental challenge and if I don't have my music to keep me motivated, it just isn't fun."

Well, guess what? Remember that we do this precisely because it is not "easy", and it is not "fun" in the same way as, say, Whack-A-Mole, or taunting Ron Paul supporters online. You've all learned how important the mental component of distance running is. The thing is, we're not all running to challenge the winning time in a race - we all run to challenge our own limits and abilities, and that's ultimately a mental challenge of your ability to deal with discomfort and pain, and to continue to push yourself. Whether you are physically capable of running a 2:20, three-hour, four-hour, or five-plus hour marathon, it all comes down to your ability to push yourself.

Even that "boredom", that being alone in your head, is one of the difficult parts of distance running. It's one of the reasons running's a challenge in the first place - can you keep your mental focus over the miles, and over the time you need to complete those miles? Music can help you dissociate, which is a perfectly acceptable method of dealing with pain and boredom. But again, it's external, it's not a skill or a layer of toughness you've developed. You're just taking it away. You might as well be racing on painkillers, or high.

If you say you get bored, or need the distraction, and music gives that to you, then that music is a crutch. The mind is a powerful thing - I completely believe I could run a faster race at almost any distance with the "Rocky" theme pounding through my head every step of the way. But I don't race with headphones, exactly because it's such an effective crutch.

There are plenty of good, real external motivators in a race - spectators are a huge one. But spectators are an expected, almost natural part of a running event. Support from other humans for what you're doing that moment is meaningful, and should be more inspiring than any song. And ironically, with headphones on, you're going to miss a lot of that.

I'll do training runs with an iPod occasionally, when I just need to knock out a run, and because I almost see running with music as a separate sort of activity from running. But more often, I'll specifically choose to go without it, because I know I need to exercise my mental focus and toughness.

I've been happy seeing some of you ditching the headphones as the training season has progressed. If you still train all the time with headphones, I recommend taking some runs without them in the next few weeks to get used to the difference.

You've all trained really hard, and most of you have displayed some extraordinary toughness along the way. Listen to some relaxing music the night before. Crank the tunes up in your car on the way to the race, and get pumped. But leave the headphones at home. We've got 40 bands on and around the course. We've got a gospel choir at mile 5.5 that is gonna blow you away. One of Mandy's Rock Camp kids bands, Holy Hand Grenade, will be on Cesar Chavez, under the Lamar bridge. It's going to be an inspiring day, even without whatever you damned kids are listening to these days.