And to be honest, I’m sort of crazy and sort of sweet.
Sometimes I listen to Tori Amos, God Is An Astronaut, Christina Aguilera, B.O.B., and Rihanna. I know, where’s my fanny pack right?
Other times I find the hate (thank you Michael Signori) and listen to Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Korn, Diecast, Chevelle, Deftones, Sevendust, Jay-Z, Eminem… etc.
And sometimes it’s happy like Aerosmith (can’t wait for Saturday’s show at Fenway), Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Boston, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
Artists that also fit into my list are A Perfect Circle, Incubus, TOOL, Stone Temple Pilots, Dredg, 30 Seconds To Mars, 10 Years, Stone Sour, Timbaland, Slipknot, Justin Timberlake (like how I snuck that in at the end?), Nine Inch Nails and Anberlin.
Really anything goes.
But I find the upbeat absolutely drives me a little faster and awakens my better potential.
Here’s the playlist I created for my recent Metro Dash event in August.
Artist: Song
Deftones: Beauty School
Deftones: Risk
B.O.B: Airplanes
Eminem: Love The Way You Lie
Korn: Right Now
Mudvayne: Dull Boy
Korn: Here To Stay
Jay-Z: On To The Next One
Linkin Park: Faint
Chevelle: Midnight To Midnight
Chevelle: The Fad
Sevendust: Driven
Mudvayne: Not Falling
Five Finger Death Punch: Bulletproof
30 Seconds To Mars: Attack
Korn: Got The Life
Linkin Park: Qwerty (live)
Chevelle: This Circus
Jay-Z/Linkin Park: Points Of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer
Linkin Park: Bleed It Out
Linkin Park: Given Up
Chevelle: Brainiac
Mudvayne: Happy?
Mudvayne: Fish Out Of Water
10 Years: Actions & Motives
Of Course I didn’t listen to all of them as I tracked forward for moments when I needed to pick up the pace. So placing extra songs on the playlist helps significantly. In total I reserved 54 songs for that list.
Now for DEATH RACE, in June, I had a bit different of a list.
While hiking, pacing the steps, letting the hips settle into position, staying at a moving, yet comfortable pace it looked like this:
PLAYLIST: Snowboard Mix/Paisley Summer
John Lennon: Imagine
Chevelle: Shameful Metaphors
30 Seconds To Mars: Night Of The Hunter
Three Days Grace: Bitter Taste
The Raveonettes: Ode To L.A.
Dredg: Saviour
Camera Obscura: The Sweetest Thing
Before Their Eyes: Hope In Devotion
Before Their Eyes: Shotguns Speak Louder Than Words
Chevelle: The Fad
Camera Obscura: Honey In The Sun
Cheap Trick: Surrender
The Raveonettes: Love In A Trashcan
Linkin Park: Somewhere I Belong
Nancy Wilson: Elevator Beat
Spoon: The Underdog
Dredg: Drunk Slide
Camera Obscura: French Navy
Radiohead: Everything In Its Right Place
Dredg: Stamp Of Origin-Pessimistic
Sigur Ros: Svefn-G-Englar
The Beatles: Revolution
Mutemath: Spotlight
God Is An Astronaut: Lost Kingdom
Train: You Already Know
Stone Temple Pilots: Cinnamon
Howie Day: So Stung
Something Corporate: As You Sleep
Anna Nalick: Breaking The Girl
Jimmy Eat World: Sweetness?
Stone Temple Pilots: Take A Load Off
**For getting medieval while decimating ridiculously solid logs with an 8lb maul...**
PLAYLIST: HATE – REBIRTH
Mudvayne: Solve Et Coagula
Mudvayne: Dull Boy
Three Days Grace: Bitter Taste
Evans Blue: A Cross And A Girl Named Blessed
All That Remains: Two Weeks
30 Seconds To Mars: Attack
Korn: Blame
Linkin Park: Given Up
10 Years: Actions & Motives
Sevendust: Enemy
Five Finger Death Punch: Bulletproof
Mudvayne: Burn The Bridge
Sick Puppies: You’re Going Down
Mudvayne: Not Falling
Stone Sour: Get Inside
TOOL: Vicarious
So as you can see, you should pick your playlist based upon the energy you need to elicit. Myself, I try to preplan peaks and lows during a workout. High intensity followed by low intensity when needed assuming active recovery.
If you have a sick playlist, let me know some of the songs I should add to my own.
I’d love suggestions.
Live the dream,
Rob Belley
Metro Dash and Death Race are two events I highly suggest you check out :)
