If you're one of those people who always wears headphones when you run, read on. Like many of you, I have a running playlist. But usually, I'll skip songs with tempos that don't match up with the speed I'm running at. Or I'll speed up/slow down to match the song. Either way, this is called matching a song's "Beats Per Minute" (BPM) to your running speed. Luckily, if you want to customize your playlist to fit your run better, there's an easy way to match it up.
There are websites and apps that do this for you. Run2Rhythm is an entire website filled with running speed tips and personalized music mixes. To get started, they suggest:
"1. Run for 15 minutes at a pace you are comfortable with
2. If you are starting out this will be slower than if you are a conditioned runner.
3. During that run count your steps for 1 minute. Do this several times to get an average.
4. Then, refer to the chart below to determine the BPM you should choose."
Once you have a good sense of your steps per minute, you can look at this chart and determine what your beats-per-minute count is.
Now the fun part. To find songs with your BPM, you have many options.
The website BPM Database has profiled thousands of songs. You can search by song title or artist to find out what the BPM is for certain songs you enjoy.
Song BPM is another good website for this. It also links to the songs on Amazon Music and Spotify so you can easily add them to your playlist.
With Beat Match City, you can search by BPM and see several songs that fit your running tempo.
People are catching on to this trend, and there are plenty of other websites that also do this (Google is your friend). Find one that works for your and you'll be set.
**Songs that have your BPM divided by two (i.e. an 80 BPM song for a 160 steps-per-minute pace) also work in the same way and can be great additions to your playlist.**
Customizing your playlist to your running speed can keep your run pace consistent and make your runs more efficient. With the right music, runs can suck less :) Try it out!
