Choosing the Right Music

     It is just a week until I decided to add a running component to the walks I have been doing and I'm trying to figure out how to overcome my problem of "Out running my lungs."  Here is what I mean by "Out Running My Lungs".  The human heart is a small fist like organ that is required to beat 24/7 for your entire life.  It's job is to bring oxygen to your cells and remove carbon dioxide.  The heart pushes out about 70 mL per beat.  That blood must get from the heart to its destination, swap gas loads, and return.  Now for every pound of body fat that you add to your body, your body must add 7 miles of blood vessels, most of which are cappilaries.

     Now, if we put it into different terms, think of oxygenated blood as gasoline in a gas tank.  If my car gets 30 miles per gallon, I should be able to drive 300 miles on one tank of gas.  Now, if I have to travel less than 300 miles, I won't run out of gas.  Now with increased body fat, the destination is now much further away and I may now not be able to get to the end destination before I run out of gas.  The same works with the heart.  If the pathways are too long, I may not be able to get the blood to my working muscles and that is why I become totally gassed.  (Pun definitely intended.)

Now, the trick is to increase my workload without putting my body into an oxygen debt; causing me to take multiple breathing breaks.  Part of the problem is the choice of music on my iPod.  I like hard driving rock songs, but they typically play at  150-200 beats per minute.  So, what does that look like?

Slow Walk- 3mph-20 min/mile

Military Cadence - 3.4 mph - 17.64 min/mile

Fast Walk- 4 mph - 15 min/mile

Double Time Cadence - 5.1 mph - 11.76 min/mile

Slower Rock Music -6mph - 10 min/mile

Fast Rock Music - 10 mph - 6 min/mile

Speed Metal - 12 mph - 5 min/mile

In an effort to run at a decent pace without blowing my lungs to pieces or dropping dead on the road, I have been looking up military cadences.  This should get me to a steady and managable pace until I can run steady to my rock music.  There are a few hip-hop cadences that follow the military cadences, but are catchy to listen to such as Motava8. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhlR6hQpd7o

IF IT WORKS FOR THE BEST-

IT SHOULD WORK FOR ME.