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The world has become so high-paced and technology driven, that the majority of people cannot just ‘go for a run’. They have their headphones in, listening to high intensity music or a metronome to pick up their cadence in order run through the city, so they can cut out the noise of traffic, their heavy breathing or the people around them.

I personally believe that listening to music limits your experience of running and even your performance! Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you need high intensity music to get you through a tough hard interval session or a long run when you feeling unmotivated or ‘flat’. But you shouldn’t need the assist of music or cadence to push you along for every run. Start listening to your body and it will start telling you how fast you can go or the fatigue you may be feeling.

My advice is that for this week, run without headphones on. Feel the weather on your skin and your feet on the ground. Continue to assess your body’s positioning, ensure that your foot contacts directly below the body, that you maintain minimal knee bend during ground contact, maintain a neutral hip and lumber spinal position and that your chest and neck are being pulled up to the sky so that you’re not slouching. Assess the depth of breathing and that you’re filling your entire diaphragm. And finally, simply run to relax from the daily grind, this is your chance to get away from reality and fully immerse yourself in your environment. All these things are hard to do with music in your ears!

If you’re running the City2Surf this weekend leave your headphones at home. Take in the race and soak up the atmosphere with all your senses. Soak up the pre-event anxiousness, enjoy the provided music along the way, and more importantly leave your headphones at home so that you can continue to scan your body to check your technique, breathing and fatigue as appropriate. You may find you gain a whole new experience!