During my year abroad, precisely the 29th May 2025 according to my Strava, I went on the best run of my life. It was raining, and I didn’t want to go, but I dragged myself outside, and decided on a whim to put on Gershwin instead of my usual playlist. It was life changing. As I ran to the finale of Rhapsody in Blue, I had a spring in my step like I had never experienced before. That was when I realised that I had been doing running music all wrong.
Previously, I listened to a more standard running playlist. For me this consisted of high-energy 2000s and 2010s pop classics, the sort you would find on the bop playlist of an unimaginative entz rep. Don’t get me wrong, this certainly has its place, and I do sometimes return to this playlist when I’m in the mood, but I think running to this sort of music has a few key issues. Firstly, each song is self-contained and unrelated to the ones preceding or following it. This means on runs when I was lacking motivation, I would find myself counting the songs, and discouraged when it would take me three to complete a kilometre on slow days. Secondly, you’re never going to be in the mood to run to every song on your playlist, and it can be frustrating to find yourself needing to skip and interrupt your flow. Finally, at times it just feels a bit lacklustre, sometimes you just want to feel like you’re in a film, and for this there is nothing better than classical music.
If you think about it, the standard structure of a symphony – one of the most common types of longer orchestral piece, made up of four musical ‘chapters’ called movements – is the perfect companion to a run. They usually start out lively, either matching your motivation and keeping your energy levels high, or giving you a much needed boost on days when you’re not feeling it so much. Then, with a couple of kilometers under your belt and a state of flow reached, you can settle in and enjoy a slower and more lyrical second movement. If you are starting to flag, a dancelike third movement is sure to give you a pick me up, often more light-hearted to keep you energised. You then finish with a flourish as the finale, the most epic of all the movements, leaves you feeling like you have conquered the world as you cross your imaginary finish line – bonus points if you listen to a live recording so are met with rapturous applause. Your run becomes cohesive, tied together by the narrative arc of one whole piece of music.
But of course, not all symphonies follow this structure, and indeed, not all classical music comes in symphonies. That’s the beauty of it, you can find a piece that suits your mood for the day and the length of your run, and then you just keep running until it’s finished. You are discouraged from stopping early, lest you leave any themes unresolved, or lose out on the satisfying ending that ties it all together. It’s the ultimate motivator.
If you’re not sure where to start, I have a few tried and tested recommendations to help get you outside this dark and rainy February. If you’re only going on a short run, Boléro by Ravel is the ultimate slow burn, perfect for helping you push through to the end (or for those, inspired by the Winter Olympics, who want to feel like Torvill and Dean). For runs around half an hour long, concertos are often a good bet, and you can hardly do better than any Rachmaninov piano concerto, especially the second. Then for runs nearing an hour, you need to look for a symphony. Some personal favourites to run to are Tchaikovsky’s 5th and Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony, but you really have so many options available to you. For runs even longer, Mahler symphonies are a great choice – my first time running to Mahler’s 2nd Symphony was transcendental. Getting into half marathon territory, you could listen to an entire ballet or opera – I can personally recommend Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet for your next 21.1km run. Someone brave enough to embark on an ultramarathon could even listen to Wagner’s entire Ring Cycle – there really is a piece for every run!
So next time you don your running shoes, or if you’ve never run before in your life, I encourage you to put on some classical music. You’ll never be able to look back.
