By Tripp Norton, USAT Certified Coach, Owner of Endure 3 Sports, www.endure3sports.com.

Headphones?  What are those?

I was looking for something to write about on my blog and monthly article submission to TriathaNewbie.com.  I ran across “the top ten violated rules” during a triathlon event on the USAT website.  The one rule or lets say the rule that changed the way I trained and raced most came was #8:

“Headphones, headsets, walkmans, ipods, mp3 players, or personal audio devices, etc. are not to be carried or worn at any time during the race.”

Lets face it running with music helps us to suffer through long difficult workouts. And you know…hearing Eye of the Tiger on mile 10 of a half marathon really helps motivate me to the end. If you run or cycle with your mp3 player…STOP. If you do not run or cycle with your mp3 player but you are thinking about it…DON’T START.

You might ask, “What is the big deal.” Well during a race it is obvious….safety. During a race, race directors and officials want your full attention so that you are fully aware of your surroundings for your competitors and your own safety. You may ask, “but coach why does it matter if I listen to a mp3 player when I train.” It matters when you train because training should simulate race type conditions. You should be focusing on the task at hand and how you feel and not focusing getting lost in the music. Think about it if you have never had to go deep inside yourself to grab that inner strength on your own without listening to inspiring music during training then how are you going to do it in a race when you are probably going at a faster pace.

My suggestion is to save the headphones for the drive to and from training but not during training (only if someone else is driving though).

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