Guest Post: Fitting Fitness: How to Balance Your Love of Concerts with Training for a Marathon

Guest Fit by Mason

Let's welcome Mr. Mike Mason to the blog!

Mason and Jess at Amore Victoria

Mason is one of our most loyal readers. He also monitors the blog closely for grammatical errors. We appreciate it! You may have seen his name and face before, as he has appeared on the blog many times; for example, he joined us for the "Fresh New Fit: Crashed Ice" last January (read it HERE), and then most memorably, he was the winner of the "Finalize My Fit" contest to Guess the Dress (read it again HERE)

Mason has run many marathons and has been a member of the Calhoun Beach Running Club for many years.

And most importantly, he's a great friend! So we were very happy when he offered to do a guest post from the male perspective. Another thing you need to know about Mason, is that he is an AVID concert-goer. So how do you balance all those concerts with all those marathons?

Here's his advice.

"When I was asked to make a guest contribution to this blog by both Cool J and LL, I was a little hesitant. For those that know me, it is clear that I am no expert in fitness and even less of an expert in fashion. But I reluctantly agreed to write something if I could think of a good topic for this audience. Thankfully, it took me less than a few minutes to think of one.

The topic of music and fitness has been covered ad nauseam, for example best playlist for long run, workout, etc.  My focus is on a different issue for runners: attending concerts.

I have attended my fair share of live concerts here in the Twin Cities. We are blessed with a large variety of venues for seeing your favorite band. Before getting serious about running and marathon training, a late night concert would never pose an issue, but once I started getting serious about running, late night shows and the resulting lack of sleep had a definite affect on my training.

The Rosebuds at 7th Street Entry

What is a music lover to do? Well, after years of trying to make my marathon training and love of live music mesh, I think I have found a way to “make it work”. (That takes care of my obligatory fashion reference.) Here are a few tips that may help you enjoy your favorite bands or live music in general without derailing your training.

1. Consider the Venue: 
First, if you are looking to catch some live music and are not looking to catch a particular band and you want to get home at a reasonable time consider the venue.  Attending a show at the Cedar Cultural Center will get you home in time to rest up for your regular Saturday morning long run. On the other end of the spectrum is the Turf Club, where the show is likely to end when you typically are getting ready for your morning run! Even if you are not in the Twin Cities area, just ask around to friends that are frequent concert attendees in your area to get a feel for the various venue’s reputations.

2. Be Sure to Use Your Facebook and Twitter! 
Second, follow the venues you frequent on a regular basis or where you know where your band will be playing on social media. Venues now-a-days have wised up on increasing their social media presence to bring in concert goers. One positive side effect of this development is that venues will frequently post the set times for when the acts are expected to hit the stage. The accuracy of the times can be suspect at times, but they are usually a good gauge. This is especially the case if you want to check out one of the opening bands and are not concerned with the headliner. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for the set times via the social media site. Sometimes they will respond, others times they don’t, but it is worth a shot.

Phantogram at First Avenue

3. Skip the Encore!

The final tip is one that becomes more acceptable with age, but maybe controversial for the hard core music fans out there: skip the encore. The hour is starting to get late, you’ve enjoyed the music and are happy that you got your money’s worth of music, but you have an 18 mile long run in the morning. Do you risk missing an epic cover by your band that no one was expecting when they hit the stage for a second time? Might the lead singer jump out into the crowd and serenade everyone as he or she walks the floor? These are all things that need to weigh into your equation, but more often than not, the benefit of getting a little extra sleep, not dealing with the crush of people trying to leave the venue, and not waiting in line to pay for parking on your way out will win out.

4. Don't let Marathon Training Ruin Your Fun!
That being said, sometimes you’ve got to say “Screw it!” and enjoy the show until the lights come up!

Thanks Mason for your expert advice for balancing concerts with marathons!