Geek confession #5: I really enjoy choral music and opera.
I sang in a choir from 4th grade through the end of residency. I could revel in performing to a crowd without having them look at me because I was either in a choir loft and/or one of many singers. Also, I didn't have to dress up for Mass (those robes cover up everything). And I could hide from the nuns who would tell that I was going to hell if I received communion because I wasn't baptized.
In 17 years of being part of an organized group of singers, I became proficient at reading music and sang alot of beautiful pieces including Handel's Messiah x 3, Vivaldi's Gloria (just as classic to Van Morrison's song and far superior to Laura Branigan's version), Mozart's Vespers of the Solemn Confessor and Coronation Mass, and Brahm's How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place. I know all the words (even the Latin ones) and can't help but sing along. So when it came time to create my iPod playlist for trainer rides, I naturally included all my classical and choral favorites. I could accurately gauge my perceived exertion with my singing efforts (see: http://train-thisironman.blogspot.com/2008/12/rke.html).
During the intervals at 95-100% FTP, I couldn't sing my soprano parts of the chorus and generate those watts. So I finally stopped and listened. What I heard was magnificent! For once I wasn't just singing my part or listening for cues to when I could sing my part. I actually heard the music wholly and not as a background to my singing. The songs bathed me in their loveliness, impressed me with their balance, and left me awestruck with their symphony. These pieces that I have sung over and over in choir practice, the car, the shower were now like intriguing and beautiful people that I had overlooked because they were familiar.
For my 120%FTP intervals, I chose opera for my playlist as I knew I wouldn't have the breath or the nerve to sing along with the likes of Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, or Kathleen Battle. The intervals are 2.5 minutes---just about the length of an aria! During my labored moments of the interval, Luciano belting, Vincero...vincero...VIN-CER-O!! (translate: I will win!) in Nessum Dorma lofts me above my pain. When Kiri hits those meteorically high notes in Chi il bel sogno di Doretta so effortlessly, when she sings O mio babbino caro so fervently, how can I pant and gasp? I can only smooth out my pedalling in a small attempt to match her mellifluousness. Both songs are about love and yearning barely containable in the human heart. I am overcome by their emotion and beauty that the interval is hardly a chore.
I have heard that listening to music while exercising can decrease perceived exertion by 25%. I supposed anything distracting enough can decrease how much we perceived our present suffering. I'd like to think that I've found another awareness during my intense physical efforts and not so much that I'm being distacted from those efforts. I know exactly how hard I'm working--I can see it on my powermeter. However, the music that fills my head is something completely different, but fits right into my present activity and state. I used to run/ride to loud, heavy metal music (AC/DC Back in Black, Quiet Riot Cum on Feel the Noize). I haven't traded those classics in for riding in a powdered wig and a string quartet. Whether I'm working hard or noodling along, Brian Johnson and Keith DuBrow sound the same to me: forceful and hoarse. I guess I just needed some new tunes to jam to...
