March 20, 2006

Audio Learning at the LA Marathon

I completed marathon #4 yesterday here in LA and for the first time I tried listening to an audio book while I’ve ran. I’ve listened to music in the past and listened to audio books and podcasts while training but I’ve never tried listening to audio books during a race before. It actually went pretty well.

I listened to the first half of John Battelle’s book The Search. It’s an interesting look at the history of search engines with a more specific focus on Google. It’s one of the multitudes that I always tell myself I should read or want to read but never seem to get around to. Knocking out the first half of it while doing something I knew I was going to do anyway was kind of cool.

I’m such a big fan of listening to audio books and podcasts during exercise. Not only is it a great way to crank through a lot of stuff that you normally wouldn’t have time for but it’s also a great way to come up with new ideas. I think there’s something about the extra blood flow to the brain coupled with exposing your mind to some new knowledge that can trigger a hell of a lot of creativity. I’ve had some of my best ideas over the last year when I’ve been out for runs while listening to podcasts like The Gillmor Gang or Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders.

If you’ve never tried listening to an audio book or podcast during your workout I’d highly recommend it. It’s a great way to “kill two birds with one stone” and the ideas you’ll come up with will make it time very well spent.