RunDisney Playlists by Beats Per Minute (BPM)

The feeling of your feet hitting the pavement, the magical scenery around you, the character-inspired costumes, and the celebration you’ll have once you reach the end. You are a runDisney athlete and every runDisney athlete needs a Disney-Inspired Running Playlist to keep the pep in their step – training or racing – get your Disney on!

Run Disney Safety Tips

It’s always important that when listening to music while running, that you observe some simple safety tips to keep yourself aware of what’s around you and protect your hearing from potential damage. Here are a few quick tips before we get started dropping the epic playlist.

One Ear Bud – Try running with only one earbud in to keep one ear open to your environment.
Lower the Volume – Music should not be too loud and you should still be able to hear ambient noises, cars, other people. Make sure your headphones are not noise canceling so that you can hear any potential dangers around you.

The Science of Music & Running

It’s all about setting the right pace for your run and you can accomplish this with the right selection in music. It’s not that you can’t pull in your favorite Disney songs but it’s important to note that your music can impact the pace you set while running.

When you run while listening to music, you’ll find that you tend to change your pace with each song so that your feet hit the ground along with the beat. A slower song might hold you back, while a song that’s too fast might make you tire out quickly.

In order to make the perfect Disney-Inspired Running Playlist, we’ve put together a little “how-to” guide on song structure and a sample playlist of songs that will get your pace up and running towards your goal.

STEP #1 | Set Your Pace

Pace is determined by two things: Stride Length and Stride Rate. Since stride length will vary from person to person, it’s important to find out what your length and rates are before selecting your songs. Here’s how to do that:

Run for 15 minutes at a comfortable pace.
During that run count your steps for 1 minute.
Do this several times to get an average.
That average is your Steps Per Minute (SPM).

STEP #2 | Select Songs

In order to hold your pace, you want to match it to songs that align SPM to Beats Per Minute (BPM). There are apps and websites that can help you find BPM to songs, or you can count out beats on your own.

STEP #3 | Create Your Playlist

Once you have determined the BPM you need to hold your pace, you need enough music to cover the length of your run. You can even get fancy and mix up your BPMs for run/walk intervals or changing your tempo during your run. It’s entirely up to you!