The team at the Running Bug, which is billed as ‘the UK’s largest social running community’, is introducing a new music compilation ‘Ministry of Sound presents: Running Bug 2’. The 34 track, energetic running album has ‘tunes to boost any running workout’.
The first edition of this album reached #1 in the fitness charts, and #5 in the overall iTunes charts last year – and the team are aiming for that top spot again with Running Bug 2.
Consisting of 34 cherry picked tracks across two diverse mixes, the album combines iconic commercial pop-dance with chart topping remixes.
- Mix 1 – a ‘who’s who’ of dance, featuring artists such as Avicii, Duke Dumont, Calvin Harris, London Grammar, Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, Foxes, MNEK as well as recent UK number one hit tracks from Secondcity, Mr Probz and Gorgon City.
- Mix 2 – features some iconic, classic club hits from years gone by, with Bob Sinclair, Shapeshifters, Axwell, Eric Prydz, Bodyrox, Room5 & Oliver Cheatham, Michael Gray and Tim Berg.
Ministry of Sound and The Running Bug note that their first collaborative album was so popular it reached number 1 in the iTunes fitness charts and number 5 in the overall iTunes album charts. The latest album is again set to ‘delight runners looking to boost their performance, bringing together the best tracks for running in two outstanding albums.’
Founder of The Running Bug, Joe Mountain describes how a hit playlist helps him when he is out running. He said, “I know from personal experience that listening to the right music helps increase my concentration and lower my general perception of how hard I am actually working. It makes me feel less tired, which in turn helps me to run for longer and at a higher intensity than normal.”
And Joe is not alone with his experiences. Professor Costas Karageorghis from Brunel University, who specializes in sports psychology, said recently, “In some instances we have seen performance benefits of up to 15%. As well as enhancing performance, music lowers the perception of effort. It dulls or masks some of the pain associated with training. We know from scanning the brain that when athletes are played loud, upbeat music there is an increase in activity in the ascending reticular activating system.”
Ministry of Sound Presents: Running Bug 2 is now available to download for £5.99 at iTunes.
The Running Bug launched in 2010, with the aim of offering runners a niche alternative social network to Facebook and Twitter. The site offers a mixture of entertaining and informative content, events, reviews, forums, and social tools such as ‘bugmiles’ where runners can log and share all their runs.
The Running Bug notes that it is now the second-largest running site in the UK, experiencing traffic growth of over 150% year on year. The site currently reaches over 250,000 monthly unique visitors who in turn generate around 2 million monthly page views. The site is aimed at the mass market, specifically beginner and regular runners.
The Running Bug aims to be a supportive social network for runners, connecting its 250,000 monthly users through unique social and community tools across the site, ‘helping them become better runners, but also sharing and engaging with other runners in the process.’
