On My iPod: Nathalie Marchino

Whether we're on tour or simply training at home, music has always been an essential part of my preparation process. There's nothing like a good jamming session (which typically mostly consists of silent air-drumming, air-guitar or lip-synching on the bus). When I first started playing rugby, I would play whatever came up next on my ipod, but then I found that I was going through all sorts of ridiculous mood swings before games, because my ipod would jump from a mellow Morcheeba song, to some heavy bass house music, back to some latin ballade. Less than ideal. So I decided that the best way to do it would be to keep the emotions high by playing a bunch of really loud, high energy songs to pump me up. Another epic fail. I ended up realizing that I felt mostly tired during warms up, probably due to too much head-banging on the ride over to the pitch. So finally, the perfect musical approach. I've created a few lists for different occasions, which allow me to get ready for a specific task, i.e. game, work outs, fitness testing, and a few random ones in case I get tired of the others. Here are condensed versions of a few of the lists I have

Tour Pre-Game Playlist:

1. Clint Mansell:Requiem For A Tower

while this inevitably exposes the inner nerd in me, I love that song cause it always makes me feel like we're headed into enemy territory, sets the stage for the battle, calmly...

2. Daft Punk: Human After All (Human After All)

time to amp it up a bit, but not too much. good build up song

3. Muse: Butterflies & Hurricanes (Absolution)

jump right into some Muse - there simply is no better band to get the energy flowing - just listen to the lyrics - you'll understand

4. Daft Punk: Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007)

now we're getting into the heavy duty songs - this one sets the stage perfectly for the final song...:

5. Muse: Knights of Cydonia (Black Holes & Revelations)

BAM! I'm ready! No one's gonna take me alive! Time has come to make things right!!!! Let's get the trophy back to the US, where it belongs!

Works Outs / Fitness Testing:

There probably isn't anything in life that requires more mental preparation for me than fitness testing. The goal here is to get into a mind-, and ideally body-, numbing groove, where I'm just on auto-pilot and have no time to think about the pain. It's a lot easier for me to run when there is a ball involved and an end goal. Tracks are a challenge. So without further ado, the "make me forget the pain" mix:

1. Killers: Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Remix)

This song is perfect!!! It lasts close to 9mins, which is perfect for timed mile runs, cooper tests etc.... it always seems to build up at the perfect time. hopefully you only need to play it once! That's really the entire play list but I'll add one more

2. Muse: Undisclosed desires (Uprising)

Not sure why this song makes sense for work outs but works for me

Odd Ball Songs:

1. Laurent Wolf: No Stress (Wash My World)

2. Orquesta Del Plata: Montserrat

3. Gotan Project: Diferente