Breaking a mental block with running

Are you running on a trail, or possibly a concrete street.  I have used counting how many steps I take between the cuts in the concrete.  Or I try to guesstimate how many steps to the next tree, or pole that I see out in the distance. 

But, there are other runs where my mind goes to work or the trails group that I am the president of and what I don't have done.  I notice that my pace slows down and I try to go back to counting my steps or strides.  I also use my forerunner 305 and the heart rate monitor.  I make it a goal to keep my heart rate at say 135 and if it goes over, I slow down and then increase to bring it back up.

I use an ipod to overcome my mind. Slightly on the loud side (I'm half deaf anyway).

I echo a previous post; 24 minutes is excellent.

I find for myself personally that once I stop to take a break to walk, I take many more breaks.  The longer the initial period of running is for me, the better I do.  I also have a horrible mental block with running; I have PF in both my feet so despite a year of training, I can only run a 1 mile straight without having to walk.

I have been experiencing the exact same thing. Since I learned that IPod's weren't allowed on the run during a race I decided to start running without them to get used to it. In my race last weekend my goal was to complete the run without walking...I did it. However during my training runs the last couple of days I have just stopped...and I know I could have kept going. Think I may need to go back to the Ipod for training or try some of the other tricks that have been mentioned. It's great to have a community like this.

Good luck tcarlson getting yourself straightened out. I would like to be able to run a 5k in that time.

Last night I ran six miles in the heat of Southern California. I'd run this same route last week, covering that distance for the first time in my 46 years. Last week I stopped and walked two or three times -- hey it was only for 15 - 25 yards, so no big deal, right?

The final two miles last night I kept thinking about this thread -- and how it wasn't just me who has been affected by the "I'll walk a little bit now" syndrome. So I got into my head that if I didn't stop, I could write this message -- but if I did, then I wouldn't be able to. And, I set little milestone goals like "just run to the bridge" or "around that corner" and each time I reached the little milestone I'd reset the goal. 

So, thanks for this thread!

BTW, I knocked three minutes off my time. :-)

Dan