resistance happens

I have hit a mental road blog in my running process, but I have the confidence necessary to over come it. Indoors in the treadmill I am clocking 3 - 10 minute miles on a low level hill intensity. However when I am outside I can only go about .5 miles until dread and doom infiltrate my brain and cause me pain and anguish in my body.

I know it is a mental thing. I know that I am in shape enough to run the easy couple of miles I am setting in front of me. Somehow though my brain is overriding my physically capability and causing me to fail at said goals.

Now, I have done a bit of reading and almost all signs point to mentality tricking your brain into forgetting that you are running, or focusing on something else in order to not think about running.

I have decided that on the treadmill I am capable of relaxing my mind and simply running because I can not see the goal so I can not fail to reach it. The treadmill will keep going even if I fall off the back too, so I have to suck it up and keep up. Outside however I often decide I will go a certian distance, normally marked by a set course and start finish. Right now in my training I can not focus on starts and finishes. Having a goal just reminds me that I am not always able to reach it.

Thus, I have concluded that tomorrow instead of saying I will do 2 miles outside then weight lift before doing another 2 miles inside. I will say that I will spend 20 minutes running outside, without a set place to run then go to the gym. This way I may spend longer than 20 minutes running and I will hopefully be taken some place in Grinnell that I have never gone before.

Mind over running. I am going to get the mentality of running down. It's just like meditation, and I can't wait to me a meditative runner. It is just going to take a little more patience and time on my part to get all the way there.