Personal Trainer...

     I caved.... sort of...  my friend and I always said that when we were rich the first thing we would get would be a personal trainer, I know probably a funny thing to want but we have always said that... Now I am certainly not rich, not even close, but I got a trainer... Well really it kind of landed in my lap, and I'm definitely not complaining...

      One day when I was training for the Chicago Marathon, it was raining like crazy and I needed to get a long run in, thankfully I had just gotten my gym membership that week.  So I went over to the gym and proceeded to run 14 miles on the treadmill, definitely not my ideal long run situation but I had to make do with what I had.  While I was running, one of the Personal Trainers came up to me and asked me about my knee brace he saw me in earlier (it was bothering me so I took it off mid-run).  I told him that I hurt my knee in my first marathon and that it hadn't been the same since.  He asked if I would be willing to do some assessments and tests with him to see if he could figure out my problems, so naturally I said yes!  So based on the quick assessment he told me what he thought, and since I had just become a member at the gym, I got 2 free sessions.

     I met with him the other day and he did some more assessments, all coming up with the same conclusions as the first time (I think I posted on this before in The Hot Mess that is my Knee).  Then we did some easy exercises, because he was trying to gage what I could do that didn't cause knee pain.  The overall goal is strengthen my knee and make me into a stronger runner all around.    My Trainer, Jose, is really nice but has been blunt with me from the beginning.  He told me that I have to constantly look straight ahead when I do the exercises otherwise I have to drop and and give him pushups!  Ok, fine, I can listen to the rules... ehhh WRONG!  All of a sudden out of nowhere he told me to drop and give him pushups!  I didn't even realize that I had looked anywhere but straight ahead.  But hey I can be a good sport, so I did.  I was pretty happy at the end of the work out and look forward to my next session with him this week!

    As I was leaving the gym, he shouted to me to look up, which is kind of funny because I was about to go down the stairs and didn't want to trip.  So I smiled and laughed, and had a guy tell me that I should be in the gym promo videos because I was smiling and laughing and looked like I had a good workout.  I guess I will take that as a compliment! 

    Overall, I just really look forward to becoming a stronger athlete because of my trainer than just through my own trial and error.  This way I know what I am doing and why I am doing it!  Jose, has been great and has been good about giving me information to read about to help me understand why I am doing the exercises I am!  Sounds good to me, the more I can learn the better!

Lesson: Sometimes it is better to "bite the bullet" and spend a little money to get some good instruction rather than going about it blindly!  I sincerely hope that this has a HUGE impact on my running and overall fitness!