Today there was a lot planned in terms of holiday festivities, so I woke up early and went on a brisk 3 mile run…which was not the smartest move since my ankle, knee, and hip were bothering me yesterday after getting back from NYC. Bad Jamie!
When I started running I could feel pain shoot up my right leg, through my ankle and knee. I got back and my mom quietly said, “I’m not saying anything…” since she knows I push myself even though I know better that I should have rested it out today. I am definitely going to take it easy this week. The last thing I want is not to run my actual marathon. It isn’t that I can’t run, but my body is telling me to “cool it” and cross-train/stretch until it feels back to normal…hopefully it just needs a couple of days. That is what I am going to have to do even though it pains me not being able to run for a few days.
Luckily, my dad scheduled a personal training session for my sister and I at 10 this morning. (THANKS DAD 
) My sister recently broke her foot and has since experienced an “off-balance” feeling while she is running. I also have been feeling pain in my right leg. So we met with the trainer, Kevin Dean, who also happens to be the owner of Fit4U, a personal training business in my hometown of CT. During our session, we learned is also formerly in the air force. He was extremely fit and in shape. My dad has been going there for a little over a year and has felt a great improvement in his joints/knees. He was able to arrange a special appointment with his trainer so my sister and I could get some pointers from him. My dad was a pretty serious runner awhile back – he has run 6 marathons in his lifetime, which may explain why my sister and I are fanatic about running. I guess it “runs” in the family (joke).
Anyways Kevin did a physical assessment on my sister and my form while we ran on the treadmill. We learned a lot in only the 1.5 hours of time we spent with him. I learned my posture isn’t the greatest while running. I tend to really swing my arms across my body – surprising because I thought my arms were pretty lose and didn’t move much. My sister said she noticed this too while I was running. He also had us both close our eyes while he positioned our feet to where they should be aligned for correct posture. Before we opened our eyes he asked us how we felt we were standing…we both answered “pigeon toed” – he asked us to open our eyes and our feet were perfectly parallel and facing forward. It was an interesting exercise. In short, he basically explained that being in an office all day and sitting at a computer has misaligned our posture and that we can do exercises to help correct this. I also learned I need to work way more on my upper body strength which will in-turn help me with better posture. He showed us a number of stretches that can help with our pains and aches. A few of the exercises actually helped my legs feel better today…some I already knew, but was doing totally wrong. I am going to keep up with this…I have a feeling a lack of proper stretching and attention to posture contribute to some of the pain issues I have been having.
If you live in the CT area, I definitely recommend you to check out Kevin Dean and his personal training tips – much different then the traditional training you might think of – very knowledgeable about all forms of exercise and understanding the root cause to pain issues. I am really glad we were able to spend some time with the personal trainer…I think it was the closest I’ve been to a one on one session with a trainer.
