My first personal training session last night was awesome, and it really set the tone for the work we'll be doing in upcoming sessions.

My trainer's name is Erik, and he seems like a fun guy who really knows his stuff. After chatting about my goals (sub-two hour half) and making note of the basics (height, weight, blood pressure, body fat), he put me through various exercises to determine my general strength and to spot muscle imbalances.

There were times when I surprised him and myself with how much weight I could lift before fatiguing, but there were other times when my muscle imbalances were so apparent.

He had me do a basic quad stretch and it was pathetic how much my quad didn't stretch. We also identified weak glutes and a tight piriformis muscle.

That's this little guy:

A tight piriformis can lead to all sorts of problems in the hips and knees. Doesn't that sound familiar?

So here's the plan moving forward. Erik's going to put together a plan for me that focuses on building strength in my glutes, relaxing my quads and piriformis muscle and building speed and endurance so my running times improve.

I'll be meeting with him again next Tuesday to try it for the first time. I'm excited and nervous. It's not going to be easy rebuilding all that glute strength, but I think in the end it will pay off big time in my running. And my trainer seems excited to get started too. He told me he was happy to be working with someone whose goals weren't skin deep and that since I have a solid fitness base already, we can try all sorts of fun stuff.

I have a feeling that "fun stuff" is probably going to kick my butt, but I guess that's the point.