Boredom is to blame for my wandering eye.

I have been working with trainer Neil Anderson since I began training to run the marathons in the Utah Grand Slam in October. I love the weight workout he gave me, but just before Christmas I was spending so much time indoors at the gym, I began to wonder if changing up the weight workout might not be a good thing — especially for my attention deficit.

Then one day at the front desk there was a signup sheet for a free training session. I have worked with quite a few trainers in my on-again-off-again, weekend-warrior fitness regimen, and usually I abandon 80 to 90 percent of what they tell me to do within a few weeks.

That experience, however, did not stop me from penciling in my name for a free training session.

I talked with the trainer in advance and told him that I was a runner training for multiple marathons. I told him what I was doing and said I was just interested in learning a new workout or even just a few new exercises that I could mix in with my current workout.

The fact that I wanted something specific was a little bit of a problem. He was clearly used to working with people who just wanted to learn how to work out. I told him I wanted to avoid weightlifter-type training and anything high impact because I'm running a lot.

I also asked if he knew any core body exercises because I didn't know a lot of exercises for my back.

After about 15 minutes of discussion, he came up with a leg workout that felt an awful lot like a weightlifter's workout. It also included jump rope, which even beginners know is very high impact. The workout was four different kinds of squats or lunges that included me jumping into the air with the weight on my shoulders. It took seven minutes and it was exhausting.

I did it three times and couldn't walk without severe pain the next day. I called Neil to talk with him about the workout, and he told me what I'd already figured out.

"I've always been disappointed with the state of training," he said of his own profession. "They don't care what you need in your life, most trainers are body builders and they can't see past their own methods."

Neil said he knew this because it's what he did when he finished school and finished his certifications to be a trainer. He said for the first three years of his career, he trained what he knew — a weightlifters' workout.

"That's what they teach you," he said.

Years of experience and individual research taught him that different fitness goals need different types of training. He said it was critical for me NOT to do that heavy-duty weightlifters workout.

First he said to lay off the jump rope. I had already abandoned that because the second time I did the workout I hurt my ankle. But if you plan to do a lot of high-impact training, you'll help yourself a lot if you do bike, yoga or swimming instead of another high-impact-type of workout.