Hello there, I'm back at last 
My knee had been giving me some trouble but I managed to get out a couple of days ago and complete week nine run one. I'm feeling a bit out of it at the moment... a lot has been happening in the last few weeks and it's been really hard not being able to run as much as I want. Running has helped me deal with things enormously, and when my knee started to hurt I was really upset at having to take time off. It doesn't hurt as much anymore (I have to really press on it before it twinges) but there's a part of me that's scared I'll just be making things worse if I keep running. If there's something about my running style which has caused an injury then surely I'm not much good at it?
A few things which might have caused it include completing several runs with lots of inclines, running on tracks with a lot of curves and doing too much too soon. I've been taking the rest days as usual but I know I was pushing myself too hard while I was on holiday. It would have been OK to skip one of the runs but I pushed myself to do it anyway and I ran for WAY longer than I should have done on week eight run one. I had also been wearing these rubber soles that I bought from JJB ages ago - they're supposed to make running easier but as I already have a top pair of Asics with shock absorbers and bouncy soles and whatnot it just feels like I'm on a bloody trampoline! I've taken them out of my trainers again and I have to say I prefer it. I've only had these trainers for a year and I've only been running regularly for a few months so it seems a bit daft to replace them already, but I'll definitely get proper advice when I do.
I read a blog by grammadog which mentioned ankle weights so I might invest in some next time I'm near a sports shop. Maybe I'll start wearing my platform trainers again! I still have some that I used to wear all the time (black and neon blue buffalos) and my quads must have been amazing because they're heavy as hell!! I'm also trying to do some quad building exercises which might help.
If I was back on the programme properly then I'd be doing week nine run two today... I'm really scared of hurting myself again though. I left it a week and a half from when my knee started twinging to running again but perhaps that's not enough? I honestly can't tell if I'm OK, my entire leg feels a bit strange at the moment (possibly because I've been hobbling around on the other one for all that time). I might give it a go a bit later... there hasn't been any obvious problem with me running on Monday so hopefully I'll be all right. I've got a knee support that I can wear too and I'm going at a snail's pace at the moment because of the week off...
One thing I did while I wasn't running was that I went swimming for the first time in about seven years. It was fun I love to swim but I'm not very good at it. I can barely do breast stroke let alone front crawl and I'm no good at going underwater. It'd be nice to do it more often but I can't really afford it and as I'm not v good at it, I'd probably injure myself doing that too!
Oh well, til next time!
