Well I think I may have spoken too soon when I said I thought I was on the mend yesterday. I went out for my run this morning and bearly got down the road before the pain in my knee started! I am not a happy chappy! Before I went out for my run I had a breakfast of toasted rye bread with almond butter and strawberry jam.

I think I managed to run for about 1.5 miles - I decided to just come home and then try and have a really good run next weekend instead. I don't think I realised just how much I've started to enjoy and rely on my runs to make me feel like I'm getting a really effective workout. Instead I decided to walk to the gym and do some steady state cardio on the cross trainer, step machine and bike, all of which don't cause any problems with my knee (thank goodness, if I couldn't work out at all I'd go crazy!) I ended up doing about 1hr 30 mins of cardio between my short run and the gym, I wanted to make sure I was still getting a good calorie burn, as well as keeping my endurance up.

I headed home and made myself a post workout smoothie using a scoop of chocolate whey, a frozen banana and some skimmed milk.

I love how creamy these get!

I then did some catching up on blogs and some research on runners knee treatment strategies. I'm not going to do any running until Saturday, I'm going to continue to ice it, take anti inflamatories and strap it up when possible. I've also ordered a knee support from Amazon that got some good reviews so I can try that. Fingers crossed it works! While chilling with my computer I had a glass of grape, pomegranate and raspberry juice.

I made myself a lovely late lunch of lemon baked chicken breast with hummus and a big salad of spinach, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot with a little balsamic vinigrette.

I followed it with a bowl of cherries. These were half price and I just had to get them, I love fresh cherries and these were wonderfully sweet.

I made a start on my summer confidence challenge by having a long shower, deep conditioning my hair, exfoliating my body, having a mini facial and using my various creams. My skin feels softer already!

Dinner was one of my favourite foods that I haven't had in ages - halloumi cheese! I griddled it in my new pan with some courgette, red pepper and red onion.

So simple, so delicious!

For desert I made a fantastic Tofu Berry Pudding which I had thought up after being inspired by various different recipes I've seen lately.

Tofu Berry Pudding

Frozen blueberries, half a cup
Frozen cherries, half a cup
Frozen mixed berries, half a cup
3 tablespoons of Goji berries soaked in grape, pomegranate and raspberry juice
1 block of mori nu silken tofu
2 tablespoons of agave syrup

Add all ingredients to a blender, including the goji berries and the juice they've been soaking in and blend till smooth.

This is gorge! I love the taste of silken tofu, its creamy but in a different way from milk, just yummy!

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

Can't believe the bank holiday weekend is nearly over, its gone so fast! Hope you have all had fun whatever you've been up to.

I have a pretty busy week ahead, I have two late nights at work. At least its a short week! I'm just hoping that my knee will be better by next weekend, I'm itching to get out on a long run! Hope you all have a good evening, catch you tomorrow x

What a gorgeous day it has been, the weather has been so lovely and sunny, and its even due to continue into the weekend!

I started my day with hot lemon water and Jillian. I was left a big sweaty mess after that DVD again, just how I like it!

Breakfast was a huge bowl of chocolate chia seed porridge (oats, water, tablespoon of chia seeds, scoop of chocolate whey) topped with a sliced banana and a little crunchy peanut butter.

This was just perfection!

Lunch was another halloumi and quinoa salad beast same as yesterday and an apple.

Mid afternoon I snacked on some carrot and cucumber and a little pot of lemon corriander hummus with two fresh apricots.

Later today I'll be eating this 9 bar, possibly a slice of quiche or similar and having another bowl of cherry yoghurt with frozen raspberries like I had on Tuesday night.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

Well I've decided to make an appointment at the physiotherapist. I did a bit of googling last night and found an excellent practice very close to were I live. I have an appointment for Saturday morning which is far faster than I would be able to be seen by my GP so I don't mind paying out for it considering the amount of stress its causing me. Fingers crossed they will be able to fix me! My knee has been quite achey today so theres no chance I'm going to even bother trying to run before my physio appointment, gym machine cardio it is!

I'm blogging early from work today as we are holding our Volunteer Awards Evening later. This is a big event where local groups can nominate the volunteers that work with them for an award to recognise their work. Its always a lovely night. They serve a pie and pea supper which obviously doesn't quite appeal to me, but there could be a better vegetarian option such as quiche that I might go for. If not I'm counting on that 9 Bar to hold me over!

Have you ever done any volunteering? I volunteered in Arts Development when I left Uni and then with a youth club a couple of nights a week just last year while studying for my MA. If you have volunteered, what were you doing and did you enjoy it?

Hope you are all having a good week, not long till the weekend now! x

I woke up this morning with a renewed positivity, I will run on Saturday, I will run on Saturday......

I have some serious DOMS action going on today - no doubt due to the Jillian DVD I did yesterday and the leg and knee strengthening moves I've been practising.

I had my water and lemon and headed to the gym. I wanted to get my workout in this morning as I had an evening meeting to attend. I managed to get a late start at work so I could get a full hour of cardio in. I had a great workout. I did 20 minutes each on the cross trainer, step machine and bike doing my new tougher intervals. I got a really good sweat on and I was quite happy with my energy levels as sometimes I can be rubbish at the gym first thing. I finished off with plenty of stretching and 2 sets of my abs exercises.

Breakfast was a yummy yoghurt mess with a scoop of vanilla whey, a few tablespoons of Rachels Organic Low Fat Black Cherry Yoghurt, a chopped apple and some Dorset Cereals Berries and Cherries Muesli.

Just what I needed to re fuel!

Lunch was a salad beast - grilled halloumi, spinach, quinoa, spring onions, red pepper, courgette, cucumber and chopped mint.

Very tasty and filling!

I followed this with two fresh apricots and a punnet of fresh cherries.

These were both on special offer, although still not that cheap. They just taste so good so I don't mind paying a little more while they are at least semi affordable!

My mid afternoon snack was a portion of my Tofu Berry Pudding.

Not very pretty looking in my little plastic pot, but still so tasty. I love silken tofu it can be used in so many recipes and adds a good filling protein punch.

Before I headed to my meeting I had a mini dinner of salmon on wholegrain rice cakes with carrot and cucumber. For the salmon topping I just mixed some tinned salmon with a little light mayo, mustard and black pepper.

This was actually suprisingly tasty, I'll be buying tinned salmon a bit more often I think.
When I got in from my meeting I had a big bowl of grapes and an orange.

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

I've had such a fab day at work, I took my net book into one of our meeting rooms and locked myself away, listened to a few podcasts and got loads of work done. After the problems I was having with my focus at work I feel like I've found something that works for me. I think I'll be trying to have a day a week working like this without distractions.

I think I've ate far too much fruit today, I actually feel a little sugared out! I just can't help buying bucket loads of fruit at the moment as so much of it is in season and looking so tasty. Whats your favorite fruit? My favorites are strawberries, cherries, crunchy golden delcious apples straight from the fridge and fresh pineapple. Yum!

I had the back to work blues this morning when I got up, I just wanted to stay in bed! I eventually managed to haul myself up, had a mug of warm water and lemon and got stuck right into Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD. I did levels 1 and 2 back to back and my word was I sweating by the time I'd finished. I felt great for having such a fab workout!

Breakfast was just a quick Blueberry Vanilla Green Monster made with frozen blueberries, vanilla whey, vanilla rice milk and a load of spinach.

My morning at work was pretty run of the mill. I have loads on at the moment so I'm going to lock myself away in one of meeting rooms tomorrow so I can tackle my never ending to do list!

Lunch was a bowl of Pea, Brocolli and Mint Soup followed by a big bunch of red grapes.

I really appreciated this lovely bowl of warm soup on such a rainy day!

I had a meeting not far from my flat late afternoon so I headed home and had my mid afternoon snack of red pepper hummus with carrot and cucumber before walking up to the meeting.

Dinner was a repeat of last night - griddled halloumi cheese, courgette, red pepper and red onion with a sprinkling of mint.

I didn't mind eating this two nights in a row - just so tasty!

Desert was a bowl of Rachels Organic Black Cherry Yoghurt with frozen raspberries.

I don't usually buy yoghurts with the fruit already in them as they can have too much added sugar but as this was on special offer I decided to treat myself!

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee

Knee Injury Update - I've been having a major stress about the problems I'm having with my knee. It's not hurting as much but I still have a dull ache, which I guess is better than the acute pain I had on Saturday. I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet about causes and treatment. I'm now unsure if its Runners Knee (Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome) or an Iliotibial Band problem (I think they are related) as I have some pain when walking downstairs, shooting pains up my thigh etc. I've looked at quite few websites and my recovery plan is as follows -

Continue to ice
Continue to take ibuprofen
Do strengthening exercises -

• Walt Reynolds ITB special
• Straight leg lifts
• knee bends

Do stretches -

• Hamstrings
• calves
• ITB stretch

I'm hoping that by doing this I will see an improvement by the weekend. I really want to be able to do a good run on Saturday! I have ordered a knee support so I am going to give that ago, as well as avoiding running any hills as this can make the condition worse.

Have you ever been injured and if so how did you deal with it? I have a terrible habit of envisioning the worst case scenario so I'm stressing thinking that I won't be able to train for my half marathon and that my fitness is going to be totally reduced. I know that theres other exercise I can do to keep fit but if I end up being laid off running for a month or more I don't think I'll be able to achieve the time I was hoping for at the Great North Run. I feel all down in the dumps now, I really need to start and think positive - I'm a great believer in the power of positive mental attitude. Please send me good vibes! x