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

I woke up really early this morning, just at the same time that I have been waking up in Majorca. I didn't mind as I wanted to get out for my first outdoor run in about a month!

As soon as I got up I thought I'd might as well see what the damage was and weigh myself. I have put on 6 lbs! I'm not too bothered by this as I was already 3 lbs under my 'happy' weight (10st / 140lbs) so thats only 3 lbs to lose.

I had a cup of hot water with lemon and then I set off on my 3 mile run. I wore my knee support and used my shoe inserts. I really enjoyed getting out and running in the fresh air. I could definitely tell that I was slower than usual but I managed just over 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. My knee was ok during the run but it has been quite painful during the day. I've iced it a few times and I'm hoping that it will be ok tomorrow. It seems that any hope of putting in a really good performance at the Great North Run is slipping away from me, at this rate I'll be happy to just finish the 13.1 miles! I have a new training plan in mind but even that may have to be scaled back, I think I'm going to have to just do the best I can.

After my run I made a blueberry green monster for breakfast. It included spinach, frozen blueberries, a scoop of vanilla whey, hazelnut and almond rice milk and for a little extra thickness and energy a couple of tablespoons of porridge oats. I had the smoothie in a bowl topped with goji berries and pumpkin seeds.

For lunch I started with a bowl of miso soup with some chopped spring onion (which I had a strange craving for)

Then I made myself a delicious Tuna Bean Salad inspired by a dish I had while on holiday.

Tuna Bean Salad (makes two servings)

1 small tin of tuna
1 tin of harricot beans, drained and rinsed
bunch of spring onions chopped
half a yellow pepper chopped
half a red pepper chopped
tablespoon of balsamic vinigrette

Mix all ingredients together and serve on top of some mixed salad leaves.

This was really tasty! I also had a golden delicious apple.

Mid afternoon I snacked on some lemon corridander hummus with sliced green pepper and cucumber for dipping.

Dinner was a bowl of freshly made Courgette and Watercress Soup

Followed by a bowl of greek style yoghurt with flaked and chopped whole almonds topped with some agave syrup.

I also had another apple, this time a pink lady.

I'm happy to have had a day of really healthy eats!

I have only three weeks until my next holiday when I'm heading down to Brighton to stay with my Aunt and Uncle. I'm therefore planning on having three very healthy weeks with plenty of exercise - a bit like my Summer Confidence Challenge again!

Post Holiday Detox

I think the body can naturally detox itself quite well but I feel that after last weeks eats I need a couple of weeks of healthy foods and no alcohol! To be honest I think doing a 'detox' for me is more mental than physical. I just feel better after cleaning up my eats a bit. I may have a day next week when I just eat fruit, veggies and nuts to give my body a break.

This week I'm going to be trying to keep an eye on how much fruit I'm eating. I ate a load of sugary fruits like pineapple and dates while I was away and along with the deserts and ice cream I feel a bit sugared out. I'm going to stick to just apples and berries this week, along with lots of veggies. I'll also be avoiding caffeine and alcohol for the next couple of weeks as well as keeping an eye on my portion sizes. I'm not going to be going down the protein shake route like the Summer Confidence Challenge as its just too boring for me! Hopefully this will be enough to lose the few pounds I've gained while away and reduce some of the bloating I've been experiencing because of that over eating.

I'm also going to start myself on a new training plan for the next three weeks. Theres not really much to review from my June training plan due to my knee injury and holiday so I think its just best to think onward and upwards and get an early start to July!

July Training Plan

Monday - Gym 20 minutes on crosstrainer (level 10 / 14), step machine (level 14 / 18) and bike (levels 7 / 12 / 18) doing 1 minute intervals (with 30 seconds of standing on the bike at level 18) - abs exercises - 20 x full sit ups, 20 x bicycle crunches, 20 x crunches, 20 x side reaches, 20 reverse crunches, 30 sec plank hold x 3 sets

Tuesday - DVD - Davina Fit - Top Fit section

Wednesday - Run / Gym / Yoga - I'm going to leave my Wednesday workout flexible and see how my knee fairs. If it isn't too bad I will try and do a 3 mile run, if not I'll do a gym workout like Monday but with a short treadmill run. I will also try and fit in some yoga or yogalates depending on what time I have available.

Thursday - DVD - Davina Fit - Top Fit section

Friday - Gym - 10 minutes on cross trainer (1 minute intervals) 10 minutes on step machine (1 minute intervals)

Upper body and Abs Supersets (will use weights that really challenge me in the last 4 - 5 reps of an exercise)

x 3 sets:

bicep curl with a squat - 12 - 15 reps
tricep dips - 15 reps (BW)
sit ups on stablility ball - 20 reps

x 3 sets:

Tricep kickbacks - 12 - 15 reps
Chest press on stablility ball - 12- 15 reps
Leg raises - 15 reps

x 3 sets

Shoulder press on stablility ball - 12 - 15 reps
Three point dumbbell row - 12 - 15 reps
Wood chop and reverse wood chop with medicine ball - 12 reps on each side

Saturday - Distance run (I hope!) I'm planning on gradually increasing my distance each week from this weeks 3 miles.

Sunday - Rest Day

I think this should be enough to get me back on track, and fingers crossed my knee will be improved enough to continue running. Have you ever done a detox diet before? If so what did it entail? Do you even believe in detoxing?

I'm also saying nothing about the football, what a joke! Hope you have all had a good weekend! x

Lesson No 1: No matter how well you think you’ve been training, you can still pick up an injury. 10.5 miles in 1.31 average pace 8.42. Seems that my old injury from last year has resurfaced only this time on my other leg! I started to feel a tightness in my left IT band that got worse and worse and then a pain at the side of my knee. I had already decided to cut my planned 14 miles down to 11, but at 10.5 I could not physically run any more :-( Ice, Ibuprofen and foam rolling are going to be by best buds for the next few days!

Lesson No 2: Do not attempt to use the mandolin slicer you picked up on sale in Lakeland while making a salad in a rush. You will slice open your thumb and have it bleed for 2 hours:

At least the salad was tasty! This contained mixed organic leaves, red cabbage, carrot, green pepper, courgette, cucumber, chickpeas and the most wonderful dressing made from my damson sauce, hemp oil and blueberry balsamic. yum!

Lesson No 3: Green tea and sympathy from your best friend is the best comfort.

Lesson No 4: Cocktails with your Mam makes everything better:

I had a delicious raspberry sherbet containing fresh raspberries, cranberry juice, vodka and amaretto.

Lesson No 5: Copious amounts of Chinese food including tofu in spicy sauce, crispy fried greens and pak choy in garlic dressing will give you a food baby!

Lesson No 6: Wearing high heels with an injured knee may not be the best idea:

These are my fave pair of heels, I adore them although I don’t think dancing in them was very helpful for my knee!

Lesson No 7: Water, green smoothies and green juice will make you feel great, no matter how much alcohol you consumed last night:

Green smoothie containing romaine, spinach, courgette, banana, 2 nectarines, peanut butter swirl spiru-tein, spirulina, maca, msm, stevia, water, ice, xanthan and guar gum topped with damson sauce, peanut flour sauce and choc covered sunflower seeds

Green juice containing all organic cucumber, celery, broccoli, carrot tops, radish greens, lemon and ginger

Green smoothie containing kale, banana, plums, cinnamon, ginger, hemp protein powder, mesquite, spirulina, water, ice, xanthan and guar gums topped with raw pecan butter, freeze dried berries and buckwheaties

Lesson No 8: No matter how tired you feel the next day or how much ‘unhealthy’ food and alcohol you consume, its all worth it to celebrate your cousins Catherine’s hen do:

:-)

What lessons have you learned this weekend? Hope its been a great one!

In just under 5 months time I’ll be preparing myself to run my third Half Marathon, the Great North Run! I’m just starting to pick my running up a notch as I get ready to go into training mode come May.

My first sub 2 hour half!

Every year more and more of us are taking up running and many of us are choosing to take part in running events for charity. When I first started running, as well as doing it to get fit and lose weight, it was with the aim of completing a Half Marathon. The race was a challenge that I’d never dreamed I’d be able to achieve. I ran to raise money for Cancer Research UK which is a cause very close to my heart. I’ve found that signing up to run a race, and better still for a good cause, is very motivational. I know it sounds a bit cheesy but when I was training and running the race and things got tough, thinking of what the people close to me who have had cancer have had to go through helped me push through.

Getting ready for a cold training run!

I’ve completed the Great North Run twice now and this year will be my third time. Each time I’ve trained for the race I’ve pretty much just followed my own plan but unfortunately this has wound me up injured twice. Luckily I managed to get myself healed and able to run the race both times but it was a close call! I have learned a lot of lessons since I’ve started running though, and before I started training again I wanted to remind myself of them!

• Build up your mileage slowly – looking back I think I probably increased my mileage too early, peaked too soon and ended up with a bit of burn out. There are lots of great training plans out there for every distance, from a 5k to a full Marathon and I definitely think its worth checking them out to give you an idea of how to progress safely.
• Fuel yourself well – The first year I started running I think I did ok but last year I got much better. Experiment with what foods work well for you. Before a shorter run fast absorbing carbs like a banana or some dried fruit is excellent. I found that dates were my rocket fuel, I even ate them instead of energy gels during the race! If you’re running for more than an hour you may need a more substantial pre workout meal incorporating some fat and protein alongside your carbs to keep you going. Of course hydration is a must, I don’t like artificial energy gels and drinks – I actually found that dates and some water mixed with coconut water (which contains natural electrolytes) was ideal for me. One thing I have to be very careful about is making sure that I’m consuming enough calories overall so that I’m maintaining my weight when I start to burn more calories as my training increases.
• Recover properly – I used to be really lax with stretching after running until I got injured and it was too late! I need to remember to always stretch and if possible, use a foam roller, after my runs. Recovery nutrition is really important as well, you need to replenish your glycogen stores as soon as possible so something like chocolate soy milk makes a great post run snack. You should also aim to eat something rich in protein within 2 hours to help your muscles heal. My favourite post run meal will always be a green smoothie with added protein powder. The antioxidants from the greens support your body to repair itself and can help to reduce inflammation.
• Don’t skimp on running shoes and a sports bra – I really need to remind myself of this one right now, I desperately need new running shoes and a new sports bra! I really think that its worth investing in these two items – it could save you money at the physio and a lot of heart ache (and chaffing) later. Find a good sports shop that will analyse your gait and suggest the best running shoes for you.

All hot and sweaty after getting back to outdoor running last year

You can read my full running story and more tips in my ‘How I started running post’. Although I’ve learned a lot of lessons and picked up some great tips I know I could have benefited from more expert advice.

To support runners AXA PPP Healthcare are putting its health knowledge to good use by holding a dedicated running live web chat on Thursday 26th April (see below for times) where you can ask a panel of experts your questions. The experts include:

• AXA ICAS, sports and exercise science expert John Crudington, who has previously worked as a personal trainer, fitness tutor and physiologist. 10am – 12 noon
• Personal trainer Lucy Wydham-Read, who has spent the last ten years helping people improve their fitness – even the odd celebrity, and at one point an entire football team! 2pm – 4pm
• Nutritionist, Dr Sarah Schenker, who is regularly quoted in the national press and is one of the most influential nutritionists in the UK. 5pm – 7pm

You can submit your questions live at the chat or in advance via Twitter or Facebook.

They are also running a brilliant competition for any one that is running the Race for Life:

If you're a supporter or a runner you can enter a weekly prize draw. Every Friday, until 3rd August 2012, they will top up one lucky entrant's sponsorship fund by:

• £100 for an individual runner
• £200 for an AXA PPP healthcare member (either your own or as part of a corporate scheme)

All that they ask is that the recipient raises at least £50 in sponsorship, and holds a Just Giving page - See here for how to enter. Full competition terms and conditions are here.

As well as the web chat the website also has a lot more health and fitness related content including training guides and some very nice yummy looking recipes!

I’m going to submit my own question for the experts, unsurprisingly, about how I can avoid getting injured again:

‘Along side making sure I have the right running shoes and stretching properly, how can I reduce my risk of IT band and knee injuries during my training?’

I’m determined that this year I’m going to train injury free!

The Red Arrows display at the end of last years Great North Run, and one of the proudest moments of my life

If your a runner, what was your initial motivation to start running? Are you considering starting to run or even to enter a charity race?

*This is post is sponsored by AXA PPP healthcare, however all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Last week I mentioned on Twitter that I was getting my foam rolling on and I got several questions about what foam rolling is, why it is good for you and how to do it. Here’s my lovely foam roller:

This is the foam roller I bought from Amazon. I got it a couple of years ago when I first started having problems with my IT band / runners knee. I’m no expert here, but the Iliotibial band is a muscle than runs from the outside of your hip down your thigh and into your knee. From what I could decipher from my physios, I have some bio mechanical issues and I tend to over pronate which means that my IT band gets worked hard trying to keep my legs in line and therefore can get very tight. When it gets too tight it starts rubbing against my knee and can cause me some nasty pain until it heals.

I’ve now suffered from that injury twice, both years I’ve been training for the Great North Run, and I am determined not to let it happen again! I can’t afford the physio again for a start. This is one of the reasons why I’m not pushing my pace too much in training. I’m more concerned about enjoying my training injury free and passing the finish line in one piece than getting a personal best. Even though my pace is slower I’m still getting tightness in my IT band and I’ve started to feel a niggle in my knee so as a preventative measure I’m using the foam roller as often as I can, as well as doing specific strength exercises (such as one leg squats) and stretches. The Hot Yoga classes should also be helping!

So what is foam rolling? A foam roller is a firm cylindrical piece of equipment which you can use to perform self massage – or myofascial release if you want to be posh. Its kind of like a self administered sports massage.

Here’s a great video from the Tone It Up girls which demonstrates how you can use the foam roller:

They’ve also done a handy print out of the moves. I tend to do my IT bands and quads but have started doing the chest stretches as well. You know when its working as it can be bloody painful! If you hit a tender spot you just need to keep at it (within reason of course) because that’s a tight area that needs to be relaxed.

Foam rolling isn’t just for runners but can be useful for anyone that exercises and even those that don’t and just get tightness from sitting at a computer! It can be great for relaxing and lengthening your muscles, it was even recommended as part of the Female Body Breakthrough programme for strength training recovery.

Have you tried foam rolling before?

Hi everyone, have you had a good weekend? Mine has been very relaxed, we’ve barely left the house and have enjoyed pottering around at home which has been lovely.

On Friday night I had a total snack attack, I made some lovely snacks including millet puffs with peanut flour and melted Lindt Sea Salt chocolate, melted cherry almond dark chocolate with a spoonful of almond butter stirred in and bowls of Peanut Butter Puffins. I’m not feeling guilty for it or anything, but I did go to bed with a major food baby and ended up wide awake at 4am feeling like I’d been out partying with Keith Richards. It seems that my body now reacts to overeating sugar and chocolate by making me feel hung over! I know its down to the chocolate and sugar as I’ve had the same reaction in the past couple of months when eating the same way. I didn’t eat anything for ages on Saturday morning as I felt sick, and when I did all I fancied was a green juice:

All organic – cucumber, celery, broccoli, rainbow chard and lemon, I love my weekend green juices! After a while my appetite came back and I really fancied a fruity, nutty smoothie:

Frozen banana, blueberries, apples, raw almond butter, pumpkin seeds, msm, maca powder and water topped with more apples and blueberries, pumpkin seeds, raw almond butter sauce and some bee pollen. The bee pollen is really growing on me, I wasn’t sure at first but I really love its mild chewy sweetness.

We went grocery shopping on Saturday morning and I fell foul of the 3 for 2 offer on organic veg at Tesco so I ended up buying a lot of leafy greens. To use them up I’ve been eating yummy salads and green smoothies:

Lovely salad with red lettuce, romaine, home grown alfalfa sprouts, carrot, cucumber, pepper, beet, olives, crumbled RAW cracker and a dressing made with hemp oil, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar and dijon mustard, yum!

Apple pie green smoothie with spinach, frozen banana, apples, vanilla sun warrior, spirulina, maca, msm, cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice, vanilla stevia, water, ice, xanthan and guar gums topped with treacle granola. This was utterly delicious, so autumnal!

Carob Cherry Green smoothie containing romaine, spinach, frozen cherries, carob powder, stevia, water, ice, xanthan and guar gums and topped with a few spare cherries and some buckwheaties. The carob made a nice change to the usual cacao

For dinner tonight I had half a baked sweet potato with almond butter, sautéed rainbow chard with chickpeas, raisins and shoyu and some roast broccoli and runner beans:

This was a plate of heaven! Why have I only just had sweet potato and almond butter now? So good! I’ve also been eating lots of fruit:

I loved this antioxidant filled plate of blackberries, black grapes and a tiny discovery apple.

I’ve also spent some time this weekend making up a big pan of Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup, some of my home made version of of sweet and salty popcorn bagged up for snacks, and my first attempt at fermenting veggies – Kimberly Snyder’s Probiotic and Enzyme salad, basically home made sauerkraut!

I’ve decided that after Friday evening I’m going to take a little break from chocolate and anything else too high in sugar that sets me off such as dried fruit and PB&Co nut butters, cereals etc. I just feel completely sugared out and I don’t think that’s doing me any favours with the snacking! I’m definitely feeling a bit out of balance at the moment, I’m swinging from craving chocolate and nut butters and then feeling stuffed, to probably not eating enough! I think at the end of September when I have some time off I’m going to treat myself to a mini ‘detox’ (I hate that word, but what I really mean is a couple of days of eating really well) to try and feel a bit more balanced. Of course, some of this ‘out of balance’ feeling may come down to stress being caused by this…

Running Injury update

I’m going to ramble on a bit here, so please skip this if you like! This morning I managed 4.3 miles in 39 minutes on the treadmill. By the time I had finished I was in a lot of pain, I managed a further 30 minutes on the bike but my knee was screaming at me when I tried to go on the cross trainer and step machine. I knew it was going to happen eventually and today I completely broke down and had a good cry. After two weeks my injury is getting worse not better, and with only two weeks to go until the Great North Run, I have to start admitting to myself that I may not be able to do it. I hate that. I am not a quitter and to have to drop out of the race makes me feel like I’m letting everyone down. The worry I have is that if I try and do it I may not be able to finish it, and for me, that would be worse than not doing it at all. I would also be gutted if I didn’t complete it in a better time than last year. I talked things over with James and I’m not going to run at all for the rest of the week and then I’m going to try a run next weekend and make a final decision then. I have my sports massage on Wednesday and I’m trying to stay as positive as possible, I know a week without running could make a big difference and if worst comes to worst there will be other races and I can try again next year.

Have you ever had to drop out of a race due to injury? What do you do to regain balance when you feel out of wack?

Hope you’ve all had a brilliant weekend, and because I hate ending things on a negative note I’m going to leave you with a few things that make me smile:

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups:

Bright red lipstick:

Source

Sunrises:Source

Have a great week people!

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