Twangs and creaks...

I tried a bit of a run on Monday night with Rubbish Running Dog and I knew I was in trouble when she was faster than me... I couldn't decide which knee hurt more, and it's actually quite tricky limping on two legs at once... so I booked a physio appointment.

Steve the Physio took one look and said 'it's the knees isn't it?' which pretty much sums it up, although this time, just to get my money's worth, I added a dodgy left ankle in too... The knees ache at the front and feel like there's a tight elastic band at the back which is a Whole New Ache...

'Have you been stretching forward at all?'

'Yes'.

'Well, that's how you did it. What were you doing?'

'I was the back half of a pantomime cow.'

Laugh? Oh yes. Till he cried...

We agreed the knee backs would recover in time, the knee fronts need physio and he'd do my ankle for good measure - apparently running on the sides of hills and turning it over was what did for that. Then he advised I could still run if I found a nice soft field with no sideways slope.

I've already worked out I can get to the top of Rudry common avoiding hard bits and sideways slopey bits, so should be able to manage at least 8k some time this long weekend.

This morning I tried out the exercise bike (knees still hurt, but it was 5k before I decided that they Really Hurt) then swimming, which was also painful - my favoured breaststroke resulted in 'creak' (right knee), 'twang' (left knee) and breathe, creak, twang, breathe.... not great, so I tried crawl, which I'm not so strong at - creak, twang, swallow water, creak, twang, splutter, creak, twang, sink... so I got out.

I'm now sitting on the sofa with the laptop after doing my physio exercises and I've got bags of frozen peas on both knees and my left ankle. Sorted!

After swimming I also decided it would be sensible to anoint my feet with 'intensive foot softener' to help the blisters. It made my feet kind of greasy and I slid off my sandals.

And turned my left ankle...