Today I had some students away on a trip to France (let's hope it doesn't come down to "Bon jour, one Big Mac, merci") so I was able to come home early in the afternoon. On the way back I stopped for some insoles and settled for Sorbothane, because they seemed to be at a fair price. I only got the heel ones, and not the whole insoles, simply because I had no intention of buying a new pair of trainers at a size larger. My Nike ACGs, while not exactly running shoes, have served me well and have been very durable - they've lasted a lot longer than others, which usually get worn out within a year.

Anyway, why the insoles? Occasionally I've had some knee pain after a run - especially runs that have been at a quicker pace. I think when I run fast, I tend to misuse myself and "end-gain" - lose form. When I've gone at a slower pace, even for longer distances, things have been fine. The other day after I did my 11K in the park (1.13K per round, and hence 11.3K in total, to be anal) my knees didn't give me any bother at all.

So before I had to teach Max this afternoon I gave my new insoles a test drive - initially they felt like they'd been placed too far back in the heel (duh?), and I didn't really think they'd absorb much of the impact at all. I was even worried that the slightly higher heel would cause me more knee pain.

A few rounds later, though, they seemed to have settled nicely. I didn't really feel that they were in the wrong place or anything like that. The real test, of course, is tomorrow, and whether that knee pain resurfaces or not after the quick-pace run.

My time? 22:10 for 5K, which is probably the best I've ever done it. I'm very pleased. I completed 5 full laps in 24:29, which - if I could have kept up the pace - would have amounted to a 45 minute 10K. But I'm being too greedy here.

On Friday I'll probably just try to walk-run an easy 10K, just to experiment with pace, and see how I can work up to a half-marathon distance by varying the pace, so I get an easy lap after a few hard ones. But I will be careful about pushing myself too hard, too fast - I've really only started running properly since the last month, and have to be conscious about not doing myself an injury just because I wanted to rush myself back to fitness.

So for now I'll just be content with my new 5K time.