26 Days... knee trouble :(

I've been reading up a little about runners knee and there are many sites with information. It's a very common problem and there are a number of listed causes that I think apply to me!

First - flat feet, I do have flat feet and a few years I went to a podiatrist (or was it an othopeadic surgeon?) to get orthotics because I often get shin splints if I walk fast, however I stopped wearing them as the problem seemed to stop bothering me as much, probably since I began running regularly. Well atleast it stopped bothering me in my daily life, shin splints definitely do bother me from time to time while running, and perhaps this has something to do with my sore knee.

Second - related to the first is overpronation (foot rotating too fat inward on impact), but I already have shoes that help with this problem, they have a large instep, and my last shoes did well to prevent this. I have exactly the same type of shoe as my last pair.

Thirdly - overtraining, or atleast a sudden increase in training. Over the passed few weeks I have been running 30-40km a week, which is 25-50% up from what my body is used to, but it's strange that its happening now, because I started training like that about 2 months ago, and I would imagine the running that I did the past year would condition me to some extent for such an increase.

Fourthly - inadequate stretching, here I have to admit I am guilty! Especially of the quads and hamstrings. I don't stretch a lot and recently at the club they have given up stretching for mild strength exercises before a run. I think I will try to remedy this immediately.

Another cause they mention is an imbalance between the strength of you quads, hamstrings and iliotibial band (ITB). Perhaps this is a cause but I have no idea how I can find that out.

So the question now is what to do about it? It was definitely pronounced yesterday due to the hilly terrain, but the 2 Oceans is hilly terrain and if I end up with knee pain like yesterday on the big run I will be very disappointed! Do I go straight to a podiatrist or go to my GP? Do I try make some changes myself first? Start streching more, start wearing my 4 year old orthotics while running? Perhaps those could now cause more damage? Stop running downhill!? Downhills are where I can gain the most time because they apply the least effort to my heart... I really would prefer not to stop running downhill.

Then adding to my woes are that I have serious deadlines looming at the end of this month and every day I take off means less time to work on work. So I'm reluctant to go see a doctor again after last weeks full day off. Oh well I'll think about it a bit more today, see how I feel after tomorrow's run and then make a call.