i totally agree about the shins and knees, don't get an injury, it's a double whammy against you, not only are you loosing time you could spend improving due to recovery, but you are also loosing fitness and motivation due to the nature of some recoverys.
you could do the two steps one step back system. ie, on one long run do eight miles, then next week do only seven. then the week after do nine and then after that, do eight. you can add a mile to another shorter run durnig the rest of the week to keepo you intended weekly mileage the same, but the "easier" week, allows your body time to recover. even if you look at the RW marathon schedules you'll see that they don't increast the mileage in a straight line, it's up, down a little, up some more, down a little bit, and so on.
listen to your body, if you feel pain which you think couyld be injury, and it's persistent, GET IT CHECKED OUT, or ask someone who know about injury(a running coach etc.) to have a look. most of the stress and straing running injuries are caused by too sharp an increase in mileage.