First, let me make it clear that this doesn't feel like bad pain. It feels more like an overtraining/overuse type pain. If this were bad pain I'd be going straight to a doctor or physical therapist.
My Background/Physiology
- 30 year old male
- Very active in high school/college ('95-'03)
- Including football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, track, and cross country
- Ran marathons from 2005-2007
- Sedentary from 2007 until February 2011
- 6' tall, 215 lbs, 23.4% body fat (target weight: 185 lbs)
- Large frame (8" wrist circumfrence)
- Limited flexibility
In late February I began basic cardio focused workouts at the office gym. I did this for about 3 weeks and I started going to a CrossFit gym a little over 5 days a week (3 on 1 off). This gym's CrossFit style workouts are very beginner centric and rarely include more than 15 reps of anything. I have been working at home on my flexibility and mobility doing many of the exercises shown on the Mobility WOD.
Diet/Supplementation
I take daily multivitamin and fish-oil supplements. I'm currently eating a high protein, high fat, low-ish carb diet. My carb sources are primarily bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes. Basically paleo, but I cheat one day a week.
Thirty minutes before each workout I drink a pre-workout amino acid cocktail which includes Beta-alanine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine, L-Arginine, L-Taurine, L-Carnitine, alpha-Ketoglutarate, and Citrulline. Within 15 minutes of finishing each workout I drink a combination of a protein mix and a post-workout amino acid elixir which includes L-Glutamine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine, L-Arginine, and Citrulline.
With this diet and supplementation I have never experienced significant soreness the day after a workout, except for the first week of CrossFit. Even on days where I killed my back due to my poor clean form I have been fine the next day.
Get to the Point
Yesterday's workout was as follows:
2RFT
- 10 pullups
- 100m sprint
- 10 jumping squats
- 100m sprint
- 10 push ups
- 100m sprint
- 10 box jumps
- 100m sprint
- 10 dead lifts (175#)
- 100m sprint
- 10 jumping lunges
- 100m sprint
I completed it in just over 16 minutes. I was definitely gassed halfway through the second round. My sprints had become a jogging shuffle, and I had to do regular lunges in place of jumping lunges. This was definitely not the most intense workout I have done, but it did have more jumping than usual. After the workout my quads and calves were sore, but not exceptionally so.
I woke up this morning with a very very stiff right knee. It hurts to put it into full extension, and it hurts even more to bear weight on it in full extension. With my knee slightly bent everything is fine. After I have sat at my desk for a bit with my knee at 90 degrees I cannot walk very well for the first minute. I have a distinct limp. After about a minute or two of walking it is more or less fine as long as I avoid full extension (I don't normally lock my knees out when walking anyway). The pain is focused on the medial and lateral sides of my lower knee, maybe even below the actual knee.
Let me show you where it hurts:
I should mention that the pain is also triggered when my knee is in extreme flexion, and also with my hip in simultaneous flexion, abduction, and lateral rotation. That last picture demonstrates this: flexing my knee as far as it can go and cranking my ankle up towards my chin.
I don't feel any point tenderness anywhere on my knees. I've pressed and poked everywhere with rather extreme force and have felt no tenderness. Almost forgot, when my knee is in full extension I felt some slight discomfort on the medial side at the end of my hamstring behind my knee. I can bounce on my toes flexing both my ankles and knees on landing without feeling pain, as long as I avoid full extension.
Question(s)
So is this just an overuse injury? Is it even an injury or just fatigue? Does it have a name? What could have caused this: the jumping, the running? Thankfully today is my rest day, so I have all day today, and most of tomorrow to recover.
What should I avoid or try to be aware of during my workouts to prevent this?
Misc. Stuff that might be relevant
I've been working out in Vibram FiveFingers for the past week and a half. I have had to adapt my running gait to accomodate this. I was previously a heel striker, which is impossible in barefoot shoes, so I'm now trying to do a forefoot strike. I can definitely feel the difference in my calves.
Also, I obsessively roll out my muscles before and after every workout using both The Stick and a Rumble Roller. After last night's workout I think I did neglect my calves a bit, because they didn't feel that bad. I focused on my quads back and glutes.