Sore Left Knee After Sprinting (and doing the Caveman Stretch) page

[Spinman]

Hi,

For a couple years I had been (at the request of my trainer) doing interval sprints on the treadmill. I really like them and I really saw a change in my body. After I read the PB I started to do them outside in order to shake it up. I go to a local park and run on grass.

However, I am finding that my left knee is sort of sore doing this. I'm wondering two things:

1. Could it be the caveman stretches that I do afterwards that is putting stress on my knee

2. Or could it be my sneakers and the quality of the ground that I'm running on.

I was surprised that running on softer grass would bother my knee, but not running on the hard treadmill.

Anybody experience anything similiar to this? Anyone try those Vibram FiveFingers in order to combat it?

Thanks everyone.

[primalrob]

this could be a lot of things, but if you're willing to experiment a bit you could narrow it down.

first, stay off the treadmill for sprints. walk, jog, run on a treadmill if you're into that kind of thing, but you can't get a legitimate sprint going on a treadmill.
if you're running on grass, ditch the shoes. you can go with something barefoot if you'd like (such as the vibrams), but i think barefoot is more fun and feels better.
don't stretch, or stretch less. a good warm-up and cool-down is better than any stretch you're going to do. and, make sure that any stretch you do is dynamic.

give those things a try and see if they help...knowing full well that they may not. you can work a lot harder on grass than you can on a treadmill, so that may be contributing to the soreness. and, it might just be a little arthritis or something. regardless, keep sprinting.

[Spinman]

That's great advice. The sprints on the grass are absolutely more fun. Unfortunately I'm in NJ and the weather is a little cold for going barefoot. I think I'll give the FiveFingers a shot.

I had a hunch that those deep stretches that Mark S. does may be agrivating my knee. I played football for many, many years and do have a little overall wear and tear on my knees.

Also...my old trainer was having me do two sprint workouts a week. Do you think that's too much? Should I just try to keep it at one? Any thoughts? My ultimate goal is to become stronger relative to my bodyweight...so lost fat, gain muscle.

Thanks again.

[primalrob]

That's great advice. The sprints on the grass are absolutely more fun. Unfortunately I'm in NJ and the weather is a little cold for going barefoot. I think I'll give the FiveFingers a shot.

I had a hunch that those deep stretches that Mark S. does may be agrivating my knee. I played football for many, many years and do have a little overall wear and tear on my knees.

Also...my old trainer was having me do two sprint workouts a week. Do you think that's too much? Should I just try to keep it at one? Any thoughts? My ultimate goal is to become stronger relative to my bodyweight...so lost fat, gain muscle.

Thanks again.

stretching is great...but warming up and cooling down are better.

twice a week is fine for sprinting. that might wear you out a bit, and slow your progress on any lifting you're doing...but it's great for fat loss. have at it.

[Coach Palfrey]

What strength work are you doing?

[PoseRunner]

Spinman - Just becuase you are wearing minimal shoes and forefoot/Ball of Foot landing does not necessarily mean your technique is good and you could be stressing your knee/s, a change of surface being just just enough to damge something. Unless you are landing only just ahead of your Center of Mass passing over your Ball of Foot then your knees are taking more strain than they need to. Video of your self running is about the only way to find out. Vid at 640 x 480pix and 30fps is a minimum quality.

[Busphan]

Spinman - Just becuase you are wearing minimal shoes and forefoot/Ball of Foot landing does not necessarily mean your technique is good and you could be stressing your knee/s, a change of surface being just just enough to damge something. Unless you are landing only just ahead of your Center of Mass passing over your Ball of Foot then your knees are taking more strain than they need to. Video of your self running is about the only way to find out. Vid at 640 x 480pix and 30fps is a minimum quality.

^This. Another thing to try would be sprinting up a hill. I think this is a little easier on your joints. It's also harder to run with bad form up a hill, and the workout is killer.

[Spinman]

Coach Palfrey...I had been doing a set of workouts that an old trainer of mine put together for me. It was 3 days lifting. 2 days sprint work. 1 day casual cardio. The lifts were pretty basic, but involved 2 day mostly upper body movements, one day lower.

Now I'm starting to try to do my own version of the info I found on Leangains. Using the big 3 lifts as my base.

[Spinman]

Thanks everyone....really great advice. I'm going to try to find some hills and do sprints once or twice a week depending on my mood.