Sudden knee pain wont stop

Question
Hi, I run 2-3x a week, and cross train on the elliptical 1-2x a week. One day after 35 min on the elliptical, I had a sharp pain in my right knee, just below the knee cap. I stopped the workout and the pain continued even when I walked or bent the leg. after 2 days of rest and ibuprofen, the pain was gone. I tried a 30 min run, there was some discomfort at first, then nothing. After a few days, no pain. 3 weeks later, I started feeling pain at the start of my runs and sometimes some discomfort during the elliptical. I added stationary biking to my crosstraining days....

after a longer run this past weekend, the pain is worse and hasn't stopped. still painful to squat down and the only activity that doesn't hurt is the stationary bike....

I have custom orthotics that I have had for 3 years, relatively new shoes and I am a slower jogger (11 min miles)....what to do?  

Answer
Char,

I think it is a form of tendonitis, most likely from overextending yourself. What I mean by this is that I think you are doing too many different things. Running uses certain muscles, elliptical uses different ones, biking uses different ones. Each one will have a certain form. YOur body adapts to the running, but then you do elliptical, it tries to adapt to that and then you bike.

You need to pick maximum two and stay with it....are you a biker, a runner, or elliptician??