I had a similar issue with knee stiffness. I found that foam rolling afterward, particularly my IT band helped it out a lot. I also stopped upping my weights for a while to deal with the fear that came with the stiffness (and knowing how much weight is on that bar).

Eventually it just kind of stopped. I think it was around the same time I did my first deload actually. My knees just seemed to get used the movement and everything has fallen back into place.

Has anyone experienced this- either the knee pain or the fear of getting really hurt?

um . . . yeah. i did exactly that thing - not a serious injury, but something seriously wrong - from losing form at a bad moment with a too-heavy weight. guess you haven't been here watching me whine and obsess for the past couple of weeks :laugh:

i'm definitely watching my knees. may be a bit different from you, since i'm still just in double-figures for squat weights and i backed all the way down to the bar for a couple of workouts. on the other hand, i'm 49 and have rheumatoid arthritis, so maybe 80 pounds to my knees is the same as whatever you're lifting right now.

for now i'm watching my form a lot more carefully than it sounds like you have to, and just plain staying away from anything that feels like it's too heavy for me to maintain my form with. what i fear from my own experience isn't completely bad form throughout the whole move, just that one little half-second wobble during one little rep that tears or stresses just one little thing, and blows the whole ballgame for me. i cycle instead of running, but i think that's an extra factor for me just like it is for you.

what others have said about stretching and rolling, especially for the quads. plus, i've gotten religious about the omega-3 oils and the glucosamine sulfate tablets. especially glucosamine sulfate. the way i'm thinking, if just being alive can give heavy people osteoarthritis late in their lives, then adding some daily cartilage-insurance into my own life for lifting can't be a bad thing.