IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

First of all, let me say that Curly Su's Bike Camp sounds like an amazing week! Great Job!

My own biking has been a little non-existent the past few weeks. I have the dreaded Patello-femoral Pain Syndrome, ie Runner's Knee. I've actually done very little running so far this year but I HAVE been pushing myself pretty aggressively on the bike and now I'm paying the price. I went to a sports doctor just to make sure it wasn't anything more serious, and now I'm going to physical therapy 3 times a week. Normally I wouldn't go through the hassle of PT, but I have a half-ironman triathlon in one week and I need to do whatever I can to get my knee back in shape as quickly as possible.

The knee gave out as soon as I started a ride March 1st, about 3 weeks ago. I thought it was just a simple problem of a pulled muscle or something. I tried a ride a few days later and had to turn around after about 5 miles. I laid off of it for a week, tried some light rides on the trainer but could only go about 45 minutes, even in very low gears. I waited another week and was able to do about 10 slow miles on the bike.

I went out again today, and this time did 36 miles. I stopped after 15 to do some stretching to relieve some tension on my knee, but it was holding up fairly well. It would have been nice if I could have just stopped at 25 miles, but when you're out in the middle of a bike trail there's not much you can do. I'm actually kind of glad I was forced to put in the extra miles, because my legs really needed the work. My knee might be the week link in the system, but my legs still need to do 56 miles next week (followed by a 13-mile run) and they haven't been doing much work over the past 3 weeks.

I have 2 more PT sessions and a follow-up doctor's appointment this week. Hopefully my knee will be healed enough that I can do the race on Saturday, but there is still a chance I'll have to drop out. I don't want to injure it further. I should know for sure in a few days.