More wind, and more knee pain :(

SWIM: 3250m in 90 mins...maybe 93 mins
RIDE: 32 miles in ~2hrs in NT with more wind that last week!

Let's just skip the swim and get to my main concern. My right knee was hurting again today. It's been hurting since Monday's spin. I think it's from Castlewood. I think. It didn't hurt on last Sunday's ride (the day after Castlewood) but it's hurt while biking since Monday.

Today after the swim 6 of us headed to NT. The winds were 20-25mph, temps in the low 40's, sunny. Surprisingly, it wasn't that cold. Just windy--a very steady, sustained wind out of the NW.

NT roads are flat and straight, so if you're facing a headwind or crosswind, the scenery doesn't change much. You'll be hitting that headwind steady for the duration of that until you turn.

The knee started out OK. Not great, maybe a 0.5 on the 0-10 scale. It didn't take long to get worse, maybe  10 miles in...a pain on the inside, right knee, ....trying to describe...an acute sharp pain over a 2" area. Not like a tear or break...like an irritation pain. Like something isn't broken, it's just unhappy.

Unhappy indeed. It got worse. And worse. And worse. We turned around in PdS and headed towards home into the headwind. And Worse. Much as I tried not to mash, my leg just wasn't tolerating this. My left leg started taking on most of the workload and wore out fast. I dropped my speed and fell off the back of the pack.

The pain was mostly in the 3-4 o'clock pedal position. The leg was OK to lift the pedal in the back of the stroke, just couldn't push down effectively. Later in the day, I found stairs and standing from a chair to be painful too.

By the end of the ride I was cold, distracted, unfocused, negative, and mad. I wanted to keep going--I had the fuel, energy, time, desire...but the knee wasn't having it. That and the group was heading out the next 10 miles or so into the wind. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

This was turning my stomach earlier. What does it mean and what do I do?

Googling knee anatomy...learning a lot here...symptoms seem to fit medial collateral ligament...a cyclist described similar "down stroke" pain. Can be caused my outward knee turning (rolling an ankle on the trail...?). But it doesnt hurt to touch it, my knee doesn't click or lock. But there are many grades of damage. Strain, sprain, tear...IF this is what I have I still don't know the grade or degree of injury.  Recovery involves ice (doing that right now actually), rest, and stabilizing the knee to prevent further damage (that might in the case of a torn ligament).

UGH.  There is a test that requires a second person moving the knee. When DH gets home...

Edit a few mins later. It's more to the top of my knee, not that on the side. More up where the quad meets the knee.