Bartholin's Cyst - for the ladies only :)

I had something like what I think you're describing (never had a name for it), and so did the girl in this blog (this is a seriously hilarious blog post and very informative): http://www.mediocreathlete.com/health-and-wellness/crotchfest-2012-this-sport-is-stupid-and-gross-edition 

No down time required after getting it drained, so I imagine you should be fine for your race three weeks out if you're able to get it drained soon.  To contrast that, I didn't have mine drained, and while I didn't really take any time off, it was there and painful for about three weeks if I remember correctly.  That said, I was just racing sprints, so my saddle time was relatively small.  I would definitely want to get it drained and not have to deal with that if it ever comes up again.

Yes, I've had one on my left side a few times since 2003.  The first time I had it, it swelled up pretty big and was so painful I couldn't sit right.  They gave me antibiotic because they said it was infected, and to come back in a week if the medication didn't help.  It did, and you can PM me for the details about that interesting experience.

Then I had recurrent flare-ups until I finally had surgery on it.  Not the most comfortable surgery but worth the less recurrences.  Yet another procedure I can give you details about offline.  I can still feel it's not the same as it was before I had it but it's manageable.  I had to change saddles and often end up sort of uncomfortable after a few hours.  I'd say I'm personally done with IM distance training sort of because of that, but I didn't have a lot of time to train anyways so that was an easy decision.  I can do up to 4 hours if I'm used to it.  Anymore than that can cause a recurrence.

Let me know if you want to chat about it.

If this is what I suspect it is and I'm 99.9% sure it is a Bartholin's cyst as my mum had one, I'll be having surgery. I've bruised my pubic bone before and had swellings as such competing in martial arts, but this is very different.

I'm glad yours cleared up after getting it drained, but I have a feeling my down time is going to be a couple of weeks.

I'm definitely looking into getting a new saddle and using copious amounts of Aussie Butt Cream!

Thanks Sarah, yes mine is on my left side too. I told my mum about it last night and she said she had the exact same thing and had to have it surgically removed. I don't think I'm going to mess around with the medication, I'd just rather have it cut out and be done with it so it doesn't come back. I really want to do Ironman, so I'll be pi$$ed if this damn thing stops me from doing that. Anyway thank you for posting I will send you a message.