The YMCA here puts on a "Family Triathlon" every year, 100 yards of swimming, 4 miles of biking, 2 miles of running. It's supposed to be for recreational athletes and groups running as a team, or families doing the different events. Last year, I got a couple of other cancer gimps together and did the tri as Team Stage 4 - One friend who almost died from lymphoma did the swimming, I did the biking, and a woman who was in chemo for breast cancer did the running. We didn't do very well, but we got a bit of good press, and this year the organizers decided to put together a separate tri just for "cancer survivors and caregivers." I suggested that they needed some standards, because we would get some ironman qualifier who had a skin cancer cut off the tip of his ear six years ago who calls himself a "survivor", but they didn't go for it. (I suggested that each entrant must have taken performance enhancing drugs, or must have had a minimum qualifying time in the Bed to Toilet Chemo Puke Dash, but I guess that sort of thing is politically incorrect.)

So anyhow, now I have to do the whole tri. I can swim, and I can bike, but running is torture. I went out for a run on Sunday and screwed up my knee. Now I get to have an MRI and might miss the whole event. What's wrong with people who run?

No, this is great stuff! Now you can have a whole new cat. Maybe some assisted running thing. Like a Segway or something.
Or, you bike for the bike section, but use a recumbent for the running section.
Make lemonade.




Seriously, bummer on the knee. Sorry.

I consider myself a cyclist (4000 miles/yr the last 2 or 3 years), but I dont like cycling in the dark. the past 3 or 4 years I have been running 3 days a week Sept thru early May. I have completed two triathlons.

cycling is definitely more fun, but, I do like the results from cross training. I feel I am in the best condition in the past 30 years

I would walk the 2 miles, heck with running.

But my biggest challenge would be swimming 100 yards. If the pool was shallow, I would walk that too.

Everybody knows that recumbents are for people with disabilities.

Tom B as usual has the right idea. I'd walk the two miles, but at the moment it would be on crutches.

If you complete the event on crutches, you might get on TV as the admirable, gritty, determined guy.

Thought I would return to competitive running this year but have too much pain and problems from running.

Going to continue to try 2 or 3x a week starting at 20 - 40 min of run/walk. Strangest thing is thigh soreness after running. When I get on a bike it seems to go away. Lower back pain is also a problem.

Due to an old knee injury- I do not run. Even on the treadmill at the gym- I do a fast walk. So Tom talks sense- Fast walk and gain the lost time on the bike.

I could run the two miles but pay for it in months to come.
Therefore, no thank you.

Fast walking is great. I still run, but only on dirt or similarly forgiving surfaces. On asphalt, and particularly on concrete, I walk at a 4-5mph pace.

I ride with a couple of orthos and both of them say runners are their best customers. Several riders ride because they can no longer run. What's that tell you?

MRI set for next week Tuesday - knee is very painful. I think something is rather significantly wrong. It's really depressing. Working hard to get and stay in shape, getting into pretty good shape with good solid riding, and now possibly losing it by doing something stupid. I guess the lesson is, once you hit our age, to stay within your proven level of competence and only tentatively try to push the envelope.

Running per se ain't bad, it depends on how often you do it, intensity, etc. Not knowing anything more about your background, maybe you jumped into it too fast and injured yourself.

I mix bicycling and running each week. My rules are similar to what has already been mentioned: 1) no pavement 2) take it easy (no crazy, rough or steep terrain), and use good shoes. Runs are 3-5 miles 2X per week, and three biking days of 20-30 miles each (sometimes a longer 40-50 mile ride on weekends
).

I ran with my wife for about 6 or 7 years but since I've been standing on concrete factory floors for 36 years and my knees and back give me fits I gave up the running and started cycling. When I get on the bike all that pain goes away at least as long as I'm on the bike. Afterwards its a bit of a different story as the concrete catches up to me once again but on the bike the juices seem to flow and I feel great.

I love to run. I can run and run and run. I am a like a little kid who has to run everywhere. When I walk anywhere my body keeps telling me to run. So maybe it's my thing or in another life who knows. But I do hold back because I know how my knee will suffer later and recently my back. We are designed to run on grass not hard paving.
re cancer sufferers. When I was 26 they gave me 12 months. I'm 60 this year and still pedalling. Never give up. If there is a god. I love U.

Jim.

The latest thing is a "Aquabike" - two events without the running. Just bicycling and swimming.

For me, running is like Yoga. Certain folks have bodies built just for running, as certain folks have bodies built for Yoga, and they can't begin to understand that not everyone else is like them.

For someone like me with short, short legs and a loonngg body in comparison, running is not a pleasurable, pain-free, fun (nor fast) activity.

So, I would suggest that you contact the event sponsors and tell them to get with it - Aquabike is an up and coming event that helps to build one's body, not destroy one's knees.

I started serious running while in military as an advocate of Kenneth Cooper's aerobics. Twenty years later I quit and got serious (again) about biking. This was after numerous knee surgeries.

When I had a cartilage repair in late 30's my surgeon told me then that "you're going to quit running". I told him I'd never quit and he just smiled and said I would. Sure enough, he was right.

The headliners like to show the 70 year old who runs marathons. I theorize that most long distance runners our age (think 5+ miles) either;

1) beat the probability charts, or
2) didn't start running till late in life.

Twenty years of running pounds most people's knee miniscus (cartilage) into little floating chunks, and then begins working on the bones.

But I'd still run an hour a day if I thought I could.

Didn't make the 20 odd years running but Middle distance from 15 to 18 then became good at 15 mile cross country running. It was the 100mile training pounding the streets in plimpsoles (Basic canvas shoes) that did me in. Knee injury in the forces nearly meant I stopped running but at 34 the knee was defeating me and I gave up competitive running. Took up cycling 10 years later as being gentler on the knees and still keep my fitness. Still can't run 100 yards without having a week off work though.

Stapfam...I hear what you're saying. I never got into marathons but did many half marathons and 15K's. I still jog a little when I go to the beach just so I can say I did it...and I do mean a little, like 100 meters or so.

Hang in there. There are any number of painful knee problems that aren't too serious and won't keep you down long. We'll hope for one of those.

Running unlike road cycling builds rather than degrades bone density. Knee problems are sometimes due to running too much too quickly: you need to build up very slowly especially at a more advance age.

Al

No disagreement on the bone density issue because of the weight bearing exercise. But running still tends to degrade and tear cartilage, which is usually becoming worn by our age regardless of exercise.

I can run . . . if someone or something is chasing me!