Well, I pulled the trigger and went ahead and registered for a sprint on July 28th. This will be my first tri in almost eight years. I just checked, and (excluding a few indoor, stationary races) my last tri was in September of 2016. Up to that point I’d been doing 5-6 per season for years. But, an eventual hip LEFT replacement surgery in 2018 pretty much ruled out running. Obviously I was still able to bike and swim. By the time I had recovered enough to do any jogging with the new hip, my RIGHT knee was starting to go. So for a few years I really didn’t do any running/jogging at all. In October 2023 I finally had the knee replaced. I was right back on the (stationary) bike within a couple days of the surgery, and back out on the road ten days later. In February-ish of this year I felt good enough to began jogging on it (after consulting with my doctor). Just 3-5 miles once per week. I’m actually down to about 10:00/mile pace. Woohoo! But, I’m feeling good enough to give a sprint a try. At 63 I think I can finish in acceptable time in the 60 y.o.-plus age group. — Dan

Good for you! At 63 and with two artificial joints, I would say any time before cut off is an excellent time. Hell, just finishing, cut off be damned, will be a victory now.

Well, you’ve done it before and you know the drill. Should be easier than you think. I’ve had a few cycling friends with total knee replacements, the fact that they were cyclists with generally fit legs made a huge difference then people I know who did not do much in the way of exercise. Have fun with your first race.

You're psyching me up! Good on you!

Concur with that! My doc was elated (if that’s the right word) with how swift and thorough my recovery was. And he pointed right at my fitness as the reason for that. He said that he has so many patients who take SOoo much longer to recover just because of their lack of fitness. Using hand gestures, he said to me “Coming out of surgery, your fitness level is up here. Before their surgery, those people are down here.”

Dan