That’s a lot of injury. Best wishes.

My scenario: 52 years old, doing 8 hours a week of whatever is seasonally appropriate for northern MN, some of it competitive and some recreational. Slow speed awkward xc ski crash. Full tear of proximal conjoint hamstring, partial tears distal, MCL, both hip labrums to some degree. Now about 1 year out from repair.

Some highlights

—get the toilet riser

—first 6 weeks was dominated by a “no falls allowed” philosophy and I didn’t try to regain or maintain any upper body fitness, basically greed does not accelerate healing

—portion control was difficult

—second 6 weeks was unweighted range of motion stuff

—after 12 weeks, PT began in earnest, it was intense and more or less captivated my exercise life for the next 12 weeks

—also at 12 weeks, I was swimming but I don’t remember any details, I think this is when I started biking on the trainer w flat pedals

—24 weeks I was jogging, fairly soon I was able to do 4-5x 15 minutes per week, until it snowed

—now at 48 weeks, haven’t done any run intensity, but occasionally doing a 1-2 hour trail run when skiing isn’t good

—I think my bike wattage is completely back

—I am very anxious about another ski wreck, and the paranoia is probably making it more likely, unfortunately, nonetheless I am probably at a total of 40 days skiing xc and alpine so far and having fun

—I lost a lot of flexibility, I look and feel awkward doing basic stuff like getting up off the floor

—I don’t want to get that hurt again, me and my wife have gotten serious about strength training, balance, new skills

Good luck

Check back in a year and let us know how you are doing

I did my first triathlons in 2011 (2:43 olympic) before I tore my ACL, lateral and medial meniscus playing in a flag football league in the spring of 2012 when I was 29. I re-tore my meniscus during rehab 6 months after my ACL surgery (hamstring graft/meniscus repair) that set me back to square 1. I had a second meniscus repair surgery after that. I walked with a limp for about 2 years. I did not know if I would ever run again let alone compete in triathlon.

It took a while to get back into running as I had some other priorities in the years after as well but I eventually got running regularly and did a half marathon in 2017, a full marathon in 2018 and then returned to training for triathlon in April 2018. I bought a tri bike and became committed to the sport. I quickly lowered my Oly time to 2:18. Trained my ass off in 2019 and 2020 and then when races started back up post Covid I lowered that time to 2:02. I regularly made overall podiums in my local race series in the mid-Atlantic as well as age group podiums at USAT Nationals in 2021, 2022 and 2023. I've set lifetime PRs in every running distance in my late 30s.

I tend to deal with some sort of running injury a couple of times a year and I know it's due to continued strength imbalances. My right leg is still visibly smaller than my left over a decade later (although my power balance on the bike is often 48/52 or 49/51). I have to limit my weekly mileage and how much speedwork I do throughout the year but I would say I've had substantial success with returning to triathlon after ACL and meniscus injuries and you can even throw the hamstring in there too since part of it was used for my graft. If I can do it, it's certainly possible for anyone sitting there looking at a swollen knee and wondering if they'll compete again.