Are you set on tris....you have other options—what about biking, swimming, Aquabike, and triathlon relay events??

If u can’t run u can’t. There are millions of things u can still do. If u like triathalon the aqua bike. If u like cycling there is a massive world of bike specialist training from TT to 500 mile endurance ultras. Same with swimming. Removing running from your training obligations opens up free time or more time to focus on some other endeavor.

I had to give up Triathlons after a knee replacement (that also had a poor outcome).....

Singletrack mt biking is my main thing in the summer with xc skiing in the winter....

I miss running and multisport where the run is always one of the segments (I just cant get into aquabike)

I miss running....

I am hoping to do more open water swimming and hopefully do a few events as well as mt bike events......without running and tris its not as exciting but I do feel content.

I started with doing aquabike while I couldn’t run. Certainly wished I could have finished all those things, but it still got me off the couch and doing something active with friends.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I think right now if it winds up that running is out for me, I'll continue to participate in triathlon, but walk during the "run" leg of the events. Yeah, I'll be slow...and chances are that I'll go from MOP to BOP, but at least I'll be lapping everyone on the couch (to be cliche).

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- John
"Have courage, and be kind."

Yup, same here. Knee pain from last race, so no running for almost 3 months now. Took this chance to participate in a sprint relay event with my kids (I did the bike leg). Next year, I entered in a 70.3 relay event with friends from high school (35 years ago!!). Maybe after that, I can join a 3km open water swim event. Cheers mate!!

After IMAZ 2015 quit running almost entirely due to bone on bone in my right knee. I miss the ease of going for a run, especially when traveling, but still swim and bike a ton. I've done a number of tri relays...both fun ones with my wife or kids as well as a few competitive ones with my fast runner friends (in most of them I do the swim/bike, someone else runs).

I've also gotten into gravel rides/races which are a complete blast and have even tried a few cyclocross events. Sstill lots you can do to stay fit and compete if you can't run. Good luck!

i love running as well, and if something happened and i couldnt anymore i dont know how i would handle it honestly. i was a runner before anything else so its my "base", even though im not the fastest out there by any means.

but, as someone else said, relays!

i personally have found i really enjoy the bike leg, maybe a little too much (as i seem to tend to put too much into the bike and leave myself tired for the run like a lot of us do). if i couldnt run, i would probably try and find a couple of people to hook up with and get a relay team together and just focus on either the swim or the bike. for the bike you could also participate in TT events and get into cycling more as well.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

I faced this a few years ago. I had raced triathlon for over 20 years and then my knee decided running was no longer an option.

I essentially shifted to riding. I loved racing triathlons. Walking the run, relays, swim/bikes didn’t appeal to me. I loved triathlon and those just left me lacking. They are great options but not for me.

I shifted to cycling full time. I ride road, gravel, cross and mountain. I ride with a local club which gives me the same satisfaction that I got from Triathlon. I am learning, getting my ass kicked, getting stronger and loving it.

Do I miss triathlon absolutely. Where I miss running is when travelling because exploring a city on a morning run is amazing. I now look for shops that rent bikes and ride while travelling.

It was hard to close that chapter but new bikes help!

What it very important is that I continue strength training and keep my leg/knee strong. Muscle is what now keeps my knee functioning decently.

Get another hobby....life is a big place

I have always been in the top 10-20% of races. I ran in high school, college and few years after till I got into multi-sport. Birth of 2 kids put much of my competitive sports on hold but I still like to do it. Last few years I have had bad planter fasciitis in both feet, that seems to have tamed down but now I get hip pain/arthritis after I pick up running a few days a week. Part of my wonders if is because I tamed down a lot since kids or if I just wore myself out in my younger years.

After the first kid was born I picked up gravel cycling. It was actually quite fun picking up a new sport, learning and getting into it, make different friends, do different races/rides, etc. After a year I got a fat bike for mtn biking and winter biking. Now I'm all in and hooked.

I wonder if I could go back into running and pick it up again but I'm have so much fun with bikes now I'm not really interested in it. I'll run 1-2 days a week but that is it.

Wife has similar stories, except its knee and ankle pain. She has picked up on indoor climbing and some biking. We still try to run or bike together when we can.

I'm not completely out of running but had to take off six months because of osteitis pubis. At the time, I seriously thought I may never run again. So, I decided to start cycling more than I ever had, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. On weekends, I would ride long miles in the mountains as I explored routes I'd not previously done. This was done on both road and gravel. I'd never been much in to mountain biking either so I took the chance to learn to mountain bike properly and it was so much fun.

As you stated, the biggest moments when I missed the ability to run was when I traveled. If you can run, it almost doesn't matter where you are at, you can run right out your front door. But, the enhanced joy of riding and exploring really did help make up for a lot of it.

Any chance that you can racewalk even if you can’t run? Would be much faster than normal walking...

What kind of strength training do you do? Just the usual lunges, squats, etc? Or are there unique/specific exercises?

I can definitely relate, I ran track/XC in high school and college and stayed with it through my 20s-30s, doing a lot of road racing and marathons before turning to tri's in my late 30s. I did tri's including IMs for about another 8 years or so, still doing standalone marathons in between. All those miles eventually added up with a bunch of overuse injuries (mainly with my calves) to the point where I've pretty much stopped running in the past few years and have switched to just biking for fitness where it's low impact in comparison. I do miss running though and a handful of times per year will go out for a short easy jaunt to get a fix in, although I'll be sore as hell afterwards no matter how easy I went or how much stretching I did. My daughter has started running and I would like to go with her a few times before she gets too fast for me. ; )

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I vary specific exercises but it's always quad, hamstring, glute and calf focused. I created issues for myself because I tended to favor my injured knee and lost muscle mass/strength. I had meniscus surgery and removed the bulk of it laterally and the loss of strength and mass caused my knee to collapse and bone on bone. My thought was baby it and it will prolong my ability to do things. The exact opposite happened and I spend the last 18 months getting back to the point where is doesn't hurt any longer. The harder I work it the better it feels and the better I ride.

I also do a lot of single leg balance and single leg squat work on a bosu ball. That helps build strength in the stabilizing muscles around the knee.

I hope this helps.

Great information, thank you for sharing!

I faced this 10 years ago after having grown up running (Jr. High into college), then doing tri's for 15+ years. Enough arthritis in the hips that the Ortho doc recommended no more running. Knowing I want to be active the rest of my life, I shut down all running 10 years ago.

What did I do after that? I ramped up my cycling and swim mileage. Dabbled in a few aquabike races. Have done a few Gran Fondo's. Some endurance rides/races (ex RAIN). Bike MS rides every year with a great group of friends that are current or former road racers where we work a tight paceline together for 75-100 miles for a great cause that is close to our hearts. Gravel races like Barry Roubaix. Looking to do a long open water swim race (5 or 10k) in the next year or so (got to swim around Long Island last summer...Long Island on Long Lake in Michigan..ha!). Discovered the joy of climbing 14ers out in Colorado. And a couple of years ago, found a grassroots triathlon called Sea to Summit in Maine and New Hampshire which has a "run" leg that ascends Mt. Washington. Did that race and loved it (other than the torrential rain we had most of the day which canceled the swim and prevented us from summitting the mountain).

There are so many different things you can do in this world if you are healthy and active and want to approach life as an adventure. Do I miss running? Heck yeah! But the list of things I want to do activity-wise is only growing longer....point to point mountain bike or gravel bike touring in the Rockies, cross country bike trip, long open water swim race, do another Starky training camp, ride entire BRP, gravel races out the wazzou, Six Gap Century, Cherohala Challenge, Blood/Sweat/nGears,12 hour cycling challenge to see how many miles I can do on the bike, many more 14ers out in Colorado to take on...the list can go on and on.

Training for triathlon was a big part of my life for 20+ years. The same training still happens san the running, but rather than just being triathlon specific, the fitness is intended to enable the next adventure and compliments wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle. Lots-o-Fun-After-50!!

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

Maybe you could just run in races and not run train, but heavy cycling to compensate.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

I would not do aquabike. Fastest swimmer is MOP at swim meet and biker lucky to finish cat 5 crit race. No competition. Do the individual sport meets/races. I did some crossfit 20.x workouts and that was a game changer, realization of how pathetic I am vs best on world

Like others said, consider other athletic interests, aquabike, triathlon relay. Or, half seriously, maybe your knee will tolerate race walking in the run leg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1sxFgTUbWo

Edit: sorry about the knee, should have said that first.
Tim

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Blog: https://swimbikerunrinserepeat.wordpress.com

Knee replacement in 2015 and the surgeon said no running. I miss trail running a lot. I ride the bike and swim but have gotten way out of shape since then (and moving to Tennessee) where I'm not really that happy. I've done a couple of aquabike races but it seemed anticlimactic. Sorry to hear about your knee troubles.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

If I couldn’t run anymore I would go all in on aquavelo, masters swimming, and cycling of all types.

Yeah, that was my wife’s suggestion, too. She said to focus on that, and I could walk faster than some “runners” at events (as she does, consistently taking podium spots in her duathlon age group events).

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- John
"Have courage, and be kind."