any non runners?

[surgtech1956]

Are there any non-runners out there? It looks like most of you run when you can't bike. Anyone else out there with bad knees and can't run, any walkers or ????

[segolene]

Swimming :D !?!

I had numerous injuries that stopped me from riding or running but I could get exercise swimming (with a kickboard or a buoy depending of the injury!!;) )

[Starfish]

I have a problem knee and haven't run for many, many years. I admit I'm plotting to make a comeback, as I am getting intrigued with the idea of triathlons. But, no, I'm not a runner. I might have to learn speed walking! :eek:

I like to swim, do cardio machines in the gym, and I'm currently working my way through a floor-mat-Pilates book to see if I can make that a routine.

[PinkPilot]

When could you not bike when running would be preferable? During bike servicing? I just figured the runners were the super duper athletes who wanted to excel in as many areas as humanly possible for super duper athletes!

[Zen]

I'd run if I could.
I can barely walk. Cycling's it for me.

I encountered some runners while out riding the other day. It occurred to me that cyclists seem happy and smiling most of the time while runners often seem pained:rolleyes:

[KnottedYet]

Surg - just start walking. Get the best fitting walking shoes you can, get the best supportive (not cushy!!!) insoles you can, and WALK.

Strengthen that knee of yours every which way you can!

Don't worry about how many folks run, how many walk; just get out and have fun!

(I walk. I'd rather run, but my knee won't do it.)

I know this store isn't anywhere near you, but this is the kind of store that will fit you up right for shoes that will take the most stress possible off your knees. www.playmakers.com Perhaps call them and ask if they can recommend any stores near you. Playmakers works closely with Brooks (based here in Seattle) and really knows shoes and feet.

[LBTC]

I don't run. Too jarring on all my joints - no specific injuries, I just never could get past the awful hurt of it.

I do walk regularly. My commute to work is on foot. It's too short to justify pulling the bike out for it, and, besides, I can take pictures while commuting. It's perfect.

I am way out of fitness right now, but getting more healthy and getting ready to ride more often I hope.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[mimitabby]

I can run about 100 feet. Nope, not a runner. lots of us don't run... unless we absolutely HAVE to.. and then... not too far!

[DirtDiva]

I've met heaps of cyclists who used to run but did in a knee or whatever and can't anymore. I run sporadically. Thing is, when you've only got half an hour you can go for a run and still feel like you've had a decent workout. I do kinda enjoy running when I'm relatively fit already, but the problem with running is that you work really hard and don't end up going very fast - that's no fun!!! :p

[mudmucker]

I'm a runner wannabe. I never really could run, and I have a bad knee as well. What helped me run, was trail running, where the ground had give and there was no pavement slamming. And very good running shoes to help cushion the knee worked wonders. And if something didn't feel right, stopping and walking a bit.

I see you're in Michigan. Depending on your knee, xc skiing might be ok during your non-biking months. Less jarring impact.

[teigyr]

Ex-competitive runner here and for the longest time I felt I couldn't run. What I did was get the idea out of my mind that I had to be fast or do great distance! I also got orthotics and got shoes that worked for me, just not what was cheap or cute.

I've been running on the days I don't have time to ride. I'm also doing the tri (sprint) so while a lot of that will be walking, I can run some.

I walk a LOT too. Orthotics pretty much save me there too. Hiking is good :D

[LBTC]

I guess I could have mentioned that in winter I snow-shoe, I do yoga most mornings, and I used to (when my body could handle it, and will do again when it can) kickbox training.

There are plenty of things we can do to stay fit, we just have to find the things that are the most fun for us.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[salsabike]

Was a non-pro but very serious ballet dancer for years before getting fibromyalgia and having to quit. Running was a total no-no in the ballet studio--its effect on leg muscles not compatible with ballet needs, not to mention injury potential/joint stress.

[Starfish]

Depending on your knee, xc skiing might be ok during your non-biking months. Less jarring impact.


Oooh, yes, I love Xcountry skiing, too. We don't have good Xcountry around here, but someday I'll live again where I can. LOVE it. Knee seems to like it, too.

[makbike]

I haven't run since I played my last field hockey game in 1979. I never enjoyed it and gladly gave it up for the bike, raquetball and softball. Now in my old age I simply bike.

[7rider]

I'm a one-act show, here.
Biking is it.
I'm very flat footed, and tend to run like a duck (even with the orthotics). I end up with shin-splints after about 20 yards. I wish I could run, but it's not worth the pain and suffering.
Walking/jogging on a treadmill when necessary.

[rij73]

I tried running in the past, but I find it really boring and unpleasant. I couldn't now even if I wanted to because of a nerve problem in one of my feet. Lucky, cycling doesn't trigger my foot pain, so that's gonna be my exercise for life!

[aicabsolut]

I get chronic shin splints too, even with all the help I can get from orthotics, physical therapists, and sports trainers. I had a (then undiagnosed) stress fracture in high school from sprinting and hurdling. My attempts to do some short distance running for fitness through college and graduate school has earned me a nice osteochondritis dissecans lesion in my right ankle. It hasn't healed in years of no to lo-impact rest, but I don't want to get the surgery for it. I cycle because my doctor told me to get on indoor bikes while I was supposedly "healing." I don't want to be stuck in a gym forever, but running is still out for me.

[Crankin]

Another non runner. I have tried to run in the past, and wish I could, but I just keep getting injured. My most successful attempt was in 2004. But, even with a lot of slow building up and walking, I keep getting groin pulls (a weak area for me) and knee issues. I lived in a flatter area in 2004, so that's maybe why it was easier on my body.
But, I am very slow (a ten or 9.5 minute mile) and really didn't see improvement. The reason I liked running was that you can go out any time and in 30 minutes feel like you've had a good work out. So now I walk at least once a week and in the fall and spring I do a lot of hiking on local trails. I also snow shoe and x country ski, do yoga. In the colder months I go to the gym, do spin, weights, etc. Really, though, cycling is my main activity.

[sundial]

I used to run--alot. Then I tore my ACL playing basketball 27 years ago and my joint is swiss cheese so I can only do non-impact stuff now. I still get the urge to head out the front door and just jog until I'm pooped. But now I've got a bike to do that.

[TsPoet]

Running was a total no-no in the ballet studio--its effect on leg muscles not compatible with ballet needs, not to mention injury potential/joint stress.

Salsa,
Just curious, could you cycle when you were doing ballet? rules against any leg-building exercise, or just running?

I *hate* to run, everything hurts. Also, as a big woman, I look funny when I run, not that I'm vain or anything. :o
There was a woman in my old neighborhood who started running. She was so large up top that she had to run hugging herself. A year later, she fit into what looked like a DD and had lost at least 100 lbs. I didn't know her, but I wanted to hug her.

[Torrilin]

I don't run. The bone deformities I have mean I never learned how as a little kid. And the structure is bad enough that learning to do it properly is likely to lead to injury. Even with orthotics, it's very painful for me to run. A 12 minute mile "running" is fast for me. That's how fast I can walk a mile.

I quite happily swim and walk. I keep wanting to get a jump rope for more impact exercise... that doesn't *hurt* the way running does. I want my bones to stay strong.

[Zen]

I want my bones to stay strong.

Do you do any weightlifting/resistance exercise?
To maintain healthy bones exercise has to be weight bearing (another strike against swimming).
I think cycling qualifies.

[IFjane]

I don't run either. I never liked it - even waaaaay back when I was in school. And now I have chronic bursitis in my hips & running REALLY hurts. Walking - even power walking - is fine, just no jarring on the hips/knees. I walk when I don't ride, just to mix it up a little. I must mention that I live on the side of a small mountain and there are no level spots on the whole thing so all my walking is either up or down.

[emily_in_nc]

Do you do any weightlifting/resistance exercise?
To maintain healthy bones exercise has to be weight bearing (another strike against swimming).
I think cycling qualifies.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. I believe that cycling is considered mostly non-weight-bearing. A recent study that Bicycling magazine cited determined that a large % of male elite (road) cyclists had bones similar to women after menopause! Perhaps someone could provide an exact citation - I'm at work and can't look it up now.

I seem to recall that the intense sweating cycling can result in can deplete calcium as well.

As I recall, the article recommended that cyclists participate in other forms of exercise as well to get bone-maintaining benefits, such as lower body weight work, running, hiking, and so forth.

Hope this helps!

Emily

[Geonz]

Hmmm... I'd probably run if I couldn't bike - I've done a mini-tri or two - but ... when would that be??? I've been able to find at least a stationary when I had to go on the road (if I didn't have my bike with me) for the past couple of years, tho' there was a time I had to run up and down the stairs at the Microtel.
I have also swum but it's a little hard to get the level of aerobic exercise that way if I'm in bicycling condition because my arms wear out long before my lungs.

[deedolce]

I run the around on the tennis court! :cool: I kind of get bored just running on the road, and prefer the 'flying' feel of the bike. I also lift a few reps at the gym, because I'm getting old enough that I have to worry about my bones. (48)

I love the speeds you can get up to on a bike. I feel like molasses when I try and run distance, although I'm fast on the tennis court. Short spurts I do great!

[TsPoet]

Unfortunately, that's not the case. I believe that cycling is considered mostly non-weight-bearing. A recent study that Bicycling magazine cited determined that a large % of male elite (road) cyclists had bones similar to women after menopause! Perhaps someone could provide an exact citation - I'm at work and can't look it up now.

I seem to recall that the intense sweating cycling can result in can deplete calcium as well.

As I recall, the article recommended that cyclists participate in other forms of exercise as well to get bone-maintaining benefits, such as lower body weight work, running, hiking, and so forth.

Hope this helps!

Emily

There were articles (2 of them) published ~2002, and they have been "interpreted" in cycling magazines and the like. They get brought up about once/year.

Nichols, JF, Palmer, JE, Levy, SS
Low bone mineral density in highly trained male master cyclists
OSTEOPOROSIS INT 14 (8): 644-649 AUG 2003

The article shows that cycling *at the exclusion* of other exercise (like general sports) has resulted in these 50-something men having low bone densities (Table 4, for those of you reading along). Their study population and controls were not optimal. Basically, what they found is that these master cyclists never participated in sports when they were younger. (I wonder if cyclists are loaners or something, might be an interesting epi study).
The second article is not in a peer-reviewed journal and I haven't been able to find it. But, this first article (which is interesting) is pretty good.
So, based on these studies, it looks like cycling doesn't build bone density, but it doesn't deplete it, either - although many articles have miss-interpreted these articles to say it does.
According to the cellular biologists down the hall from me who work with bone, the only way calcium could be sweated out of bone is if the person was very compromised in the first place. They also point out that a stationary bike is a major source of exercise used in the space program, where they've found it to be effective in decreasing bone loss in astronauts.

[indysteel]

Running was my first sport when I was younger. I ran the 800 and 1600 meters competitively with some success. After a number of painful injuries, however, I grew to hate it. I ran off and on during college and law school, but it's been at least 10 years since I've done it with any regularity. Now, my cross training consists mostly of light weights and yoga, and I'm hoping to add rock climbing (on a rock wall until I'm ready for the real thing) and maybe some x-country skiing into the mix. I, too, am concerned about bone density.

I was talking to a PT yesterday who also teaches Pilates, and she looked at me kind of funny when I suggested that yoga (at least the kind I do) is weight bearing. I'm curious as to whether that's really the case. When I think of the poses I hold and the strength it takes to hold them, I have to believe that they're weight bearing. Perhaps not as much as running, but then again, running carries a high risk of injury. Any thoughts?

[Trek420]

I encountered some runners while out riding the other day. It occurred to me that cyclists seem happy and smiling most of the time while runners often seem pained:rolleyes:

This is so true ;) :p

From time to time I get the wacky idea to plod along with the dog. I used to run slowly but run 6-10 miles at a a pop.

Now I'm too gimpy.

I weight lift, bike, walk, bike, do Aikido, bike, garden and .... bike ride.:)

[TsPoet]

I was talking to a PT yesterday who also teaches Pilates, and she looked at me kind of funny when I suggested that yoga (at least the kind I do) is weight bearing. I'm curious as to whether that's really the case. Any thoughts?

I just googled yoga bone density and came up with tons of hits - all saying yoga builds bone density. I find yoga to be incredibly hard (in a good way) and relaxing at the same time, so I'd believe it!

[Bad JuJu]

I used to run, but haven't in more than 10 years. I never liked it much, but did it for physical fitness tests when I was in the navy. Walking, now--I love walking, but not as much as I love cycling.

[sgtiger]

I despise running just for the sake of running. I don't know what comes over me, but once in a blue moon, I'll decide I need to take up running. A few blocks into I'm reminded just how much I can't stand it.

Other activities I do enjoy, though, are: yoga, tai chi, jump-roping, swimming, (occasionally) weight-lifting. I'd like to learn how to surf and start rock-climbing and snow-shoeing again.

[Torrilin]

Do you do any weightlifting/resistance exercise?
To maintain healthy bones exercise has to be weight bearing (another strike against swimming).
I think cycling qualifies.

Cycling doesn't qualify, according to my doctor. Nor does walking. Jump rope does. Thus my desire for one *g*. It's one of the few forms of exercise that doesn't hurt *and* will help my bones. He's also suggested weight training. Both body weight exercises (like pushups and pullups) and free weight training meet his criteria. Most of his other suggestions are things that hurt, and so we've agreed it's best to ignore them.

I've been doing some bodyweight exercises, but they focus on the upper body. Jumping rope would focus on the lower body.

Based on my research, he's being careful because I'm on medication that increases my risk of bone loss. This is not a bad thing to my way of thinking :). Bone loss and my already bad skeleton are not a good combination. Hrm, I think I just talked myself into hunting down a jump rope.

[caligal]

I did cross country in high school, long time ago, I hate running, I only run when I am being chased. I rollerblade/rollerhockey, play soccer in a low key rec league (I play d, rarely run, just a few short sprints here and there) in the summer and ice hockey in the winter. I also ski and cross country ski in the winter.

[KnottedYet]

Jump rope!!! Oooh, jump rope is fun! I need to find an "adult" sized one... this could be good for me.

[Starfish]

Jump rope!!! Oooh, jump rope is fun! I need to find an "adult" sized one... this could be good for me.

Knot, I see you as one who could organize a jump rope club...you know, not solo jumping, but the kind with 2 ropes we used to do on the playground with a girl at each end...You could stash some ropes at Logboom Park and stop for some jump rope on your next pick-up group ride! ;)

But, this is how I tore all my ligaments in 5th grade...so I will have to pass! :p

[carpaltunnel]

[QUOTE=sgtiger;238903]...but once in a blue moon, I'll decide I need to take up running. A few blocks into I'm reminded just how much I can't stand it.
QUOTE]

Same here!
I like variety, so I do different things at the gym: step class, group power, aquatics, warm water pool (try treading water for 30 minutes), pilates. Don't like spinning, they play the music so loud the audiologist in the suite next door moved to a different building!

Which brings me to my pet peeve: why do "Health clubs" insist on ruining the clients' hearing with over-loud music?:eek:

[Velobambina]

I've tried to add running back in for cross-training purposes, but it seems to result in injury. In the 90s, I used to run half- and full marathons until Piriformis Syndrome kicked in. I can now manage the PFS with stretching and not overtraining, but overpronation now is the problem. Doesn't seem to cause knee problems -- hits me in the ankles.

For crosstraining, I am back to rowing. I also walk/hike and occasionally, do some kickboxing (Powerstrike).