Trigirl, it's really easy to strain quad just by having to work harder to stabilize yourself while running on poor surfaces. For this reason, I just won't run on ice. As much as I hate it, I will run on the treadmill on those days. Better hope you've got a good movie.

And, the crosstraining of triathlon, does give you increased muscle strength that can help ward off injury. I switched to triathlon from a running background because of knee and hip problems. I added yoga to the mix and now I almost never have hip or knee pain.

Let us know how it turns out with the Ortho.