any non runners?

[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.
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! 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

This is so true

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.