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Hip replacement and triathlons
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 2015-12-21 11:41 AM |
 243  |  Subject: Hip replacement and triathlonsBeen out of tri's for a couple years-major family upheaval and the addition of a new hip! Bought a shiney new one in May and am trying to toy with the idea of getting back into tris-Last tri was in 2013 (oly) but did complete 2 iron distance races prior to that. Always at the back of the pack, but finished. Anyway, no more running for me but I am up to 6-7 miles walking at a modest pace. Still trying to get motivated back to swimming. My biggest fear is the bike. I am not a great bike handler even before the hip replacement-if I fall, I could dislocate my hip and being the bread winner of the family-a real problem.I haven't been riding in a year. I really would love to get back into shorter distances(oly or less) but I doubt I could ever break the cut off of 4 hours. I am 57 so it has been a struggle getting back to walking a longer distance-and boy, has my body changed! Cant train the same, I can train but it is almost opposite to what I was doing before the hip. Anybody doing tri's again with a new hip or knee? Part of me says to go for it and another part says I have too much to lose esp on the road with the bike(falling vs being hit by a car-shudder the thought). Maybe I should stick with 10ks, half marathons and stay in the gym/yoga. Dang. |
| 2015-12-21 4:48 PM in reply to: Cayenne |
| 33 | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons I have a friend that was big into triathlons and also had a hip replacement. He doesn't run anymore (or long long distance walking), but does a lot of biking including long mountain bike events. I know he's had a few falls, but nothing too bad. Doesn't seem too worried about injuring the hip again with falls, but it's also been 18 months or so since surgery. Once the muscle mass comes back you might feel different about getting back on the road. Good luck! |
| 2015-12-21 6:53 PM in reply to: Cayenne |
Pro 6011   Camp Hill, Pennsylvania | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons I coached a 50 year old woman with an artificial hip through Challenge Atlantic City last year. It was her first IM, and we got her across the line in less than 15 hours. I'll try to post more about the training approach tomorrow when I have more time. For now, just know that it's doable. |
| 2015-12-21 10:01 PM in reply to: Cayenne |
Extreme Veteran 1190 Silicon Valley | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons I had a full hip replacement. I was hit by a car and in the resulting crash fractured my hip. They tried a hip repair which was unsuccessful so six months later they did the replacement. That second surgery was 26 months ago. All tolled, an unwanted year off. Since then I have done three Olys. I will be doing a HIM & IM in 2016. I don't worry at all about riding. I've been logging 150+ miles a week. Almost all of that was outdoors until the past few months. The run is where I am limited. My doctor is managing me through the IM. Training only on a treadmill or soft tracks. My only road time is for races. Once the IM is over he wants me to move to Aqua/Bike events, which is fine with me. Two other points of interest for you. I had knee reconstruction 20 years ago (baseball accident) and just recently turned 60. If you want to do this, then you can and will. No reason to limit yourself to shorter distances because of the bike. Practice makes perfect as they say. Good luck. |
| 2015-12-22 11:19 AM in reply to: Stuartap |
| 243 | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons Well now...this gives me hope. My surgeon says no running unless I am saving someones life. He is fine with the bike but it is a fear thing with me. Did you guys switch to toe clips from clipless pedals for a while? I get in and out with my Right which is the new hip-makes me a bit squirrelly not being able to clip out. Maybe I can at least get started in the spring on the road. I do have a trainer that could be OK for now. Thanks for the ray of sunshine! |
| 2015-12-22 11:53 AM in reply to: 0 |
Veteran 183 Jupiter, FL | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons There is a guy in my age group (65-69) here in Florida that has had both hips replaced and has been doing Tri's and road races, usually finishing on the podium. He just did the Palm Beach half marathon and finished in 1:55. I guess you just have to understand that there may/will be a decrease in the life expectancy of the prosthesis, but IMHO I think quality of life weighs heavily in the equation. I'm coming off partial left knee replacement in April, 2014 and right Total Knee Replacement in February of this year. I did start a walk run program in June and did the bike and swim leg of a Sprint in September. I'm 68, just for reference. Good luck in your recovery Edited by pholahan 2015-12-22 11:54 AM |
| 2015-12-22 12:47 PM in reply to: Cayenne |
Pro 6011 Camp Hill, Pennsylvania | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons My athlete uses clipless pedals. She was a D1 swimmer 30 years ago, and she maintains a fairly high swimming performance level by swimming masters 2x / week year round. We found that the lack of impact on the bike allowed her to train fairly hard. Her competitive swimmer mentality necessitated me placing strict limitations on her running training. We stuck strictly with a walk/run strategy, never changing the intervals during her IM build. Instead, we gradually increased the weekly volume until she did a long "run" in the 16 mile range. We focused her program on building as high of a level of fitness on the bike as possible with the goal of coming off the bike with lots of extra left in the tank. We were extremely aggressive with reducing training volume and resting her any time any pain whatsoever developed in her hip. I had a strict rule that she wasn't allowed to ever experience any pain in it during training. If it hurt, she had to cut the session short. Since she was a bucket lister with this being her first and last IM, her goal was only to beat the cutoffs. As I mentioned in my other post, in the end, she was able to finish in under 15 hours still feeling strong and with only minor hip discomfort. My biggest suggestion is that you approach your training with a lot of patience. Don't try to increase your training volume too fast, and expect there to be setbacks when you need to back off. Forget about the 10% rule. Instead, use a more conservative progression. Start by using 5%. If your body handles that, I wouldn't increase it. Stick with that. If that's too much, cut it to 3%. If that's still too much, cut it even further. Good luck!
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| 2015-12-22 8:28 PM in reply to: Cayenne |
Extreme Veteran 1190 Silicon Valley | Subject: RE: Hip replacement and triathlons Originally posted by Cayenne Well now...this gives me hope. My surgeon says no running unless I am saving someones life. He is fine with the bike but it is a fear thing with me. Did you guys switch to toe clips from clipless pedals for a while? I get in and out with my Right which is the new hip-makes me a bit squirrelly not being able to clip out. Maybe I can at least get started in the spring on the road. I do have a trainer that could be OK for now. Thanks for the ray of sunshine! Personally I never switched back to toe clips. The thought never occurred to me. I was certainly a bit cautious for the first few rides but that went away pretty quickly. I'm still conservative on my runs. No need to put undue pressure on the hip. As was said above, quality f life is something I place a high value on. Yes, I know I am likely going to have to have it replaced again some day but I just can't reconcile giving up on doing an IM. I am lucky that both my wife and my doctor are ok with it as long as I follow the program. I approach thing like this with the attitude: don't tell me I can't, just tell me what I have to do so I can. |
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