Whose more likely to get hurt?

The one who pushes further than the body is able to recover from. Nothing else matters.

Or the one who spends the most time on the road and gets hit by a car.

Bad marriage with cast iron pans in the house would work too.

D) All of the above.

If you are doing any of the above endurance sports, you are raising your chances of getting injured. 256 times.

Sit in front of the TV.  You won't injure yourself.  But...

Edited by pga_mike 2010-08-14 4:46 AM

I do think the cross-training of tri helps my legs out. When I was running exclusively, me legs always had some sort of ache or mild tweak going on. Cycling makes that go away for me. Any sport that brings in collision possibilities or unpredictable movements greatly increases injury potential. I sprained my ankle playing basketball this summer.

i heard one time  that a professional football player (not soccer for the europeans) has a 100% chance of getting hurt at some point in their careers, think they take the win!

A a former professional couch potato I disagree. Sitting in front of the TV and not getting cushion sores or channel thumb takes many hours of practice and dedication.

All depends how well you treat your body... nutrition and rest are equally important for all sports.

Cross-training will in general help you and will reduce the risk of injury, but only as long as you listen to your body and know your limitations.

From your example, a short coarse triathlete that might be super fit and very fast, all of a sudden decides to do a marathon can cause a lot of harm to the body... although arguably super fit, you're just not used to the distance and the demands that puts on your body.

Cross-training generally decreases your chances of over-use injury (but you'll still find a number of triathletes suffering from PF, ITBS, etc.) 

You might have to distinguish between a cyclist who rides several hundred miles a week but never races from one who races.  Racing greatly increases your odds of an accident because you're riding with others who are pushing the limits. 

A trail runner is far more likely to be injured than a marathoner.  Uneven footing, obstacles, overhanging branches, running in wet shoes are part of the challenge/attraction of trail running.  As for ultra-marathoners, these races are often trail runs although there are a few like the JFK50 that are pretty benign trails.  I'd say an ultra-marathoner is more likely to end up with serious endochrin/organ issues precipitated by frequent dehydration/nutrition imbalances. 

Actually, I've read...and experienced from time to time, frankly...that tri training can increase injury risk if you are going long, simply because it's harder to support individual long sessions (that long weekend ride or run) with adequate volume during the rest of the week when you are trying to balance three disciplines.

average NFL career is 3.5 years. That says a lot.

Me.

In addition to triathlon and marathon training (not at the same time), I fly hang gliders and paragliders and ride a motorcycle.

But- it's pretty unlikely that I'll die of an early coronary. 

It'll be the runner...

Start out swimming every day...you'll be fine...

Bike every day...you'll be fine...

Run every day...you're screwed

Running is far more taxing on the body...

The facts are that triathletes are amongst the least likely because we cross-train amongst multiple disciplines. Athletes who focus on one event are much more likely to suffer other-use injuries.

This is straight from a podiatrist (and traithlete) that I work with.

unless, perhaps you choke on a pretzel, fall off the couch and hit your head!  

All of the cross training that is done for triathlons keeps our muscle balance more even than any 1 sport athlete. Doing one activity all the time will increase the likelyhood of muscle imbalances that then lead to injury. So taking out injury from training volume it would appear triathlon should have the lowest injury rate over other single sports (running, biking, and swimming).