least amount of running i can do to complete a 70.3

Swim and bike to HIM fitness, using whatever plan you decide on, with this caveat....  I would cut the plan's run mileage in half and increase the bike workouts by 20% or so.  The more fit you are for the bike the less toll the run will take on you.  When the race comes, run what you can and walk the rest.  You'l have plenty of company and you'll enjoy the event.  Good luck!  This is not a big hill.

Impossible to say for us.

I would look at it this way, what is the most you can run to train and not get injured....do that.

If you can run 6 miles, try doing run/walk to get more distance.....try 4' run/1' walk or 5' run/3' walk, or whatever to build up distance in a way to get more distance on your feet.

Other idea would be do a long run in a different way.....

bike hour, run hour, bike another hour or something in b/r/b

run 6 miles, then aquajog for more time

I would not just run 6 miles in training then go do a race. Figure out in training what combo of run/walk you can do that allows to go farther w/o injury. Nothing wrong with starting run/walking instead of running until you can't and then walk the rest which will be much slower.

For someone in your situation, I would suggest the following: 

• Train to have a great swim and bike. 
• For the run, only run 3 days a week and do a walk/run combo. 
• For your walk/run combo, look at doing a 3 min run, 2 min walk. If your knee hurts, do a 3 min walk, 2 min run. If your knee feels like it can do more, do a 4 min run, 1 min walk. By doing a walk/run combo though, you will be able to go further in training. 
• Only up your overall volume by 10% per week and your long run by 10%. If you only get up to 10-11 miles in training, then so be it. 

Good luck! 

Just another suggestion to try a run/walk strategy.

I've got chronic problems with my right knee and both Achilles and have played around with different run/walk ratios that would let me cover a reasonable distance  while training for a HM. 

In my case if I keep my run/walk ratio between 3:1 and 4:1, it works well for me.  If my legs start acting up, then I'll try adding an extra minute to my walk breaks.

In an ideal race, I try to get to where I can go hard the last mile without any walk breaks.

Good luck.

Mark

Agreed.  The running problems I experienced on my first HIM had much more to do with bike fitness than run fitness.  I did not properly anticipate how much of a toll the hilly bike course was going to take on my legs.  Although my run fell apart, I actually needed more hill work on the bike.