Did the run without socks, having never trained without socks.

Ocean swim...with wetsuit, without bodyglide.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Did one of my first races on a borrowed road bike. It was the first time I ever used STI shifting, and I had no idea that you had to push the break levers in to down shift (STI shifting was still pretty new at the time and I was new to cycling in general). So yeah, I did the whole race in the 39 x 11.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I did my first Oly with a pair of swim trunks. I finished with no problem, but walked funny for a couple of days afterwards because of how the trunks rubbed against my inner thigh.

Raced in a speedo (and no shirt). And to make matters worse, ran into a federal judge I regularly appear before while wearing said speedo.

I'm still pretty new, but for my Olympic and for a marathon, I did not adequately appreciate nutrition and hydration, nor did I adequately practice or strategize for them.

Racked a bike without pedals.

Extra spicy chili or Indian immediately before a hard interval workout. Especially not vindaloo or roganjosh.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Man I bet that was a tough bike split. What were your watts

Happened way before I knew what watts were in triathloning. I grabbed a pair of MTB pedals with a leather strap, wrenched them on, put on the racing flats (with tie laces, again before I knew about elastic pulls), and started pedaling. Never made the mistake again.

When my wife and I first started out we bought identical looking cycling shoes. Needless to say one race (our 3rd) I grabbed her shoes instead of mine in the morning. Luckily she happened to be transitioning at the same time I was... otherwise I would have had to figure out how to ride in shoes 3 sizes smaller. From that point on our shoes have been highly differentiated... that's more of a funny mistake and probably not what you are looking for.

That's funny, exactly the kind of thing I would want to hear, thanks for sharing!

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Mason

Don't pin your race number for the run to a black t-shirt for a race in May in Florida.

Don't try to do the bike leg of a 70.3 on 22oz of fluid (opposite of a negative split).

Don't train in socks and then go sock-less race day.

I forgot to unpack my bike helmet while setting up my transition area for a sprint. After finishing the swim I got to my bike and quickly realized my mistake. The race was at a local college and my gear bag was locked in the locker room. I got to t1 at the same time as a friend of mine and gave him a 5 minute head start as I ran inside to get my helmet. I'm pleased to say I caught him again by T2 and passed him on the run.

Not me but saw a dude with his wetsuit reverse: he had the zipper on his chest...

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-D

Showed up at Muncie without my running shoes. Ran the race in borrowed shoes. I'm reluctant to admit that I did it again a couple of years later at Steelhead.

Put bike shoes on the wrong pedals. Flying mount after t1, only to figure out that. ... F***** ..... =)

Another occasion I wondered why my helmet felt so funny. Regular road helmet, back when. Had it on the wrong way. Oooops =).

Sad thing is, both cases I had a couple years 'experience', so no excuses.

I once saw a guy with his wet suit inside out, right before the start at Buffalo Springs. Debated if I should tell him, decided not to, as he already seemed plenty stressed, and start of his wave was imminent.

In my first triathlon, I got about 50 yards into the run and then realized that I was still wearing my bike helmet. I ended up running back to the transition area to ditch the helmet.

I did a half in HI. A week later I did an oly in Washington. I literally threw my bike together the night before the oly. I took off on the bike and found my bars were not attached. I steered the bike by leaning and using my fingers to hold the bars in place. Did not have slowest bike ... amazing. This was also the only time I ever did a race as an elite.

Do not enter a triathlon without knowing how to swim.

Two bouts of vomiting.
32 minute split for 750m.
Dead last out of the water.
But not dead.
Technical term for the experience is "drowning".
Addiction was immediate.
The next day signed up for the rest of the race series.

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Advocating for research & treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
http://www.meaction.net/about/what-is-me/

"Suck it up, Buttercup"
(me, to myself, every day)

On a long training ride, one tube "exploded" right away. No problem, I have two extras. Replaced the tube and continued on my ride. About two miles down the rode, it exploded again. No problem, I still have another spare. Replaced it and continued on. It exploded another mile down the rode. I am now 3-4 miles from home, no cell, no more spares. I start walking home, but I do not want to destroy my new cleats, so I take off my shoes and walk barefooted on the "smooth" paved bike path. Some one stops to give my another spare, I install it the same as the others, surely it will work better than the other THREE tubes. At least this time I start riding home, but it explodes very quickly, as well. So, I walk two miles to the bike shop, barefooted. Good news is my cleats are safe, bad news is, my feet are rubbed raw. The other surprise is that my tire had a rip and was the source of the FOUR explosions; I had gel packs with me...

Larry

At Oceanside 70.3 I made the mistake of trying to put on arm warmers after the swim (I noticed the guys with the expensive bikes already had them on under their wetsuits). Needless to say it was a comedy of errors trying to get those things on.

I've got a great one for this.

DO NOT try to check your tyre pressures whilst you're still riding your bike.

On a training ride many moons ago, toward the end of 100-miler my front tyre starts to feel a bit squishy. Naturally at this point my legs were feeling heavy, every turn of the cranks felt like an eternity, so the ONLY possible explanation was that I had a slow puncture coming on. For some reason that I still don't fully understand, whilst still cruising along at around 20 mph I decided to bend down and give my front tyre a pinch to see if it was going flat. Total carnage ensues, my finger is damn near sliced off by the spokes, my whole upper body is thrown towards the front of the bike, left foot pops out of the pedal and I end up veering ALL over the road. Somehow I managed to stay upright and mercifully there was no traffic or other cyclists around to witness this or for me to crash into. I limped home with what turns out to be a fractured finger feeling very stupid and sorry for myself for ruining what was otherwise a good ride.

I ditched the bike in the garage for the winter and with the diagnosis of a broken finger, started my off-season earlier than planned. I'm still not sure if the tyre was going flat or not.

Ate no breakfast. Missed my group's swim start in an oly and almost had a heart attack bridging the 200 odd metres to catch them. Got spat out the back. Got out water and cut my foot badly on a piece of glass or a stone (unsure which). Crashed bike 200m out of transition. Finished race but should have gone home before I even started. Disastrous.

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Lap 2 of a 2 lap swim, bed of lake full of stones and rocks, shallow water, re-enter with a baywatch dive. Stitches required (after race) on top of foot.

Was a half IM. Grateful it wasn't a full!

Thing is, I wasn't new to the sport at all..

The day before my first IM, I drank a lot of plain water. On IM-day, before the IM, I
drank a lot of plain water. During the IM, I drank a lot of plain water.
I ended up having to get 10 times from the bike which costed me 20 minutes. :-(
Last year I did the first IM where I did not have one sanitary stop AT ALL. :-)

Disk wheel in my first Half...in a 25mph head wind...stupid!
No food on the bike in said first Half...2xstupid
Didn't set front derailer for said disk wheel...dropped chain twice during same Half and landed on pavement twice...3xstupid...

To this day I can't believe I finished...

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STIndiana
America Multi-Sport, Inc.
America's Half June 10, 2017
USAT RD Century Club
http://www.americamultisport.com

For my very first triathlon, I couldn't imagine wearing a speedo for the entire race (norm at that time)...so in T1, I pulled biking shorts over the speedo, and then in T2, removed the biking shorts, and replaced them with running shorts. Colossal waste of time.

This all occurred following a sleepless night in a tent during a rainstorm. We decided to camp the night before to save money (college years).

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

brought plastic chair to transition,
had a hangover, so I put java monster in my water bottle on a aquathlon for the first run leg, it came out in the water.
Did a sprint on my fixie because my TT was flat, didnt check it the night before, and I was late. Managed to do a little something someting though.
Started a duathlon with gel in my hair, it dripped and blinded me for most of the race.

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-----------------------------------
Swim with swimmers, bike with cyclists, run with runners. Train with those who are hard to keep up with. Soon you will be hard to keep up with.

Bought new running shoes 72 hours before IMLP and didn't use them until race day. Hade 2 silver dollar size blisters on the balls of my feet by mile 10 of the run. Sad as I've told my own runners thousands of times to never go into battle with an untested rifle. Dumb.

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The Rat Snake:
A Tribute Race at Gilbert Lake State Park, Laurens, NY May 16 2015
Follow the Rat Snake on Twitter

Went into my first Sprint without knowing how to swim swim. Figured the wetsuit would bail me out. Ended up having to backstroke the whole swim.

Bought a new tri bike right before my first half IM. Put the seat up high and dropped the bars as low as they could go so I would be more "aero". About 15 miles into the bike my back started locking up. Had to start multiple times on the bike to stretch out my neck, shoulders and back.

Went for my first fitting a few weeks later. Money well spent.

your wife made it to transition at the same time as you? Back door brag for her or embarrassing for you ;)

I showed 2h before race to set up my stuff. Downpour, almost freezing and all I had brought was my trisuit and wetsuit. I did spend 2h of quality time in my wetsuit.

Thankfully I learned from that as the next triathlon was in a downpour again.

Do not head off to race in the next state with an untested cheap Chinese roof rack. As per instructions "please to tighten all fittings before heading into the dangerous way." I even stopped to check things out about an hour into the dangerous way. About the time that I crossed the state line the entire rack with bike jettisoned from the roof at 70 mph. Dangerous way indeed.

Put a pack of Clif Bloks in my tri jersey pocket under my wet suit. Pre-opened for fast access. Clif Bloks are water soluable = nothing there in T1 except an empty wrapper.

At least there wasn't goo left sticking you to your wetsuit.

Had an evening triathlon so I thought fettuccini alfredo was a good idea for lunch. Fettucini alfredo is never a good idea. Not only was I throwing up during this race but after I was finished my bowels opened up emptying anything else left in my body. I guess the plus side I was back at race weight for the next day Olympic distance race :)

After a few races I decided to try clipping my bike shoes to the bike in advance to save time in transition. No I didn't fall trying to get my feet into the shoes while riding. I pulled an even dumber move, I still put shoes on in T1 and there was only one choice, the ones next to my tri bag. When I got to the bike mount line I realized that I had running shoes on my feet and bike shoes on the bike. Kinda embarrassing and not real fast.

I pulled out that trick at mooseman '10, and then they cancelled the swim so it was all I used my wetsuit for.


As far as embarrassing stuff, I screwed up taking my feet out of my shoes for a flying dismount. I got one foot out, decided I needed to pedal but didn't put my foot back on top of it. Heel of the shoe struck the ground and unclipped it. Had to go back 50 ft or so to collect my shoe from a helpful spectator. Following that I didn't have time to get my other foot out so I just ran thru transition with one bare foot, holding my shoe.

Bit more serious: the first time I put aerobars (which, for some reason were the integrated variety with the fixed stem length) on my bike I didn't adjust the bar or saddle height at all. Ended up hurting my knee/IT band, which nearly kept me from being able to race the following week.

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All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. ~Gandalf

In no particular order of occurrence.

Swam HIM with one goggle lens (long explanation, short answer, test before you swim)
Put Unitard on backwards, only realised after wetsuit was on.

Tried a "shoes in pedals" start without ever having practiced (how hard can it be)
Fell over sideways at bike at finish line, forgot about clipons.(almost first time race)
Half of an IMC Bike without sunscreen (broiled and baked)

Ran good part of HIM in cycling shorts (wondered why it was so hot and I was waddling)
Forgot to tie running shoes

And those are the ones that are not embarrassing.

Mmmm... practiced swimming three times before my first Sprint Tri... made it freestyle first 100 meters, then it was a combination of backstroke (modified, more of a reverse survival stroke) for the next 600 meters. I think it was 40 minutes, but I was laughing and joking with all of the volunteers in kayaks. Anyways, now I'm hooked (and taking swim lessons/attending swim practice).

My first open water swim was my first time using my new wetsuit which was also my first triathlon. I also didn't know about body glide/trislide at the time. Needless to say it was an absolute disaster. I finished though...

Hahahaha,

awesome! I did something similar, much like you not sure why I did it. I had something sticking out of the front tire, some sort of road debris. It was irritating me to watch it spin around stuck to my tire, however it wasn't causing any leak or issue. I decided to lean forward and knock it off the tire with my finger. It was very sharp, and it tore a good gash in my finger. Why do we do this shit? I am going to go get tested for low IQ.

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"4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul"

Clipped shoes into pedals on the wrong side. Did a flying mount out of T1 only to have to stop and switch shoes.

Left wetsuit at home for 1/2 IM due to published water temps of 80+ degrees for weeks leading up to the race. Windy cool morning with big waves and they announce wetsuit legal - UGH. NEVER leave the wetsuit at home.

Practice no socks if you expect to race with no socks.

For what would have been my first tri, I assumed registration would be no different than for any road run, so I showed up on race day ready to race! ...only to be turned away due to no same day reg. It would have been more embarrassing had they let me start, though, since I didn't bring a helmet, so wouldn't have made it out of T1. Ah, youthful ignorance and the era of word-of-mouth advertising and registration by US Mail!

I never brought spare goggles to a race until the one day I snapped my nose-piece putting them on for warm-ups. I managed to pull off a length of strap to cobble up a replacement, but I finished the swim mostly blind with 1.5 lenses filled with water. My repair job had left me with too stretchy a nose-piece and only one strap in the back. From then on, I vowed to always have two sets handy on race day!

I did this for so long... But I was always told to drink water until my pee was clear, which actually depleted my electrolytes. Oops. Caused some major problems on the run. Light yellow is the way to go.

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Justin Clark | Catalyst Cycling | Twitter | Facebook

Don't do this:

Drive 12 hours to a 70.3 the day before the race.

Day of the race. Water temp 56F. Air temp in T1 mid 50s. Air temp on the run course almost 90F. I took two cups of everything at every aid station. Finished beaten and dehydrated. Drank gallons after the race. Peed in T2 and then not again until midnight. That's about 14 hours despite all the fluids I took. My skin was completely encrusted with my own salt after the race.

Then got up the very next day and drove home 14 hours. In a Jeep Wrangler. No air conditioning or cruise control or anything really.

Seriously. Don't do that.

Don't drive 7 hours to an out-of-state race and realize once you get there that you packed three rear wheels and your front wheel is still sitting in your garage.

Don't forget to put body glide in your butt crack for IM. Or maybe that's just me....

One year at Muncie, did the run sans socks (had never trained without socks before). Feet were a bloody mess, literally (not as bad as Rob Mackle's at same race years before ('91)

Oly race in Indy, discovered I packed my wife's cycling shorts rather than my tri shorts. Lots of chaffing in places after that race.

Drank two cans of Ensure Plus at the 13 mile mark of the marathon at an irondistance race. Horrified the Cub Scout troop manning the aid station at the next mile when I was a human volcano erupting chocolate lava.

IM Louisville '07 used new cycling shoes that had been tested on two short rides. Got really bad hot foot and had to take shoes off 3x on side of road b/c of the pain.

I could go on w/ my list of Do Not's, but I need to save some for my book...."I am an Ironman Knucklehead."

Good stuff.

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

2nd race ever, Olympic distance, got my new forward seatpost and clip on aerobars for my way too big for me road bike that I was using. Thought it would be a good idea to put them on the night before the race. Almost couldn't dismount my bike, and had to sit in T2 for a few minutes to try to figure out how I was going to run.

I seem to do one stupid thing every race, at IMAZ this year as I dismount my bike, I forget that my 910 is on my bike, in the tent in T2 I look at my wrist and realize it, but luckily while I am getting ready for the run a volunteer ran to my bike to grab it (whoever you are, thank you!)

it wasn't a tri, but I can totally see myself doing the same thing for a tri back then...

late 80's, right out of high school, I swapped out the triple on my MTB for a 53-39 or similar so I could roll with the roadies on a 2-day charity tour. it was all square taper BBs, so what me worry, right? moving the FD up was an obvious gotta-do upon installation of the road cranks...but chain length, not so much. it was working great too...until day 2 when I decided to go up the cassette one cog too far and locked up my drivetrain so tight I found myself removing the big ring (that's fun with a multitool) to free everything up again...watching from the shoulder as everyone rolled on by.

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Carl Matson

I did the ITU race in Roatan in 2006 - yes that one with Mt. Diablo. I was staying with a couple of other athletes who emptied the water jug our host house had provided, and it was the last on in the house and it was time to catch the "shuttle" (aka a pickup truck with 10 athletes and their bikes) to the race start. I filled up my race bottles with tap water from the sink. Anyway, I did the race, went OK and we did some serious "celebration" afterward. Ended up spending the few hours left of the night in a hammock strung up in front of a condo that we thought was ours getting eaten alive by sand fleas. The intestinal distress resulting from the unpurified water + hangover + sand flea bites would have done it - but my flight out of Roatan was late to LAX and I had to spend the night there (unfolding the bike box and using the foam as a "bed"). To top it off, the airport was infested with kids in town for a choir concert and they would. not. stop. singing. My wife told me it was by far the worst I'd ever looked or smelled when I got home from that one. So the lesson here is fill up your bottles the night before or face the consequences. I also inflated my latex tubes at 2007 Elite duathlon Worlds using CO2 and spent the entire race trying to not to die on the multiple 180s while riding with a bunch of crazed euros and 50 psi in my tires. It took me like 2 months to admit to my support structure why I dropped such a duce on the bike leg of that event...

as a defendant

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

I did a similar thing except my bike started out with a steep climb and I couldn't figure out how to shift to the small ring. Didn't figure out what I was doing wrong until I crested the hill and tried to shift up on the downhill. I was certain I was going to fall over before I reached the top. Had to use all my weight on the pedals and pull up on the handlebars as hard as I could to keep the pedals moving.

Luckily I didn't do the whole race that way or I would have DNFd for sure.

Once showed up early at a Sprint tri on Saturday. No one around, figured I gotten there too early. After a while no one still shows up, so I go back home. Turns out the race was on Sunday.

Sorry for your pain, but this made me laugh and laugh.

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http://mediocremultisport.blogspot.com

Don't pick-up your packet for an Ironman race on the Wednesday and then travel out of town until Saturday 24hours before the race. Complicates your mental preparations....

Not a single event so maybe not what you're after but in a nutshell overtrained and drove myself into the ground. All the warning signs were there but I was too dumb to pay attention to them. Didn't think I was training enough to really be 'overtrained' (or under recovered).

Result was 2+ years fighting really nasty insomnia, decreasing results, nearly losing all ambition for the sport, nagging injuries, health issues (shingles, mono, too many colds, etc)...

Self inflicted pain and suffering....

Do not turn left and bike for 3 miles when you should have turned right.
Do not put your tri jersey on in T1 after the swim.
Do not forget where your stuff is in transition.
Do not do a flying dismount and slip off your pedal.
Don't think you took 1st place overall when they just missed your entire run split.

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Instagram or twitter me softly @xatefrogg

roll up your arm warmers like donuts and put them on the end of our tri bars. put them on while you ride away.

Do not show up without your bike. Bad part is I started doing tris in 2011. After getting into cycling in 2006, so cycling is my favorite part. Luckily it was a local race and I was very early, so I could go home, get bike, and return and race. My friends will NEVER let me down. I have prepared checklists for them. You should have seen my face when I opened the rear hatch on my van and there was no bike.

My first triathlon, a sprint, I ate an apple and protein shake 5 minutes before the swim start. Needless to say, this was followed by puking and horrible stomach cramps for the entire race. Won't be doing that again.

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________________________________________________________________________
"That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth." - Reese Bobby, Taladega nights

First triathlon, ever, borrowed a MTB and hammered, stomped, and mashed those pedals all the way to T2. The following three mile run was the hardest run I've done to this day!

wow, escaped with a broken finger at least! Thanks for such a detailed reply! :)

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Mason

Been there. Nothing worse than locked up muscles... actually...

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Mason

I shouldn't have worn that leather hairnet, now I know better, they just aren't aero at all.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
do that thing.

First tri ever: a modified Olympic distance, with a 0.5 mile swim, a 30 mile bike, then a 4 mile run. I booked it because I was a cyclist, but couldn't swim. The swim was in a piss-warm, goose-poop filled snowmaking pond. I drank approximately 10% of the lake's volume before exiting the swim dead last. The post-race rush to the porta-can was no fun, and you just can't hide that noise. So the biggest DO NOT: Don't enter if you can't swim...

Second - don't forget to read the race packet regarding transition setup. Some bigger events (Rev3) want that bike in transition the night before. Only by the grace of the staff (and some begging) was I able to check my bike in on race day.

Finally: DO NOT be disorganized. USAT has a list of things to bring to every tri - and there are others. I print one before races, and stack the goods on the table with the checklist, checking off as we go, then the list goes on the trip too.

My first tri ever was a sprint distance on a mountain bike.

To be faster I bought road tires and a used pair of aero bars that I put on said mountain bike.

TRI DO: Save money on your first race

TRI DON'T: You can't make a Trek Mountain Bike Aero.

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***
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A

Do not think you can keep up with the lead swimmers. I went out really aggressive in one of my first races and literally thought I was going to drown 50 yards from shore. I made it through but my HR was so high for the whole swim I was completely exhausted. My bike and run were awful.