Last month, a friend of mine forgot his goggles and did the 800 meter pool swim without them! AAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhh, the chlorine burn...

It was a self-help timing chip race. Took #106 instead of #160. Ironically, the real #106 was DNS so the mistake wasn't figured out until a few days later when I checked out the results.

It was a point series final race that mandated participation - so the guy in second place was instantly awarded the series championship because of my "apparent" no show. I had to do a lot of wrangling to get the mistake figured out, then the RD had to figure out a way to make me series champion w/o un-championing the other person. A real mess, but it all worked out in the end.

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Eat right. Get lots of sleep. Drink plenty of fluids. Go like Hell.

I think you got that one wrong. The saying is-
"Better to live 100 years as a lion, than just one day"

For those who take care of their bodies and train safe and smart, they have their whole lives to roar on raceday.

My first attempt at a swim-bike brick resulted in my ex-gf driving off in my car, with the keys to my U lock, which was hobbling my bike. First brick went from swim-bike to swim-hike-a-bike-and-hitch.

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

There were two people slower than that!?!?!?

The stupidest thing I have done?

Submitted my application for Ultraman Canada 2011 ;)

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

I havent screwed up in a tri yet, but I once had a road bike race that had me waking up at 4:45am (I am most definitely NOT a morning person) to drive 2 1/2 hours to get to it. Needless to say when I got to the race I was forgetting something very important....the bike.

I once grabbed an identical looking bike off the rack in T1. Same helmet, same frame, same color handlebar tape, same handlebars, same shoes. I spent 2 minutes of riding down the road struggling to get into shoes that were too small before I realized hey this isn't my bike but some dude has great taste in black bikes and orange handlebar tape.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Did the bike leg of a local sprint race with my helmet on backwards, I was in too much of a hurry in transition I guess. I passed a lot of folks and thought "Man I must really be humming along, everyone is looking at me when I pass!" When I saw the pictures after the race, I had a good laugh.

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Live long and surf!

Put my shoes on the bike on the wrong sides....didn't know till I was on the bike and slipped my feet in....luckily it was only a sprint and it didn't affect me much...I felt so dumb the whole time

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I'm faster in Kilometers!
Wattie Ink Triathlon Team
Powered by Accelerate 3

That is AWESOME....lol....did you go back to transition?

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I'm faster in Kilometers!
Wattie Ink Triathlon Team
Powered by Accelerate 3

In my first real tri (the first one ended up turning into a du), I had those training clip-ins, you know, the ones that take nearly zero pounds of force to get out of. Anyway, I was running out of T1 with my bike and with my shoes already clipped in, like I was ready for that. I lost my shoes in the chute, ended up spilling all my nutrition when I dropped my bike to go get them.

In my second year of tri's, I forgot to put on the speedometer on my bike before the race. Get ready to run out of T1, realized my error and had to run back to my transition bag.

IIRC, it was the same race venue as the first incident.

I did go back re-racked & about that time the owner was getting to his bike, a bit of confusion, something about the same bike and off we parted.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I have done that too. I also left my helmet at home for a tri. Luckily a guy promoting cycling let me borrow the helmet on display.

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DISH is how we do it.

I did IMAZ 2008 with a torn Soleous muscle.......that was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done in triathlon, that marathon was pure hell. Looking back, I should have skipped it and gone for a really fast time at BSLY 70.3 just a few weeks later.

took me most of 2 years before I could run with any sort of frequency.

Classic

1987, triathlon somewhere near Charlotte. My dad and I spend Saturday night at the hotel. Get up bright and early and drive to the park, but can't figure out why there are cups already strewn across the road and nobody in sight. Figure out the race was the day before, get a newspaper to confirm, then drive 2 hours home furious at myself for not checking the date. 23 year later, and I still feel bad about it!

I did a sprint about ten years ago and when I crossed the finish line my wife and friends were all laughing really hard. Took me a moment to get it, but I ran the entire race with my speedo turned inside out.

I was very close to doing the same earlier this year. Thought the race was Sunday and only figured out that it was Saturday at about 10 pm on the Friday evening.

Then there was the time when I borrowed my wife's bag to carry my crap. Was chatting the attractive young lady racked next to me after the race; put my had in the bag; pulled out my shirt, along with..... about a dozen tampons!

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http://rogersroadrash.blogspot.com/

The stupidest thing Ive done was before my first xterra championship in Saipan.
I got there wednesday before the race, on thursday I went out to see the full mtb course at 12 noon, forgot the sunblock and ran out of water.
Besides the fatigue and the dehydration, the sunburns were so bad I had to use long sleeves during the race.

Something close happened to me this year. Did a sprint tri the first weekend in September, guy next to me was talking to me about both of us doing Savageman two weeks later. Ffwd a couple of weeks and I'm at Savageman, racing the Oly Saturday and the Half Sunday. About 5 seconds before transition for the Oly closes I go through a final check before heading to the swim and throw my aero helmet on, which I have not worn since the Sprint two weeks ago, and it's so small I can't get it over my head/ears. I'm like WTF, then I look in it and see in big black marker the last name of the guy I was talking to at the sprint race a two weeks earlier. Turns out we both came into T-2 at the same time at the sprint, tossed our bikes and helmets on the racks right next to each other and when we left/cleaned up at the end of the day we swapped unknowingly. Not a big deal as he had the same exact helmet, only the smallest size they made, and I have a melon for a head and needed the XL version. Did the Oly race with a helmet that was very painful to get on and painfully small the entire ride.

Next day saw him racking his bike at the half in the morning, walked up to him and asked if he wanted to trade helmets. Of course he had mine and had no idea we had switched either.

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Yeah, I remember going through this thinking, too. IM Hawaii 2006. My one and only time (probably). In fantastic shape. I got a calf injury on the Tuesday before the race, and I darn near had to use crutches it was so bad. Iced like crazy, saw the ART guys every day (I love ART and have had it off and on for years, so I knew it was my best bet), and they got me in pretty good shape. But still - I asked them all, "If I race, will I potentially suffer any lifelong injury?" Every single one said no - it was a strain in the gastroc/soleus interface, and I'd just have to gimp through the race. So gimp I did, way slower than I'd planned for. And I was totally fine 4 weeks later. So that would be my only thing to consider - so long as you don't cause a longer-term, or lifelong, injury, gut it out and bank the experience. Of course... typing this, I think the race is this weekend! So you've made up your mind by now! Good luck either way.

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Dream of racing again some day...

I did that, too - sort of. The race company ran a tri one day, a 1 mile swim and separate 5k the next. Somehow, I had the tri being on Sunday. I showed up to a very small gathering of people, no bikes in site. Luckily for me, I could laugh it off - same day sign up, so no $$$ lost - and did the 1 mile swim.

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Dream of racing again some day...

Regarding your knee, I would recommend seeing a doc or PT before you race. There may be a way to tape your knee that will cause it to hurt less during your race.

Good luck!

first race I ever did without a pump and C02 only I managed to bring threaded cartridges for the thread-less c02 inflater.

need less to say flatted 1km out of T1 - spent 10 minutes in vain - screwed the valve on my spare tube, walked back into T1. Found a pump, manged to get 80 psi into the tube (had bent the valve) and went out for a training day. Heard the swim cut-off announced on my second visit to T1 so was definitely a fair bit of time lost.