We were all rookies once and probably made some or all of these rookie mistakes. I was working the run aid station this past weekend and enjoyed seeing these classic moves:
I lost track after I witnessed 6 people leave T1 with their helmets on backwards. One guy was literally looking through the plastic piece that normally cradles the back of your head.
Guy on the run with his helmet still on.
Many folks on the run with cycling gloves on.
Guy running in his cycling cleats (at least they were Mt. Bike shoes).
Lady running with full tights and long sleeve top on (it was 85 degrees out).
Guy with the foot bath the size of a child’s wading pool.
At least 3 guys using fully loaded Fuel Belts (it was a sprint race).
Guy who pulled his bike off the rack and the front wheel fell off and rolled off towards the lake.
Lady who stopped at the aid station (0.5 miles into the 3 mile run) to douse herself with about 5 cups of water, eat a Power Bar and 2 packs of Gu, then complain we didn’t have any Gatorade.
And the best rookie misshap I witnessed was the guy who did the entire race with his swim goggles. I can only assume he had prescription goggles and he had forgotten his glasses.
What rookie mistakes have you witnessed/committed?
Not a race goes by where we don’t see backwardswetsuitman. Someone invariably fails to look around them and realize the zipper goes *in back. *We’ve seen backwards wetsuit man at three races this year- always a different fellow. Since it was after the swim we didn’t embarass him by mentioning and trusted to the powers of observation to eventually make it good.
I was backwardswetsuitwoman at a half. Luckily I realised it pretty quickly. One can work up a good sweat trying to get a wetsuit off and back on while the announcer is saying “all in wave X should be in the water”.
I learned about nutrition the hard way. The day before the race, I ate a huge gyro, overflowing with greasy meat, for lunch. That night for dinner, my wife made beef and vegetables with fried plantains. I ate until stuffed. We’re talking over 2.5 pounds of beef before race day. I was cool until the run, then the horrible pain started, slowing me to a gimping, bent-over shuffle. As soon as I finished, I destroyed one of the porta-johns.
In my first tri on the way from the beach to T1 I realized my helmet was still in the car. I had to run to T1 get the keys head to the car and back then get on my piece of shit mtn bike with the toe clips and my running shoes on and get my ass handed to me.
My first tri was a sprint when I was fifteen. After supplying my hybrid bike with one of those disposable plastic water bottles, I was ready to go. After doing well on the swim, I hopped on my speed machine. About a quarter of the way through the bike, I took a drink from my water bottle, and when I went to return it to its cage, I accidentally dropped it! I thought that there was no way that I could finish the bike without that water. I proceeded to stop, put my kickstand down, and chase my water bottle, which was now rolling down the hill I had just climbed. Needless to say, I got a few “What are you doing??” looks from other riders…
Zoot Zenith wetsuit on inside-out…he absolutely refused to believe us when we told him it was inside out. It just looked really funny with the bright blue inserts on the outside.
Here is a a few of mine:
Forgetting a water bottle for the bike on my second ever tri. I was biking and reached down for water but had none. It was a by swim before that and the salt water made me so thirsty.Last year in NYC tri, i was in T2, felt awesome after the bike, I took my helmet off, had a drink and ran, only to realize, it would help if you had your sneakers on…DUh.a month ago I put my wetsuit on backwards, but had plenty of time to fix it.
Its not only rookies…not that I am a super veteran but I usually have everything pretty much sorted out before race day and dont have to be there at the crack of dawn worrying about stuff, but this year at an Oly race and since the weatherman said: extremely hot and humid (in miami that means you are going to die probably) I decided to put my bike and run nutrition (bottle and gel flask) in the refrigerator to have it nice and cold race morning. Of course I forgot, left and with no time to go back and grab it did the whole race on 1 bottle of Recoverite (at least to get some calories) a gel packet I happend to have and some vitamin water and it was really hot and humid. It was so bad, the organizers were going around the run course in a golf cart handing out ice and water. Lesson learned, we all have our 15 minutes!!!
I do races in all liquid nutrition including breakfast which is usually gel based on the event duration, so i was short on breakfast calories too…
Every year I do the chesapeake bay swim, 4.4 milw swim straight across. A substantial effort.
This year I see a guy at the finish being congratulated by his family and showing them his wetsuit that just got him across the bay. I thought he was just goofing around, since the zipper was in the front. But as I was overhearing the conversation I realized neither he nor his family had any idea he had just swim for over 2 hours in a wetsuit that was on backwards.
Cycling gloves for a sprint race!!! These are the people who can’t imagine how others get through transition so fast.
The Fuel Belt thing can be seen on people running a local 5K. When a person goes as slow as these people it’s easy to see why they need all this fluid. These are people who “run” a 5K in 40+ minutes.
I’ve seen people leave their swim cap on under the bike helmet.
Many times I’ve seen people get on their bike to start riding as soon as they take it off the bike rack.
Someone should make a movie of the mistakes seen in transition kinda like the Warren Miller ski movies that show people getting off a chair lift.