Whats your longest streak of missed or disastrous races?

Triathlon Forum
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Hi All,
now that my last race of the year has just gone down the drain I started to reflect on the last few years and came to the conclusion that I have not finished an A race in a way I wanted to since 2019…
2020: complete covid failure
2021: A race got cancelled 2 weeks out
2022: was in great shape but emergency work thing prevented me from starting
2023: Same A race, even better form, 3 days out got a fever
2023 postponed A race, hurt my shoulder 2 weeks before finished in misery
2023 last chance to hit an A race… Family emergency boom, no race.

I still enjoy training, but wonder why Carma doesn’t like me?
Anyone else even unluckier?

Uli

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The California International Marathon took me three tries to complete.

A business trip overseas in 2015, sick and withdrawing at 15miles in 2018, and finally completing in 2022.

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Still on that Choo-choo train.

2013: attempted first full after working 40+ hours race producing / expo work. DNF after the bike.
2014: broke my spine and brain a month before the race, DNS
2017: successfully complete IMLP
2018: DNF IMFL, hit by car
2019: DNF IMLP, more brain stuff
2020-2022: COVID
2023: DNS IMAZ
2024: DNF IMLP, turned a stress reaction in my pelvis into a fracture on the run.

Some would say I should learn that fulls aren’t my distance and I should do shorter stuff. But I’m doubling down and giving it one more go for my 40th birthday next year.

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I haven’t raced since 2016. I can guarantee I have signed up for multiple races every year since. So I’m on an eight year DNS streak right now.

I’m retiring in 35 days so I will have all the time in the world to train going forward so I plan to actually do the four 70.3 races I’m registered for next year.

2 Likes
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WTF Man… Lets go :). What race do you want to do together in 2025?

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See my edit for further clarification

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So awesome. You doing St George? I think im going to pull the trigger on that reg next week.

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My entire 2024 season thus far due to a mix of injury/work/family and since I tweaked my back this week taking off my running shoes I don’t think I’m going to make it to Indian Wells either. On the bright side I’ve learned I like doing the training even if I don’t get to race.

April 6 - Oceanside 70.3
May 19 - Morro Bay 70.3
July 21 - Long Beach Olympic
August 24 - Santa Barbara Tri
September 8 - Santa Cruz 70.3
September 22 - Mammoth Lakes 26k
October 19-20 - PTO Vegas
December 8 - Indian Wells 70.3

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“I tweaked my back this week taking off my running shoes”

Now that sounds just like something I would do. I haven’t done it yet, but it would not surprise me when it does happen.

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Same re 2024. I’ve missed the triathlons that I had planned to do this year after tearing a tendon in my wrist and then having to have surgery. So pretty much February through May was nothing and since June, it’s been rehabbing the wrist and trying to get back in shape. Very happy to be able to swim again and ride the bike holding the handlebars more than 10 minutes at a time. Bring on 2025!

I did do a track and field competition in June (shot put, discus and javelin) only because I could do it with my other arm.

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No, I’m trying to keep within driving distance and the second half of the year.

Louisville in August, Augusta in September, North Carolina in October, and Florida in December. Even though the Haines City race is closest to me I’m not dead set on it yet. I’m contemplating giving Cartagena another go. That was the last race I did back in December 2016. That run was pure misery as the heat index was around 110.

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About 8 years from 2014 to 2022 due to a knee injury, work that required way too much foreign travel, too many hours in the office, the vid, and moving to a new state. I did 3 sprints last year and have an Olympic distance event this next May. I highly recommend to do what you need to maintain your fitness even if you get an injury. I did not, and it’s like starting from ground zero again only now I’m in my 50s instead of 40s.

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2023 planned a solid cx season to cat to 3. First double race day of season forgot parking lot slick and slid out and bloodied up 5min before first race. Raced it. Dns second race. Day 2 of racing abandoned. Day 3 of double races was gun shy and let the holeshot go then worked back to top 10 but still sad season.

Then the next race the regional TT champs I was closer to road side than thought and moved over as a car passed and I went in dirt then crashed. Was on pace after 20mi for fastest time of day any category.

Boone GF, just for fun, but wife derailed the morning prep refusing to drop me off. So had to ride an hour and 1200ft climbing to the start around Blowing Rock and Boone. So any nutrition prep was screwed. So on third climb segment of day I cramped.

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Hey @rrheisler that’s a deadly streak of bad Karma. Having said that I used to always advise my athletes (when I had my own squad) to do several olympics/half in the year of an IM vs endless long training. Minimally you end up with more chances for success in the year (may end up with a pb split, or a pb race etc) if things go bad during IM day. The IM day often feels like an all or nothing.

I recently pulled out of IM Ottawa next summer. My last IM was Tahoe 2015. I just realized I am having more fun on shorter races and I can do them frequently enough that it is not an “all or nothing season” and I barely run longer than 30 min at a time and barely bike over 1:15 for most of the year (and even when the weather is good around here, I rarely side over 3.5 hrs).

In any case when you attack the next one, roll in a few shorter races so its less of an all or nothing year. My current streak for no IM’s in 9 years going on ten. Between health and life and then lockdowns I never got to a start line and after lockdown my body fell apart for longer run training. So it is going to be a decade shortly!!!

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See you in St. George 2025 !!! I really enjoyed my training camp + race there this last year as I was there de compressing. I almost did not make it to the start line (barely three weeks of training after pneumonia, one outside ride and then 2 weeks out had to go to Tampa to bury my best man from my wedding who did from a heart attack…almost bailed on St. George, but that was a reminder to live when I can and just shuffled thru on general base which surprisingly get the results close enough to “peak fitness” at my stage in triathlon life)

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There were some short course successes in there. Set my 70.3 PR in 2018;

But I also have little interest of doing a race that takes me twice as long to drive to it than to participate in it.

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Agreed about driving overhead to do a short race! Where I am we have around 10 olympic tris within 1-1.5 hrs drive

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You all are a bunch of pikers, and your streaks are weak sauce. How about qualifying and going to Kona and not finishing your first 9 times!!! I went 6 more times after that too, but forced myself to finish the dam thing a few times…

of course I could have finished most of them, but as a pro I just pulled the plug when the actual race was over for me(which it always was at some point because of my heat intolerance)and usually raced somewhere else in the next week or two…After 9 DNF’s though, I promised my friends I would suffer in and get that dam T-shirt, so that’s what I did…

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On a plus note Valerie never made you run 4 extra miles in Kona like Terry Davis did at Wildflower !!! So cut her some slack!!! (pink)