Thursday, May 8, 2008

Why I did not race well.

This is a generic excuse post. Racers use many excuses as to why they did not perform up to par at any given race. Whether it be a competitive stage race or a weekday training race I would venture to say that every racer has used these top five excuses as to why they didn't do better. I personally have said each one of these.

  1. I rode a hard 40 miles before the race.
  2. I haven't been on the bike since last weeks race.
  3. I was up all night last night _______________. (Fill in the blank here. Some examples include: for firefighters--running calls. for new parents--with the baby. for everyone except the new parents--drinking.)
  4. I made a tactical mistake.
  5. What do you mean?....I thought I did great.
The first three excuses can be adapted to pre-race excuses, simply tell people before the race and now you are off the hook. Number four is the best excuse ever. It doesn't down your fitness, training plan or work ethic.

What are some of your favorite performance excuses? Next week will be the top excuses for getting off your diet.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having a baby and excessive drinking are not mutually exclusive. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I'll add to the list, "My head just wasn't in the race." If someone knows a way to increase focus through some sort of brain intervals, I'd love to hear it.

Anonymous said...

My work was done, so I went to the car.

Jenn said...

I've heard "I didn't get in the right amount of nutrition, etc. this week leading up to the race. Maybe eating [insert junk food name] wasn't such a good idea the night before either."

vonteity said...

I prefer the more generic, "I guess I just didn't have it today."

So Faux Pro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
So Faux Pro said...

Nice to see everyone is coming to terms with these statements for what they are. Continued use of the aforementioned excuses is, now, inexcusable.