diff --git a/egs/librispeech/ASR/conformer_ctc/train.py b/egs/librispeech/ASR/conformer_ctc/train.py
index d1cdfa8bb..267316691 100755
--- a/egs/librispeech/ASR/conformer_ctc/train.py
+++ b/egs/librispeech/ASR/conformer_ctc/train.py
@@ -606,6 +606,23 @@ def run(rank, world_size, args):
     train_dl = librispeech.train_dataloaders()
     valid_dl = librispeech.valid_dataloaders()
 
+    from lhotse.dataset import find_pessimistic_batches
+    logging.info('Sanity check -- see if any of the batches in epoch 0 would cause OOM.')
+    batches, crit_values = find_pessimistic_batches(train_dl.sampler)
+    for criterion, cuts in batches.items():
+        logging.info(f'* criterion: {criterion} (={crit_values[criterion]}) ...')
+        batch = train_dl.dataset[cuts]
+        try:
+            compute_loss(params=params, model=model, batch=batch, graph_compiler=graph_compiler, is_training=True)
+            logging.info('OK!')
+        except RuntimeError as e:
+            if 'CUDA out of memory' in str(e):
+                logging.error(
+                    'Your GPU ran out of memory with the current max_duration setting. '
+                    'We recommend decreasing max_duration and trying again.'
+                )
+            raise
+
     for epoch in range(params.start_epoch, params.num_epochs):
         train_dl.sampler.set_epoch(epoch)