"A" level IMs eight weeks apart?

I think dealing with the mental side of this needs serious consideration.  Physically – it’s difficult to place any reliance on anyone else’s opinion as your physiology, history and adaptability is unique.

When I’ve participated in longer events close together I’ve learned that dealing with the mental process on the second event takes (me) practice.  In an Ironman you know you’re going to be fatigued and some parts of it are going to be very tough.  In a single race you know you’re trained and tapered so you discount fatigue and look around at what you can do to fix it – eat, hydrate, stretch, go to the toilet etc. 

But in the second one it’s easy to immediately blame the first indication of tiredness on the fatigue of your first race and what’s really hard then is to believe you can affect it.  ‘Oh no, I’m tired from the first race and now this is going to be really tough’.  The problem here is you may well be right but it is more likely to be normal fatigue symptoms that you can treat as you did in the first.  

So I think your challenge is to get to the start line of the second race strong in mind and believing that you are recovered.  Your prior experience will go some way to give you the confidence you can recover but beyond that I think it’s worth talking to your coach and thinking about what you can do to give you the mental strength to believe it on start line two.

Hope that’s not too airy fairy!

For what it's worth, I don't think you'll have two great races.  Two above average, maybe.  One good / one bad, sure.  But most people in that situation, especially amateurs, need to choose one to be their A race.

Normally with just one race, I'd focus on the bike in training.  But here, I'd suggest you go into those races with a very very good running base.  The last quarter of an IM marathon is what really tears up your legs.  The better prepared you are for that, the better you'll do in the second race.  You need to log those miles and be running 5-6 days per week (look up BarryP plan or whatever).

And if the 2nd race is your A race, back way off on your bike and run paces in the first.  It's easy to get excited and overextend yourself.

Thanks for the advice.  As I'm hoping to have a PR day at Maryland, it doesn't make much sense to try and race 8 weeks ahead of that and hope for the best possible result.  I definitely agree with the mental aspect of it and think burnout/apathy could be an issue.

I have done it before with IMWI and IMAZ.  I would suggest that on the physical side i can certainly be done if you are going into the first one well rested and with no injuries. I took my usual week post #1 and really recovered. Took the second week to begin to get going and by the third week; was back to full training. IMAZ went well for me physically. I can also tell you as other have brought up that mentally it may be more difficult. Especially if the second race is where your want to PR. For me AZ (second race) was more for fun as it was more of a destination race with family. No pressure, just finish and have fun. 

Good luck with your decision.