Be smart people - when you self seed be honest. a couple of slow floaters lied and had 2000 people swim into them. I aimed for a 6:45am start at 90min pace and was right on time. still little bumping for first 300M both laps, but all in all a pretty chill swim. I stayed wide to keep a rhythm. Earl Walton is my hero. I spotted him at the start. build a better boat!

build a better propeller. Learn to swim over people. everytime I bump into someone I stop - going to need to fix that.

IM - no shoes on pedals. took extra time to go back into morning clothes bag and pull out arm warmers because it was raining during the swim. You can do this transition in 4-5 min if you are organized. no socks, helmet and shoes only in bag. race number not required on bike - added belt at run

Important Note: the mount line is followed by a 180 turn, then a superfast downhill, then a hard technical left turn yo uprobably have to brake to make. SCOUT IT OUT.

I wasn't in a big rush but know transition gets really busy for the 75-85 min swim crew. train accordingly. Tell the guy with the megaphone your number if he doesn't call it out to give the volunteer advanced notice.

For me, everything was cruising until mile 100. the last 12 miles, from the Flume Trails into town, are one big hill+headwind. PREPARE. I spent maybe 2 min out of the saddle all day, and followed Endurance nation coach patrick "JRA" advice and "just rode along". That was good advice. Ate about 1500 calories and had to stop 2x for potty break. (I ain't going to Kona - porta potty for me).

used a 34/50 and 27 in the back. conservative, but it was my first IM.

more hill repeats in training. just lost power the last hour, and time kept ticking. Long hill repeats too, like 10-12 min hills to build power.

You can only get 1 item per aid station, unless you are really coordinated. There is one person with GU, right in the middle, so if you are going for gels plan ahead. I zoned out and missed a station, but would advise plan what you need for the next station while riding along, and get that one item each time. If it is hot, you probably could grab two waters, but you need a plan for each station. Excellent volunteers.

I was nice and cool, but the volunteers will yell at you to "TAKE OFF YOUR HELMET" because of overheating, I think. Placed a water bottle in bag to spray down arms and head - good idea.
Felt surprisingly happy and good to be off the bike - much easier run transition than I expected. I did plenty of short bricks in training, like a 9 min run after any bike, and it really helped.

have a little bit of real food in run bag. like 8oz of smoothie or something.

just because they offer an aid station every mile, doesn't mean you have to eat or drink something every mile. I put too much fluid in my gut and just felt sloshy. 4 oz of coke + a gel every 4 miles would have been fine. It's a balance between digestion and calories. Next time cola+ half gels/H20 is all I do.

little more food on the bike, little less food on the run. It's OK to walk.

Note: there is a significant almost 2 mile out and back past the brewpub, along the lake and back to town. it is almost all uphill going out. Be ready or it will break you mentally.

A very beautiful woman handed me two chocolate milks. life is good.


first IM - took a conservative pace. I did Raleigh 70.3 in 5:18 with heat so thought I would be faster - but didn't want to totally explode so took it a little conservative. the experience was probably more pleasant that way, but my time was slower than I hoped for. still fun. no regrets. and I can walk up stairs right now.


IMLP 2014 sold out by 9pm on the day after. I'm going to stick to 70.3s for a while, but it was good to check this off the bucket list. Very organized and the swim start was as good as could be expected.

Check out the coach patrick youtube videos 1-5 on the course overview. that was helpful for planning. visit in June to scout the course and do Wilmington Whiteface 100km. Rent in Jay, it is quieter out there.