I was lucky enough to do my first IM in my hometown so I had lots of family & friends around, familiar with the course, free place to stay, knew a lot of volunteers, etc. That said, I had done several race rehearsals during training (112 mile ride followed by an 8-10 mile run, all at race pace). I think these were key as the race itself just felt like another race rehearsal with an easy swim at the beginning and a few more miles of running at the end. Plus, unlike a training day, there was the excitement of the race itself and all the spectators which kept me going at a good clip. I had some pretty awful stuff happen during the race, so be prepared for the unexpected. Overall, if you feel confident in your race rehearsals I think you'll probably do fine. Best of luck in your training!

I'd just say this. You can only control what you can control: what you do to prepare, how you train. Follow a plan. Follow it through. Work on weaknesses (I'm guessing bike handling?). Don't worry about the wind or any other crap like that.

You'll either make the cut-offs or you won't. If you properly train, I'm guessing you will. If you don't make cutoffs... what does it really matter? You tried. If you stay healthy in the future, you can try again.

Best of luck.

I think Kentucky Mac said it well. Trust your training. I know it's nerve wracking because you don't really know what it takes to complete an IM until you've done one. That said, you can gradually build up your distances and do long bricks. That should build your confidence. Training with others to push you also helps. Good luck.

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"It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster" - Greg LeMond

You'll probably have better fitness after all the training. I did HIM x 2 - 2 hours for my first full.

Congratulations on making the jump, this is very exciting! First of all, your feelings of anxiety about doing a full are very normal! It is a long, tough day. But that being said it is too far out to worry too much about it now, instead do your best to re-channel that worry into your training and recovering; those are the most important things you can do. There are times where it does get stressful in preparing for an Ironman, I had my moments training for my first last year. The best way to calm your anxieties is do the training, be confident in your preparation and in yourself.

I am not sure if the rough estimate of your time is at all a good indicator of how long it will take you to finish, so I would not put too much weight on that. Plus you never know what the conditions are going to be like come race day, so also not something to dwell on. My friend did Sweden as her first full last year and loved it, she just finished before the cut off.

A few more tips: 1. Practice your nutrition so you can nail it on race day. You will need a lot more fuel during a full than a half, and you will more than double your nutrition and hydration when you move up from a half to a full. 2. For me race day morning was the most nervous I had been, I was fighting back tears the whole time before the start, so it was really important for me to be with my sherpas to help make me laugh and enjoy the moment. It all goes away when the gun goes off.

I hope this helps.Believing in yourself is a huge part of being successful.Let me know if you have more questions! I have a race report from my Ironman (Kona) on my website (link in signature) where I talk about my anxieties and such that might be helpful to read.

All the best,

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Emily Sherrard
@EmSher1
Powered by Accelerate3 Coaching

Agreed with what everyone said so far but especially what Dan Funk - you can only control what you can control.

I did my first IM this past December. While training up to, I was dreading a multitude of things similar to you. In the end, I knew that my training gave me my best shot at it and that I didn't have control over weather, etc. All in all, it is very much a mental game that you will work to overcome as you get stronger in your training.

First of all, don't panic- you had the courage to sign up, so barring any injuries just get out and train then show up and have fun!. With that being said, 2(x)HIM + 2hours would put your HIM at 7 hours to not finish in 16 hours. If that is what you did, then find the biggest weakness and work steadily on that over the next 7 months. I assume that the bike cutoff is 10 hours from start? With a 2 hour swim, you have 8 hours to bike 112 miles, which is 14 mph average. That leaves 6 hours for the marathon. So if you need more time to run, then you will need to adjust bike speed and train for a faster bike.

Last thing I would say is as for dealing with the wind, my advice would be to not sit in your basement on the trainer on windy days but actually get outside on your bike and get used to the conditions (for reference I just did Cozumel where it was extremely windy this year). Work on being aero in headwinds and crosswinds so that you aren't on the basebar. Good luck and enjoy your first IM.

Hardest part about an Ironman is getting to the start line healthy. The "race" itself for 90% of us mortals is just the experience of doing it.

As noted above, don't worry about things you can't control

Get a good training plan, do it consistently (don't sweat missing a few workouts here and there, it will happen)

Trust your training

You only get one first IM, enjoy it.

I did it last year. Don't be too worried about the wind. The first loop on the island to the east of Kalmar is where you will feel the wind most. Given it's a square loop, you're only likely to get a head wind on one section (or cross wind on multiple sections). For me there was a westerly wind and I was slowed down a lot for ~20km heading back towards the bridge. After getting back onto the mainland I didn't really feel the wind again (it's a little more protected on the second loop). Practise staying in the aerobars so that the wind impacts your time less when you hit the headwinds. I think people worry about the wind there because it is the only thing to worry about (temperature is normally mild, and very flat). Historically the wind isn't very strong anyway: https://weatherspark.com/...8932/8/Kalmar-Sweden.

As others said don't worry about factors you can't control. The course is very flat so if your HIMs were non-flat then 2xHIM + 2hrs is probably punative.

You have 6-7 months. If you ride lots in training you'll save lots of time on the bike section and the aerobic fitness will mean you could probably power walk the marathon within the cutoff without much problem. If you haven't already, get a bike fit. If you don't have an aero helmet or aero wheels then see if you can borrow some for the race.

Every time you find yourself worrying about the weather in Sweden, do some foam rolling or stretch your back/hamstrings. That'll train yourself to think/ about and act on things you can control