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I did IMNC last Fall. In general, I really enjoyed the race – the community there is great. If you can get a small group and rent a house on Wrightsville Beach near the swim start, that’s an early win. The swim is fast – in the channel with a nice push assist – I did my full IM swim in like 1:05! My friends doing the half had very fast swims too with a later start. The bike is very windy – there are some tricky parts crossing the draw bridges at the beginning and end of the ride – the bulk of the ride isn’t particularly picturesque – on highways with live traffic – but aid stations were good and volunteers were very helpful. The run in Wilmington is very nice – pretty flat, nice crowd support – you go from downtown out to a nice lakeside development about six miles out of town and back in to finish in front of the convention center across from the Battleship. The community support is excellent, it’s an easy drive from DC, and the local BBQ is pretty awesome for post-race feasting. Be prepared for a hard bike. Weather is hard to predict – was blazing hot during the days leading up to the race for us, then temps dropped pretty sharply on race day making for a perfect day.
Be wary of the flat bike course in Rock Hall if it’s your first race – the temptation to hammer away is very strong and have no doubt – you will pay for that on the run. The run is flat as well – but it’s hot and you can mess yourself up really badly if you’re not careful. When I did the race in 2015 a fellow in good shape went way too hard on the swim and bike and paid the price with heat stroke in the run – he literally almost died. Had to be medevaced for an organ transplant in Baltimore. Given the ridiculously late start of the swim waves, I really recommend not/not wearing a wetsuit if it’s even close to being on the bubble for a wetsuit legal swim. Better to be a scosche slower and cool than overheat/dehydrate out of the swim and be in arrears on hydration for the rest of the race.
You can never have too many bikes! Seriously, I love my Fuji roadie and my QR Seduza TT bikes – the Seduza has taken me through many triathlons and could continue to do so…the song of Di2 is really strong tho….
I hope I can make it this year…I opened my season with IM 70.3 Galveston…frankly, it wasn’t nearly as fun as Peasantman…$75 for Peasantman versus $350 bucks (plus airfare, bike shipment, meals…) for an IM branded race? Oh wait, I got a tech t-shirt and a pathetic bag too small for my two month old to use for anything other than her trisuit. Even though I got the rust off my system – I plan on wire brushing it a bit more with the dreaded Lake Anna hills in early May as well.
…and yet another recommendation for Smiley. I spent three sessions with him getting my bike (which I thought fit well) and me ready for Ironman North Carolina last fall. Simply put, it was the best money I spent on my bike outside the bike itself. Smiley spends hours ensuring that your bike is fitted to you – well beyond some of the other sophisticated fitters I’ve dealt with. As noted, he has no economic stake in getting you to buy any accoutrements/adjustments for your bike – I needed some risers for my aerobars – I think a total of 20 bucks. He added a few washers to my pedals to open up my hips a little. While the bike course in IMNC was cut short, the multiple century training rides in the training period validated Smiley’s fitting. Make an appointment – you won’t regret it.
