If I could go back and do my first Ironman again, there are five mistakes I'd fix immediately. None of them stopped me finishing. All of them made the day harder than it needed to be.
Five things I'd do differently
Number one, I didn't carb load properly. I started the day on maybe half the fuel I actually needed, and paid for it later on the run.
Number two, I'd never practised eating solid food on the bike. The first energy bar I ever tried was five kilometres into the race, and I nearly threw up.
Number three, I'd swum plenty of open water, but always alone. Race morning was hundreds of people and contact everywhere, and I panicked almost immediately.
Number four, I knew what I needed to do in transition, I just hadn't planned the order. So I stood there thinking, wasting free time.
And number five, I got a slow puncture on the bike and kept riding on it, when I'd probably have been faster stopping and fixing it properly. I just didn't have the confidence to stop.
None of these stopped me becoming an Ironman. But every one of them made the day harder than it needed to be. Hopefully you can learn from mine.