Dan, Wales is rated the toughest Ironman course in the world now, sitting there above Lanzarote & Kona http://www.trirating.com/course-ratings/The 2.4 mile swim at Wales is an open water sea swim, water temp was 16c, tide was running. The bike in Wales is 112 miles with 9000 feet of vertical climb including a 16% climb at 110 miles. The marathon 26.2 miles has 2800 feet of vertical climb, for reference the London marathon is -38 feet. The other unique factor in Wales is the run from swim exit to T1, some 1 and a bit km incuding scaling a 60 foot cliff.The weather in Wales for the last 3 years has been horrific, this year we had wind, rain, sun & hail, my Garmin on the ride showed 8c, many people just froze over on the ride, add to that the technical nature of the bike course and you have a savage, brutal course. Last year 18% of starters DNF'd.I've already signed up for Wales 2014, there's nothing quite like it, I'm going to do a US Ironman race as well next year, Lake Placid if I can get a slot.
I know there's some pretty serious runners on here so any tips would be great.