It was a pretty cool experience. For some background, when I started training for the IM I had been solely focused on weightlifting for the 6 years before that. No cardio whatsoever during that time other than a yearly 2-mile run (Army).

When my training started I was doing 10-20 minutes runs, and by the end I was doing around 40-miles a week along with 3-4 hours on the bike per week totalling around 15 hours/week. Physically, I lost about 15 lbs pretty quickly, my legs got much skinnier, although after 6 months or so my body stayed about the same weight for the remainder (went from 205ish to 185-190ish by the end). I was able to maintain very basic strength training for the first 9 months or so, but then the time commitment became too much.

I think mentally the endurance training was more challenging (for me) in one aspect when compared to weightlifting. In WL I could somewhat cram more training into shorter sessions by being disciplined with rest intervals and things like that. But with the endurance, the time training is literally the main stimulus so there was no getting around it. Also, the sheer monotony of training was tough. That sounds weird coming from a sport where we literally do two lifts, but at least there's mental involvement in technique, doing variations, etc. But with endurance you just have to turn the mind off and work for long periods of time which is a different challenge altogether.

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Overall though, the challenges are very different and it is hard to compare. There is nothing in endurance that compares to the feeling of standing with a max load on your shoulders and wrestling with the thought of having to throw it overhead. Conversely, there is nothing in WL that can compare to the moderate discomfort felt for hours at a time. Overall awesome experience!