Tried to do it in 06, which was a cluster. Didn’t sleep till 2 because boney m was playing at my hotel then was stoked to discover they were staying in the room next to me. woke up to a gale force freezing southerly and eventually finished a terrible swimless half distance event. Excited to be finally attempting to tick this box and fair crapping myself if I’m completely honest.
Any of you experienced people got any words of wisdom?
9.59.59 btw
Aucklandbicyclecouriersrepresent
Take a spin on the bike course and a jiggety jog on the run course before zer big day. After the race, eat what ever the hell you want/can - you’ll have earnt it 
Slay that Radness666
Don’t over think anything, but make sure to think about everything
Don’t over eat b/c your stressed or bored from the “easy week” of training
Good luck!
simplify transition and practice 1,000,000,000 times in your head
then forget your plan, picture everything you have organized in your T1 and T2 bags got messed up (or even better, you have the wrong bag) and practice it again
You can easily gain 5-10 minutes in transition if you’re prepared, calm and simple
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Something will not go as planned. Be ready to push through it.
Sleep 8+ hours the night before the night before the event.
Have a realistic plan and stick to it as best as you can.
Plan for contingencies.
Shit will happen, when it does deal with it and forget about it.
Have fun and enjoy your day.
I think the common point of emphasis here will be, your race will not be defined how good your good times/easy times are, but rather how you push through and come out of the hard times.
Something will not go as planned. Be ready to push through it.
this
be always ready to adapt or change if necessary!
Other than that just relax before the race!
Gluck!
Have a plan.
Prepare to abandon the plan.
Example of adapting:
I almost dropped out after expecting to go under ten hours because o refused to adapt my game plan.
Details and more pictures in the link below.
Beach2Battleship Race Report 10:45ish
Eat lots of carbs the day before. 7g per kg of body mass. And make sure you get enough calories during your race.
http://sweatscience.com/how-many-carbs-do-you-need-to-max-out-your-muscle-stores/
I did 2008 on that course and nearly drowned on the run. Last year while watching I kid you not I saw someone ride the bike still in his wetsuit and actually felt jealous - it was so-so-so wet. Rode the bike course 2 weeks ago and it was cold first thing, before warming up in perfect sunny windless conditions. So expect cold. But also prepare for teh heat if the sun does come out. Accross the lake got delayed and changed yesterday due to weather. And the forecast isn’t looking great… So that’s stuff you can prepare for.
As mentioned, Thursday night is the big night for sleep. Try on Friday, but take earplugs to the hotel and try to get that sleep on Thursday. One of the reasons I don’t like the briefing on Thursday night. Get the expo done on Wednesday, then Thursday / Friday are just quick dashes in to register / rack and no more.
I personally like to eat my main meal on Friday at lunch, then a smaller one at evening tea time. So swap lunch and dinner around. Gives more time for processing. Drinks / gels / etc. Get the bottles laid out on Friday and add all the powders. Label them for what’s pre race, in the aero bottle, on the frame, just plain water, then just add water on the morning and save yourself stress and 20 minutes.
Sleep 8+ hours the night before the night before the event.
Have a realistic plan and stick to it as best as you can.
Plan for contingencies.
Shit will happen, when it does deal with it and forget about it.
Have fun and enjoy your day.
DO not sleep 8 hours! Sleep an amount that is an interval of 90 minutes. We have 90 minute sleep cycles and are more refreshed if we wake up at the end of a sleep cycle than in the middle of one. Thus, you will actually BE MORE REFRESHED SLEEPING 7H30M THAN IF YOU SLEEP FOR 8 HOURS!!!
8 hours of sleep myth DEBUNKED!!!
Any of you experienced people got any words of wisdom?
relax, you’ll be fine.
The swim is inconsequential. The bike is just a means from getting from the swim to the run. The first half of the run is just a prelude to the second half of the run. Your time will be what your time will be. Focus on the things you can control and don’t worry about the things that you can’t control.
You can control your pacing, you can control your thoughts, you can control your nutrition, you can control your actions and adaptations to when things go wrong.
good luck. IM NZ was my first IM too.
Most race reports feature something along the lines of :
“I had a pretty good bike split but was disappointed with my run”
Read twenty race reports from age groupers and you will see that theme over and over.
What you almost never read is:
“I wish I had gone harder on the bike, I saved too much for the run”
Don’t get so excited on the bike that you forget to eat much for the first 50 miles – you’ll never make it back up.
I speak from experience.
To help with all the great advice… simplify it down to something and that’s meaningful to you and easy to repeat to yourself, then apply liberally!
Two of my personal favs that incorporate many of the good pieces of advice you received from others…
Good luck!
Have fun!
Well, until mile 10 of the run, I’m pretty sure nobody is having much fun then. However I always love the last 5-6 miles, because mentally you’re almost there. So think of that when you’re suffering during that middle bit of the run.
And don’t beat yourself up if you are off track from your planned time. As others have said shit happens, and some variety of it will happen to almost everyone. In my last IM I got a flat about 4km into the bike course, after having my best swim ever. For some reason this felt worse than if I had got it at 80 miles or something (at least then it would have meant a rest!). I was really disappointed until I told myself that it’s a long day and plenty of time to make it up again.
Drink water
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What you almost never read is:
“I wish I had gone harder on the bike, I saved too much for the run”
I still believe that did apply in my first one. However as I ended up finishing 1h40 ahead of my coaches ‘plan’ for the race and running the marathon 20 minutes slower than my pb and still my second fastest marathon time after a further 6 attempts then perhaps the pace was about right… 
Advice I had for a 3 lap IM course was ride the first lap as thoguh you were riding down to the start line of the race. Yes, that easy. Second lap then ridign it steadily, dont’ chase anyway, just ride around controlled, and then if you are feeling really good then you can do a bit of work in the last 20-30km. In reality it’s almost impossible not to work a bit in the last 30k at NZ as it’s all false flat uphill leading to genuine uphill with a headwind 9 times out of 10 and you’re so sick of the sodding bike and saddle that you just want it to be over you’ll end up pushing regardless.
I am training for IM#48 at imcda; so I have some experience.Just go have fun, don’t race.save racing for im #2.hook up with another runner and just help each other to keep going.I have done new Zealand three times.It is a fun one.not extremely hard but can have some weather and the roads are rough.Enjoy the. day.next week you will no longer be an im virgin.you always remember the first time.mine was at Hawaii in oct. 1982.GOOD LUCK