Half-Iron Race Week, Take 2

I am not nearly as excited for Big Kahuna as I was for Vineman. That isn't to say that I haven't checked the weather, surf and water temperature reports daily for at least a week, just that while I couldn't think about much else in the 10-12 days before Vineman, yesterday was the first morning I woke up and said to myself, "holy ____, it's race week."
Part of this is probably due to the pent up nervous energy about attempting my first half-iron, and anxiety about the heat that occurred in July. But I am kind of looking forward to next week when I won't have any more triathlon races to train for until 2011. Even though I have actually only raced 3 times so far (and only 2 triathlons), I feel like it has been a long season.
Training in the last 8 weeks has been interesting. Due to conflicts, I only got in 2 runs in the 10 mile plus range, only 3 rides of 50 miles or more and had to skip the big brick race rehearsal. So, overall aerobic endurance is probably not what it was in July. On the other hand, I have done more hard efforts and fast swim/ride/running in the last 4-6 weeks than I did before Vineman. As a result, I think I have a little more speed and power than I did then.
I am thus not sure quite what to expect this weekend. I know a few things:
(1) The water is going to be cold.
(2) The rest of the day is likely to be about perfect conditions.
(3) I am intending to push the swim a little harder than Vineman
(4) My T1 will be slower because of the 1/3 mile run to T1 from the water.
(5) I will drink a lot more fluid on the bike and run.
(6) Other than that, my nutrition plan isn't much different.
Beyond those things, everything is up for grabs. Will the swim be better than 28:51? Don't know. There shouldn't be much in the way of surf, but Vineman was pretty close to swimming in a pool; I should be in an earlier wave and therefore not playing dodge swim as much; there isn't the super shallow turn around; but the beach start and finish will slow me down, and the cold water is just an unknown factor. Will the elevation profile be easier than Vineman? Not entirely sure. There isn't anything like Chalk Hill on the Big Kahuna course, but it looks like there are more rollers in the second half rather than false flats. Thus the 5-6 minutes of lower cadence mashing up the hill that probably killed my running legs shouldn't happen this time, but I will get the chance to drain my legs powering over roller after roller. If all other things were equal, this course should be a few minutes faster on the bike and run than Vineman, but everything is not equal.
What will happen in the last 10K of the run? That's anybody's guess and it's what will really matter in the end. I suspect that I will get to the run turn-around point within 5-10 minutes of when I got there at Vineman, but that last 50-60 minutes will determine whether this race is a success or a failure.