Instead, Humphries has endured marathon six-hour sessions on an exercycle and trained for the daunting 3.8km swim across Lake Taupo with endless laps of a 17m pool.
Running wasn't always easy either - he has been chased by a pack of wild monkeys as well as endless stray dogs, in extreme temperatures and high humidity.
"It's been an ordeal at times," admits Humphries, "but it was all worth it."
Humphries finished last night in 14h 37m 24s.
Meanwhile, Mike Ramsay - proudly displaying his special '1985' bib - lined up yesterday for his 30th Ironman NZ race, the only person to achieve the feat.
"It doesn't seem like 30 years," said the 69-year-old. "You just keep on, plugging away. The record keeps me going."
The 1985 race was the first Ironman event outside Hawaii and local competitors were venturing into the unknown.
"We didn't have a clue," says Ramsay. "No one knew what to expect."
Ramsay even consulted chemists at the Chelsea Sugar company, trying to develop the prefect fructose blend for his own energy drink in the days before commercially produced electrolyte drinks.
"In the early days, we also tried eating peanut butter sandwiches, potatoes, kumaras," laughs Ramsay. "I once made a 'miracle' fudge which was a bit of a failure but anything was worth trying."
