Build your Cervia 70.3 plan
Your coach opens with the Cervia 70.3 set for September 19, 2027, asks about your week and your fitness, then writes every session of your 70.3 triathlon plan. Free, and you can start as a guest. About 47 weeks to go.
Start your Cervia 70.3 plan- Formats
- 70.3
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Taper starts
- September 7, 2027
Cervia 70.3 distances
- 70.3 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike, 21.1 km run
Course
The Cervia 70.3 course
The one-loop 1.9 km swim starts on the beach at Cervia: a short leg out into the Adriatic, a left turn, then a long stretch parallel to the shore with two final right turns. Transition sits on the seafront and is almost 500 m long, so expect long runs with the bike in T1 and T2.
Read the full course notes
The single-loop 90 km bike leaves the Cervia promenade, passes the Salt Pans Nature Park with its pink flamingos and heads inland through Forlimpopoli and the Sangiovese vineyards, where the one real climb takes you up to Bertinoro, the "Balcony of Romagna". The three-loop 21.1 km run is flat, linking Cervia and Milano Marittima and passing the historic salt warehouse on the way to the finish.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Formats
- 70.3
- Race-day conditions
- IRONMAN lists an average water temperature of 22 °C, and recent race days measured 23–24 °C, so the swim is usually wetsuit-legal: wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C and banned above that. Air temperatures usually run from about 16 °C at dawn to 23–27 °C in the afternoon, and the sea humidity makes the run feel warmer in the sun. Have a swimskin or sleeveless plan ready in case of a warm year.
What to train for
Most of this course is flat, so the race is decided by steady aero power: ride 45–60 minute blocks at 75–85% of FTP in the aero position.
Rehearse Bertinoro with hill repeats of 6–10 minutes at threshold, then practise settling straight back into aero on the descent.
Run off the bike every week, and do one or two open-water sessions in choppy sea to practise sighting on shore landmarks.
Sample week
A sample Cervia 70.3 training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Swim, 1 h: drills and technique
- Tuesday Key session
- Bike, 1 h 15 min with threshold intervals
- Wednesday
- Swim, 1 h: steady intervals at race effort
- Easy run, 50 min
- Thursday Key session
- Run, 50 min with tempo segments
- Friday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Saturday Key session
- Long ride, 3 h, then a 30 min run off the bike
- Sunday
- Long run, 1 h 30 min easy
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Cervia 70.3
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on September 19, 2027, your taper starts around September 7, 2027.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a 70.3 triathlon season for the IRONMAN 70.3 Emilia Romagna on September 19, 2027. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
Cervia 70.3 training questions
How long should I train for the Cervia 70.3?
Most athletes give a 70.3 triathlon sixteen to twenty weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The coach counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
What is the Cervia 70.3 course like?
Rolling. The one-loop 1.9 km swim starts on the beach at Cervia: a short leg out into the Adriatic, a left turn, then a long stretch parallel to the shore with two final right turns.
How cold is the water at the Cervia 70.3?
IRONMAN lists an average water temperature of 22 °C, and recent race days measured 23–24 °C, so the swim is usually wetsuit-legal: wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C and banned above that. Air temperatures usually run from about 16 °C at dawn to 23–27 °C in the afternoon, and the sea humidity makes the run feel warmer in the sun. Have a swimskin or sleeveless plan ready in case of a warm year.
When should I start tapering for the Cervia 70.3?
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on September 19, 2027, your taper starts around September 7, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Cervia 70.3 training plan?
Start as a guest and save a free account later. Your coach writes your 70.3 triathlon plan and adapts it every week as you log your training. No card.