Build your Kraichgau 70.3 plan
Your coach opens with the Kraichgau 70.3 set for May 23, 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 30 weeks to go.
Start your Kraichgau 70.3 plan- Formats
- 70.3
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Taper starts
- May 11, 2027
Kraichgau 70.3 distances
- 70.3 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike, 21.1 km run
Course
The Kraichgau 70.3 course
The 1.9 km swim is a single loop of the Hardtsee in Ubstadt-Weiher, a clear lake with flat banks and a rolling start, and T1 sits on a car park about 100 m from the exit. The 90 km bike is one loop through the Kraichgau, the 'land of 1,000 hills', on rolling roads between forests, vineyards and orchards via villages such as Odenheim, Menzingen, Bretten and Östringen.
Read the full course notes
The official map puts the climbing at 860 m, spread over many short ascents with fast straights in between rather than one big mountain. The 21.1 km run is three flat laps through Bad Schönborn, including the redesigned Kurpark, with 120 m of total climbing and big crowds in town. The published maps are from the 2026 edition, and the 2027 versions are still to come.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Formats
- 70.3
- Race-day conditions
- The race page lists averages of 10–22 °C in the air and 23 °C in the water, but recent editions recorded 18–19 °C water in 2024 and 2025, and 2026 hit 30 °C in the afternoon. Wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C water and banned above it, so a wetsuit swim is likely but not guaranteed. Plan for a cool morning and possibly real heat on the run.
What to train for
With 860 m of climbing spread over dozens of short hills, the bike rewards steady power: practise riding rolling terrain without spiking over the tops, using intervals such as 6 x 5 minutes at threshold on 3–5% climbs.
Do weekly bricks that finish with 20–30 minutes at half-marathon effort, since the run is flat and fast once your legs come round.
Include at least a few open-water swims in a wetsuit before late May, and rehearse your race-day fuelling on long rides of 3 hours or more. Heat is possible, so train some sessions in the warmest part of the day as race day approaches.
Sample week
A sample Kraichgau 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 climbing repeats
- 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 Kraichgau 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 is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on May 23, 2027, your taper starts around May 11, 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 Kraichgau on May 23, 2027. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
Kraichgau 70.3 training questions
How long should I train for the Kraichgau 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 Kraichgau 70.3 course like?
Hilly. The 1.9 km swim is a single loop of the Hardtsee in Ubstadt-Weiher, a clear lake with flat banks and a rolling start, and T1 sits on a car park about 100 m from the exit.
How cold is the water at the Kraichgau 70.3?
The race page lists averages of 10–22 °C in the air and 23 °C in the water, but recent editions recorded 18–19 °C water in 2024 and 2025, and 2026 hit 30 °C in the afternoon. Wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C water and banned above it, so a wetsuit swim is likely but not guaranteed. Plan for a cool morning and possibly real heat on the run.
When should I start tapering for the Kraichgau 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 is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on May 23, 2027, your taper starts around May 11, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Kraichgau 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.