the Drachenduathlon: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

Start, finish and transition area sit together at the DLRG boat jetty on the Drachensee. The opening run leaves the transition area, circles the lake twice and returns to the same spot, the bike loop starts and ends there, and the closing run takes one more lap of the same lakeside path. Both changes happen at the bike rack: inside the transition area the bike may only be pushed, and the helmet stays buckled from the moment you lift the bike until you rack it again.

The order inverts the triathlon logic most athletes carry with them. You reach the first transition not after a swim but after close to an hour on your feet, and you ride the second bike lap already carrying that load. The second transition sends you onto a route you have covered twice that day. You know exactly what is coming, which can steady you or tempt you.

The bike is ridden without drafting and therefore alone, on roads that are only partly closed and with no aid station anywhere on the loop. Drinks are handed out on the run lap only, solid food waits at the finish. Two cutoffs structure the day, one after the opening run and one after the bike, and missing either takes you out of the race. Your bike stays racked in any case: the transition area only opens once the last cyclist is out on the run course.

Pacing Strategy

Roughly half of your race time is spent on the bike, about a third on the opening run, and the small remainder on the closing lap. Let that distribution drive the plan: the first run is not a 10k, it is the approach to a solid hour of time trialling, and that is exactly why it is the biggest trap of the day. Two identical laps invite you to race a race inside the race.

The Olympic distance is decided on the second bike lap and in the change onto the final lakeside loop. Finishing the first bike lap feeling comfortable proves little, because only the second pass shows what the opening run actually cost. Hold your output steady there instead of trying to win back places.

The second issue is fuelling. Nothing is handed out on the bike, so you carry everything for that hour yourself, and what you drink on the run lap co-determines how the closing loop goes. A deficit built over the first nine kilometres rarely shows on the bike, it shows afterwards.

Training plan for the Drachenduathlon: 12-week build

Plan for two and a half to three and a half hours of racing across three sections and two transitions. The demand is mostly steady aerobic work, interrupted twice by a change of discipline that costs a few minutes each time before heart rate and movement pattern settle again. What you train is therefore less the top end than the ability to hold a stable output for three hours.

The second half of the day decides the race, and it can only be prepared as a whole. Put a few sessions covering the full race duration into your final weeks, even at lower intensity. The point is that the third hour of the race is not the first hour of that kind you have ever done; a short jog after a moderate ride does not represent this race.

Fuelling is its own training content. Since nothing is handed out on the bike, the entire plan for that hour has to travel with the bike, and it needs rehearsing in exactly the sequence the race uses: drink on the run lap, take on food while riding, then run again without your stomach objecting.

That leaves transitions and conditions. Both changes happen at the same bike rack, the bike is pushed, the helmet is buckled before you touch it, and that sequence deserves a few dry runs rather than first thoughts on race morning. September brings cool mornings at the lake and a noticeably warmer afternoon, and the race is held in any weather. Clothing that covers both ends of the day, and confident handling on open roads, belong in the preparation.