IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The 90 bike kilometres run as one large loop through the hilly Kraichgau south of Bad Schönborn. Of the roughly 1,460 metres of climbing on the full course, almost all of it falls on this bike split: just under 30 percent of the distance is flat, the rest alternates constantly between short climbs and fast descents.

The climbs are short and sharp rather than long. The first cluster sits between kilometres 17 and 37 of the bike loop, including a 1.7-kilometre rise at a good 5 percent with a ramp to 16 percent at kilometre 24. The second series comes between kilometres 63 and 77, where a short kicker above 8 percent and, to finish, a 2.15-kilometre climb worth 95 metres of gain wait for you with nearly the whole bike distance in your legs.

After that the character flips entirely: the half marathon is three almost flat laps and adds barely any elevation. As a race in the IRONMAN 70.3 series, Kraichgau draws a strong international field, and the course rewards exactly what the middle distance demands: a controlled bike loop as the foundation for an even run.

Pacing Strategy

On this rolling bike loop, steady normalized power well below threshold wins the day. The many short climbs tempt you to force out of the saddle, but every power spike on the bike is paid back later on the half marathon. Spin the ramps seated in a round cadence and carry speed on the frequent descents rather than recovering on them.

The race-deciding stretch is between kilometres 63 and 77 of the bike loop, above all the long closing climb worth 95 metres just before transition. Climb it inside your planned range and you reach T2 with legs that can still run. The biggest trap is starting too hard on the early hills: the run is flat and honest and punishes over-biking immediately, because no gradient is left to check your pace.

On the three-lap run only even pacing counts. Calibrate on the first lap, hold the second, and release what remains only on the third.

Training plan for IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau: 12-week build

As an age-group athlete, plan on four to six hours for the Kraichgau middle distance depending on your level, of which roughly two and a half to three and a half hours are spent on the rolling bike. The effort is mostly aerobic but not steady: the short climbs force repeated surges of one to four minutes, followed by fast descents.

What decides the race is discipline across the ramps and the state of your legs off the bike. The closing climb of the bike loop and the short kickers in the final third in particular determine whether the flat half marathon becomes a controlled run or pure survival.

In training, that means long rides over rolling terrain holding even power across the crests rather than attacking every rise, plus threshold and sweet-spot intervals on climbs of two to five minutes and over-under sessions that mirror the constant changes of rhythm.

Because the run is arrow-flat, brick runs straight off hilly bike sessions belong at the centre of preparation: they train an even race pace on tired legs that must hold across the three run laps. And since the race is held in late May, it pays to rehearse fuelling and possible heat in training too.