Nibelungen Triathlon Xanten: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The start is at 8:30 in the lake at the Xanten Freizeitzentrum, swum as a turning-point course in the water between the Nordsee and Südsee. Transition sits right at the shore, and entry is open to those born in 2008 or earlier holding a DTU licence or a day licence.

The bike course is an 8.4-kilometre circuit closed to traffic through Wardt, Lüttingen and Vynen, ridden five times. The profile stays between 16 and 18 metres above sea level throughout; across 42 kilometres it gathers 29 metres of climbing, and the analysis classifies one hundred per cent of the course as flat. The run is an out-and-back with two marked turning points per lap, covered twice, with six metres of climbing over ten kilometres.

The terrain is Lower Rhine floodplain: open, without cover, with village streets and fields instead of gradients. Because both the bike and run courses are covered several times, you see your own field constantly: on the bike as riders passing and being lapped, on the run at the turning points. TuS Xanten stages the race for the 40th time, with start and finish at the Freizeitzentrum. Despite the closed roads, drafting is strictly banned on the bike.

Pacing Strategy

On a course classified one hundred per cent flat, there is no section where the effort distributes itself. Swim the 1,500 metres evenly and use the turning point as a checkpoint: if the second half feels markedly harder than the first, the start was too fast.

The fourth and fifth bike laps decide the race. The same circuit five times makes the comparison merciless, and with neither climb nor descent to set a rhythm, everything hangs on whether the target output holds for a good hour in the aero position. Set it so lap five is still as fast as lap one, and treat the corners in the villages as short re-accelerations to be ridden seated.

The traps are the wind and the four run turnarounds. In the open Lower Rhine plain the wind direction changes several times per lap, and on an out-and-back you get it four times in both directions. Trying to rescue target pace into the wind means losing it twice over with the wind behind. Run to effort, rebuild speed over about a hundred metres after each turn, and only lift on the second lap.

Training plan for Nibelungen Triathlon Xanten: 12-week build

For the Olympic distance in Xanten, expect roughly two and a quarter to three hours depending on your level. The demand is as uniform as a triathlon gets: no climb to push you briefly above threshold, no descent to roll on and, with drafting banned, no group to hide in. What is asked for is a high output held virtually unchanged for two hours.

The last two bike laps and the second run lap decide it. That is exactly where you find out whether your power curve stayed flat, and exactly where there is no topographical distraction. Train mostly on rolling ground and you underestimate how tiring uninterrupted pedalling on a completely flat course is.

The conditions follow from the location. The Lower Rhine plain is open country without cover, so wind is the day's only real resistance, and the early 8:30 start in early September means warming up in cool morning air and swimming at a time when the lake has not yet warmed through. Both deserve preparation: riding into headwind to power, and open-water sessions in cool water with a wetsuit routine.

Three priorities follow. First, long threshold blocks of 20 to 30 minutes in the aero position, ridden on the flattest ground available and without coasting breaks. Second, flat tempo runs at target ten-kilometre pace plus brick runs straight off those rides, with rebuilds out of a 180-degree turn added. Third, continuous 1,500-metre open-water swims sighting on a single turning point.