Triathlon Challenge Allentsteig: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The swim is one 750-metre lap of the Stadtsee in Allentsteig, on whose western shore transition and the whole race site sit. The start is at twelve noon.

The bike is a marked out-and-back: from transition south on the L75, the Ottensteinerstraße, and on along the road signed 'Durchfahrt TÜPL' through the Allentsteig military training area towards Döllersheim, a turnaround there and back the same way. The Waldviertel sits at a good 500 metres here, and the road runs largely open and unbuilt; Olympic-distance starters cover the same section twice.

The run consists of two clockwise laps of the Stadtsee, 2.49 kilometres each: north from the west shore past the sports ground, around the northern end, south along the Seepromenade on the east shore with the water on your left, around the southern end and back to transition. The elevation band is ten metres and there are no categorised climbs, yet only around 42 per cent of the course is genuinely level; the remainder is short undulations recurring at the same points on both laps. The race is staged by the Triathlon Verein Allentsteig, with start and finish at the lake.

Pacing Strategy

750 metres in one lap are too short to win time and long enough to overcook. Swim at an effort that keeps your breathing under control, sight early on a fixed point on the shore, and do not arrive in transition out of breath.

The bike decides the race, because it is a pure out-and-back. Out and back are identical, so every stretch comes twice: what ran easily on the way out can turn heavy on the way home, depending on how the wind and the gradient sit. Ride to effort rather than to speed, set an output on the way out that you can also hold coming back, and take the turnaround braked early and on a clean line.

The trap is the two run laps. On the map the course looks like a flat circuit of a lake, but less than half of it is genuinely level, and the short undulations come twice at the same points. Add the hour: a noon start puts the entire run in the midday heat of an August day. Run the first lap deliberately to effort, drink on the bike already, and lift only on the east shore of the second lap, as the finish comes back within reach.

Training plan for Triathlon Challenge Allentsteig: 12-week build

For the sprint distance in Allentsteig, expect roughly 1:10 to 1:40 hours depending on your level. The effort sits at or just above threshold throughout: the bike is an out-and-back with no descent worth the name on which to recover, and the run's short undulations leave no section in which your heart rate settles.

The return leg on the bike and the second run lap decide it. On an out-and-back, the turn reveals whether the output chosen on the way out was realistic, because the same kilometres come again under exactly reversed conditions. On the run it is lap two that shows whether the pace held after transition.

The conditions are the real resistance. A noon start in late August puts the bike and run entirely in midday heat; the Waldviertel at a good 500 metres is open, barely shaded country, and the road through the military training area runs unbuilt and therefore without shelter. On the run course only the shoreline offers shade in places. Heat adaptation and a drinking plan therefore deserve as much preparation as open-water swimming in the Stadtsee.

Three priorities follow. First, bike sessions with blocks of 3 times eight to ten minutes at intended race effort, ridden alone and in race position, plus practice at a 180-degree turn with a calm rebuild. Second, brick runs of ten to fifteen minutes at race pace on gently undulating ground rather than the flat. Third, open-water work over 750 continuous metres sighting on shoreline features, plus sessions in the warmth so the midday start holds no surprises.