IRONMAN 70.3 · Coeur d'Alene · 27 Jun 2027
How to train for IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d'Alene
The organiser tells you plainly that this is not an easy course. The bike is listed as hilly and the run as rolling, and everyone who enters goes looking for the climb. They find it at kilometre 30, 2.4 km at 5.5 percent, and they train for it all spring.
That climb matters less than the road after it. Between kilometre 38 and kilometre 63 the bike gains 162 m and never once looks like it is climbing. It rises on drags of half a percent and short pitches of 3 to 4 percent, to the highest point of the day 164 m above where the ride began. A Trained athlete's 6:00:18 is shaped there, on road that reads flat on a map and rides like a slope.
By Kian Briel, founder. Analysed by engine 1, updated
What is actually on the road
The organiser's own course files, drawn the way the Event Analyzer draws a member's race.
- Swim1.93 km0 m upCourse file
- Bike90.2 km803 m upCourse file
- Run21.4 km in 2 laps118 m upCourse file
The swim is one loop of Lake Coeur d'Alene, a freshwater lake of 50 square miles in Northern Idaho. You leave a starting chute and swim 1.9 km counter-clockwise. The loop heads south first, then comes back north to a single transition at Coeur d'Alene City Park. Athletes voted it the best swim course in the world in the organiser's awards for 2024. The water read 18 C that year.
The bike is one loop of 90.2 km around the north and west sides of the lake on wide roads, with 803 m of climbing on the file. Your crew gets three chances to see you, because the route passes the hot corner near transition three times before the run. The first 7.5 km are flat. Then an 840 m ramp at 5 percent, a few short rises between long flat stretches, and the main climb from kilometre 30. It gives its height back within 6 km, on a descent of 2.1 km at 4.9 percent. What follows is the slow part: the long drag up to the high point at kilometre 63, then 9 km of road tilted gently downhill. The last real climb, 2.1 km at 4.9 percent, starts with less than 15 km to go. A short, gentle top follows, then a 2.4 km descent at 5.5 percent and flat road back into town.
The run is two loops through historic neighborhoods and along Lake Coeur d'Alene, 21.4 km with 118 m of climbing. Spectators line it, and the organiser mentions a live band along the way. The file finds two short rises of 3.4 and 3.6 percent and flat road around them. It ends in downtown Coeur d'Alene, downhill to the finish line.
Course shape by distance
- Flat 82%
- Climbing 9%
- Descending 8%
The longest stretches
- Bike, climbing2.37 km7% of the bike
- Run, flat6 km28% of the run
- Run, flat9.19 km43% of the run
Each row is one unbroken stretch of the course that keeps the same shape the whole way. The number is how much of that leg you spend inside it, and it comes out the same whether you are fast or slow.
What this course asks of each leg
Twelve training dimensions scored for each leg against its own course, the way the Event Analyzer scores a member's race.
Aerobic endurance and muscular endurance, and the bike asks hardest. The demand model scores them at 85 and 82 for the bike leg, with threshold capacity at 70, threshold durability at 69 and aerobic durability at 67 close behind. Because the bike fills 53 percent of a Trained athlete's day, the seven heaviest demands on the whole course are bike demands. The run reads 85 and 81 at the top, the swim 85 and 80.
The hills leave a mark further down the list. High-intensity capacity scores 58 on the bike against 43 on the run. Strength and force reads 46 on the bike against 36 on foot. Neither is large. The course asks for a rider who can hold one number on a 5 percent climb, on a half-percent drag and on a flat lakeside road, and who does not treat the steep pitches as a separate event.
A Trained athlete swims 38:50, rides 3:10:09 at 182 W and runs 2:01:19. The Competitive band finishes in 5:13:50 from 4.15 W/kg at 75 kg, close to 23 minutes quicker on the bike and 18 on the run. That gap does not come from the two big climbs, which together cover less than 5 km of road. It comes from a higher steady power held for the whole ride, and the 25 km of slightly uphill road in the middle is where that power pays out for longest.
Weather is not the obstacle. The organiser logged a high of 22 C in 2025 and 19 C in 2026, and the engine scores environmental resilience at 10 on every leg. The low was 12 C in 2026, and the day begins in a lake.
- Aerobic endurance85
- Muscular endurance80
- Threshold capacity70
- Aerobic durability65
- Threshold durability65
- Technical skill60
- Fueling resilience55
- High-intensity capacity40
- Anaerobic capacity25
- Strength / force20
- Environmental resilience10
- Sprint power5
Nymiva reads what you can already show, from your own data
Connect your training history and the Focus Lab scores the same twelve dimensions this course demands against where you sit today. The gap between the two is what you train.
- MeasuredFrom your thresholds and testsThreshold power, threshold pace, critical swim speed and field tests you have done. The dimensions they can carry are scored directly.
- EstimatedFrom your training historyConnected activities are read for what they prove: long efforts, late-session fade, repeated hard work, fueling on long days. Each score says how it was read.
- ProxyFrom a stand-in, and named as oneWhere only an indirect signal exists, the score carries the proxy it came from and a lower confidence, never a number dressed as a measurement.
- UnmeasuredHonestly blankA dimension nothing in your data can answer stays unmeasured. It is never a zero, and the plan does not pretend to know it.
Every dimension ends in one word
- Develop the course asks more than you can show
- Maintain close enough to hold at the minimum dose
- Covered nothing to build here
- Unmeasured the course needs it, your data cannot say yet
Nymiva scores this course and each athlete on the same twelve dimensions. The course side is read from the organiser's route. The athlete side is read from thresholds and connected training history, and each score shows its source and how much weight it can carry. A dimension becomes a gap only when the course asks for more than the athlete can show, and gaps are weighted by the share of the day they fill. Here the bike is more than half of the day, so a bike gap outranks a swim gap of the same size.
This page has no athlete, so its season assumes the plainest case, that the gaps fall where the demands are largest. It lays out 24 weeks in 5 developmental blocks and a two-week taper. Aerobic endurance leads the first block in all three sports. Threshold durability leads the second on the bike and the run while the swim works on aerobic durability. Threshold capacity takes the third, muscular endurance the fourth, and aerobic endurance leads again before the taper. A member's season is built from their own numbers and will set its own priorities.
Train the bike to protect the run
Which demands matter most across the whole race. A leg's demand counts for as much of the day as that leg takes, so a score of 85 on the bike outweighs the same score on the swim.
- 01Aerobic enduranceBike leg, 53% of the day85 × 53%45
- 02Muscular enduranceBike leg, 53% of the day82 × 53%43
- 03Threshold capacityBike leg, 53% of the day70 × 53%37
The bike takes 53% of the Trained reference band’s day, so its demands carry the most race weight. What the bike leaves in the legs is what the run gets.
Which demand gets a block, and when
The engine freezes one lead focus per sport on every developmental block, holds the rest at maintenance, and verifies before it reprioritises.
An illustration, not your plan. This page has none of your data, so the season below is the engine’s answer to one stated assumption: that your gaps line up with what IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d'Alene demands. Your own season is built from your history, your thresholds, the days you can train and the races you have entered, and it will differ from this in its priorities, its sessions and its load.
- 01Run muscular endurance, a practice block4 weeks
- 02Run aerobic endurance, a development block4 weeks
- 03Bike muscular endurance, a practice block4 weeks
- 04Bike aerobic endurance, a development block4 weeks
In the order the allocator places them, general first, most race-like last.
- Week 1PrepPrep
A lead-in week. It develops nothing by design.
- Weeks 2 to 5Foundation 1Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike aerobic endurance
- PriorityRun aerobic endurance
- PrioritySwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportBike threshold durability
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold durability
- SupportSwim aerobic durability
- Weeks 6 to 9Foundation 2Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike threshold durability
- PriorityRun threshold durability
- PrioritySwim aerobic durability
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- Weeks 10 to 13Foundation 3Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike threshold capacity
- PriorityRun threshold capacity
- PrioritySwim threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike threshold durability
- SupportRun threshold durability
- SupportSwim aerobic durability
- Weeks 14 to 17Event shaping 1Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike muscular endurance
- PriorityRun muscular endurance
- PrioritySwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportBike threshold durability
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold durability
- SupportSwim aerobic durability
- Weeks 18 to 21Event shaping 2Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike aerobic endurance
- PriorityRun aerobic endurance
- PrioritySwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportBike threshold durability
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold durability
- SupportSwim aerobic durability
- Weeks 22 to 23PeakPeak
The taper. Load comes down toward the race, content stays specific.
- Week 24RaceRace
Race week.
Held at maintenance between blocks
- Runmuscular endurance, aerobic endurance, aerobic durability, threshold capacity, threshold durability
- Bikemuscular endurance, aerobic endurance, aerobic durability, threshold capacity, threshold durability
- Swimaerobic endurance, aerobic durability, threshold capacity, threshold durability, muscular endurance, technical skill
Touches scheduled by each capability’s own decay, at a fraction of its development dose, so earlier work is still there on race day.
The sessions the blocks are built from
One entry per kind of work the block trains, at the intensity that work is meant to be done at. Where the same work runs at several lengths, the entry shows the span it grows across rather than one entry per length.
- Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 575 to 240 min
150 to 210 min at Zone 2
BikePower, Zone 2Trains aerobic capacity - Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 540 to 270 min
180 to 210 min at Zone 3, then 30 min at Zone 4
BikePower, Zone 3Trains aerobic capacity - Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 535 to 120 min
90 min at Zone 2
RunPace, Zone 2Trains aerobic capacity - Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 550 min
4 x 1.5 min at Zone 3, 6 min easy between
RunHeart rate, Zone 3Trains aerobic capacity - Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 545 to 51 min
4 x 8 min at Zone 2, 1 min easy between
SwimPace, Zone 2Trains aerobic capacity - Foundation 1 · Weeks 2 to 547 to 81 min
3 x 1000 m at Zone 3, 0.3 min easy between
SwimPace, Zone 3Trains aerobic capacity
12× climb-to-false-flat repeats
1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, then 1 min at Zone 5, then 1.8 min at Zone 4, 2.3 min easy between
Compiled by the deterministic course compiler from the organiser’s file: the course’s one repeatable requirement, rehearsed at a dose the progression allows.
- Bike
- 83 min
- Trains muscular endurance
- Supports strength force
- Supports anaerobic capacity
- Supports threshold durability
24 weeks, laid out backwards from race day
The shortest runway Nymiva builds for this event type, with its blocks, recovery weeks, taper and race week in place.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- Prep
- Foundation
- Event shaping
- Peak
- Race
- Recovery week
Your own season carries these same phases on your own dates, with the load solved from your fitness and the days you can train, and it changes when your data does.
What each level does on the day
Reference finish times per peer band, the pacing plan the model holds each band to, and where the day is decided.
| Band | Swim | Bike | Run | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recreational2:11 /100m critical swim speed · 2.47 W/kg at 75 kg · 6:08 /km threshold pace | 0:45:50 | 3:30:57 | 2:25:54 | 6:52:41 |
| Trained1:51 /100m critical swim speed · 3.03 W/kg at 75 kg · 5:06 /km threshold pace | 0:38:50 | 3:10:09 | 2:01:19 | 6:00:18 |
| Competitive1:36 /100m critical swim speed · 4.15 W/kg at 75 kg · 4:20 /km threshold pace | 0:33:35 | 2:47:10 | 1:43:05 | 5:13:50 |
| Elite1:26 /100m critical swim speed · 5.27 W/kg at 75 kg · 3:50 /km threshold pace | 0:30:05 | 2:32:40 | 1:31:11 | 4:43:56 |
Pacing plan
- 0 km0%30.8 km/h14:39
- 7.52 km5%12.9 km/h3:54
- 8.36 km-3.7%48.5 km/h0:22
- 8.66 km-2%40.7 km/h0:57
- 9.3 km-4.3%51.2 km/h0:17
- 9.54 km-0.1%31.3 km/h7:21
- 13.4 km3.9%15.4 km/h1:17
- 13.7 km1.5%23.7 km/h1:29
48 more segments in the full plan.
- Run: reach 4:20 /km and this course gives back 46:28.
Where it is decided
In the 25 km that do not look like a climb.
Riders crest the big one at kilometre 32, drop 2.1 km to roughly the height they started at, and feel the hard part is behind them. Then the road starts to lift. A 651 m pitch at 4.1 percent, then a drag. Another pitch, another drag. Then almost 8 km at 0.6 percent that a Trained athlete rides at under 28 km/h while holding 182 W. It feels like riding with the brakes lightly on. Riders who push to keep their flat-road speed spend more here than on either big climb, and they do it for a long time.
The course keeps asking the same small question. Build a session from this bike file and it comes back as twelve one-minute efforts in Zone 5, each flowing directly into nearly two minutes at Zone 4, with a little over two minutes easy before the next. That is the shape of the middle of the ride. A steep minute that does not end at a summit but eases into a drag you still have to pedal.
The run collects what the drag cost. Its first 6 km take 28 percent of the run leg for the reference athlete and the next long flat stretch another 43 percent, so seven tenths of the run is level road with nothing to hide behind. A rider who held one number through the drag runs those stretches. A rider who fought the drag shuffles them, on both loops.
Getting it wrong
Training only for the climb. The 5.5 percent at kilometre 30 fills 6.9 percent of the bike leg. It deserves respect and a steady power, not a spring spent on hill repeats while the long drags go unrehearsed.
Reading the second climb as the finish. It starts with less than 15 km to go, the town is close, and riders empty themselves on it because the descent afterwards feels like a reward. The descent is 2.4 km at 5.5 percent and it is over quickly. The run is not.
Racing the hot corner. You pass it three times, it is loud, and every pass tempts a surge for the crowd. The same thing happens on the run where the band plays. Your crew will cheer just as loudly for a rider going at the right pace.
Conditions on the day
- 2026high 19 C, low 12 C
- 2025high 22 C, low 16 C
- 2024high 17 C, low 12 Cwater 18 C
From the organiser’s own records. Not a forecast.
Every session is a claim, every block is a test
A plan is not a calendar. Each key session states what it trains and how that is checked, and each block ends with a public verdict before the next one is chosen.
What a block promises
Bike aerobic endurance moves from your baseline to a stated target by the end of Foundation 1
- The baseline is your measured score when the block starts. The target is the score the model predicts for it.
- Verified at the block’s recovery week, by a field test or a refresh of the supply read from your history.
- Confidence rises by agreement between independent signals, never by one metric crossing a line.
- A block that misses its target is a public miss. The next block is chosen from what was proven, not from what was planned.
- 01Stimulus achievedThe work landed in the zone the session named, for the dose it named.
- 02Partially achievedSome of the work landed. The session banks what it can prove.
- 03Not achievedThe load may have been there. The stimulus was not, so nothing is banked.
- 04Data insufficientNo usable stream. The session is neither credited nor blamed.
- Session verified
- Progression banked
- Block verified
- Priority reassessed
- Plan adapted
Your numbers, this course
Analyze IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d'Alene against my fitness
The same simulation and the same Focus Lab read, on your thresholds instead of a band’s. Three numbers give a finish estimate and a partial read. A connected history gives the whole table.
The first 14 days are free.
- Trained band finish
- 6:00:18
- Of the day on the bike
- 53%
- Dimensions scored per leg
- 12
- Season runway shown
- 24 wk
Questions people ask
- How hilly is the IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d'Alene bike course?
- The organiser calls it hilly, and the file measures 803 m of climbing over 90 km. Two climbs stand out, 2.4 km at 5.5 percent from kilometre 30 and 2.1 km at 4.9 percent from kilometre 75. Between kilometre 38 and kilometre 63 the road also gains 162 m on long, gentle drags.
- What is the water temperature in Lake Coeur d'Alene on race day?
- The organiser records 18 C in 2024 and has no reading for 2025 or 2026. Air temperatures over those three editions peaked between 17 C and 22 C, with lows of 12 C to 16 C. The wetsuit decision is not on the organiser's course page, so check it in race week.
- Is the IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d'Alene run course hilly?
- The organiser lists it as rolling. The file measures 118 m of climbing over two loops through historic neighborhoods and along the lake, with two short rises of 3.4 and 3.6 percent and flat road between them. The last strides run downhill to the finish in downtown Coeur d'Alene.
- How long is the season on this page?
- The illustrative season runs 24 weeks, with five developmental blocks and a two-week taper. It is built from the course alone. A member's season starts from their own numbers and can be longer.
Course data from the organiser’s published files, analysed 24 Sept 2026 by engine 1, demand model 4. Reference times are simulated for a peer band at a stated reference athlete and are not a prediction for anyone. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
IRONMAN® and IRONMAN 70.3® are registered trademarks, and 5150 is a trademark, of World Triathlon Corporation. Nymiva is an independent training platform and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by World Triathlon Corporation. Course data is read from the organiser’s public course pages for the purpose of describing the event.