IRONMAN 70.3 · Valencia · 18 Apr 2027
How to train for IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia
Valencia opens a lot of seasons. The organiser says as much, calling it the place where your season begins, and a race in April tempts people to treat it as a fitness check rather than a race with its own shape. It has one. The bike spends the 18 km from kilometre 20 to kilometre 38 climbing into Sierra Calderona, on pitches steeper than 9 percent, then comes home on 51 km of flat road.
Those two numbers decide the day between them, and the second matters more. A Trained athlete finishes in 5:52:25, and more of the gap to the band above is found on the road home than on the hills.
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.
- Swim1.9 km0 m upCourse file
- Bike89.2 km688 m upCourse file
- Run21 km219 m upCourse file
You swim one loop of 1.9 km off Playa de la Malvarrosa, Valencia's largest beach, in water the organiser logged at 18 C in 2025 and 19 C in 2024. T1 is right on the beachfront along Carrer José Ballester Gozalvo.
The bike leaves Malvarrosa Beach for a short out and back, then heads for Sierra Calderona and returns to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, 89.2 km with 688 m of climbing in the file. The first 18.5 km are flat. From kilometre 20.1 a drag of 7.7 km at 1.7 percent lifts you towards the hills without ever looking like one. Then the real climbing, packed into 7 km: 295 m at 7.5 percent, 167 m at 9.6 percent near kilometre 30, 153 m at 8.5 percent, 300 m at 7 percent, with drops of up to 8.8 percent between them and the high point near kilometre 32. After kilometre 38 the road is flat or tilted gently down all the way into the city, and T2 waits on Paseo de la Alameda, a 430-meter transition close to the finish.
The run is two out-and-back loops. It starts from Paseo de la Alameda, passes through the Ciudad de las Artes and joins the Túria River path through the Turia Gardens, passing the finish line twice before the last time counts. The file measures 219 m across 21 km. Two flat stretches carry 37 and 41 percent of the run leg, and the only rises worth naming are 150 m at 5.3 percent near kilometre 3.4 and two gentler ones of 390 m at 3.3 and 3.6 percent.
Course shape by distance
- Flat 94%
- Climbing 4%
- Descending 2%
The longest stretches
- Bike, climbing0.17 km1% of the bike
- Run, flat7.75 km37% of the run
- Run, flat8.71 km41% 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.
The bike leads, as it does on most half-distance courses: aerobic endurance 85, muscular endurance 82, threshold capacity 70. It fills 52 percent of a Trained athlete's day, so the top seven demands on the course are bike demands before the run's aerobic endurance appears in eighth.
What sets Valencia apart sits lower down. High-intensity capacity reads 56 on the bike and strength and force 50, both the product of those short pitches in the hills. Build a session from the bike file and it returns eight surges of three quarters of a minute in Zone 5 with two minutes between them, which is the hills in miniature. The swim carries its own surprise. Technical skill reads 80 there, level with muscular endurance, against 36 on the bike.
A Trained athlete swims 38:12, rides 3:04:57 at 182 W and runs 1:59:16. The Competitive band finishes in 5:08:00 from 4.15 W/kg at 75 kg and 4:20 /km threshold pace, about 21 minutes faster on the bike and 18 on the run. Of those 21 bike minutes, the biggest share comes after kilometre 38, on flat road where a higher steady number pays on every kilometre.
April in Valencia is mild. The organiser logged highs of 25 C in 2026, 26 C in 2025 and 20 C in 2024, with lows down to 10 C.
- Aerobic endurance85
- Muscular endurance80
- Technical skill80
- Threshold capacity70
- Aerobic durability65
- Threshold durability65
- Fueling resilience55
- High-intensity capacity40
- Anaerobic capacity25
- Strength / force20
- Environmental resilience15
- 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
Twelve dimensions describe the course, and the same twelve describe you. Nymiva scores the course from the organiser's files and scores you from your thresholds and your connected training, with a note on every score saying where it came from and how much weight it bears. Where the course asks for more than you can show, that is a gap. Gaps count in proportion to the share of the day they govern, which on this course puts the bike first by a distance and the swim last.
This page has no rider behind it, so the season below assumes the plainest thing, that your gaps sit where the demands are highest. It runs 24 weeks with 5 developmental blocks and a two-week taper, so for 18 April it begins at the start of November. Aerobic endurance leads the first block in every sport. From there the sports part ways: the bike moves from aerobic durability to threshold capacity to muscular endurance, while the swim spends a block on technical skill before the last. Aerobic endurance leads all three again in the final block before the taper. A member's season starts from their own numbers and will not look like this.
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, 52% of the day85 × 52%45
- 02Muscular enduranceBike leg, 52% of the day82 × 52%43
- 03Threshold capacityBike leg, 52% of the day70 × 52%37
The bike takes 52% 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 Valencia 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
- SupportSwim technical skill
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic durability
- SupportRun threshold durability
- Weeks 6 to 9Foundation 2Closes with a recovery week
- PrioritySwim threshold capacity
- PriorityBike aerobic durability
- PriorityRun threshold durability
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportSwim technical skill
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- Weeks 10 to 13Foundation 3Closes with a recovery week
- PrioritySwim muscular endurance
- PriorityBike threshold capacity
- PriorityRun threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportBike muscular endurance
- SupportRun muscular endurance
- SupportSwim technical skill
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic durability
- SupportRun threshold durability
- Weeks 14 to 17Event shaping 1Closes with a recovery week
- PriorityBike muscular endurance
- PriorityRun muscular endurance
- PrioritySwim technical skill
- SupportBike aerobic endurance
- SupportRun aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim aerobic endurance
- SupportSwim muscular endurance
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic durability
- SupportRun threshold 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
- SupportSwim technical skill
- SupportBike threshold capacity
- SupportRun threshold capacity
- SupportSwim threshold capacity
- SupportBike aerobic durability
- SupportRun threshold 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
8× rolling-course surges
0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, then 0.8 min at Zone 5, 2 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
- 45 min
- Trains threshold durability
- Supports muscular endurance
- Supports high intensity capacity
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 | 0:45:05 | 3:20:46 | 2:23:25 | 6:39:16 |
| Trained1:51 /100m critical swim speed · 3.03 W/kg at 75 kg · 5:06 /km threshold pace | 0:38:12 | 3:04:57 | 1:59:16 | 5:52:25 |
| Competitive1:36 /100m critical swim speed · 4.15 W/kg at 75 kg · 4:20 /km threshold pace | 0:33:03 | 2:43:37 | 1:41:20 | 5:08:00 |
| Elite1:26 /100m critical swim speed · 5.27 W/kg at 75 kg · 3:50 /km threshold pace | 0:29:36 | 2:29:26 | 1:29:38 | 4:38:40 |
Pacing plan
- 0 km0.3%29.3 km/h37:54
- 18.5 km3.2%17.4 km/h0:33
- 18.7 km0.5%28.4 km/h2:18
- 19.8 km-0.3%32.3 km/h0:39
- 20.1 km1.7%22.9 km/h20:04
- 27.8 km3.9%15.4 km/h1:47
- 28.2 km0.7%27.4 km/h1:10
- 28.8 km7.5%9.3 km/h1:55
25 more segments in the full plan.
- Run: reach 4:20 /km and this course gives back 44:25.
Where it is decided
On the flat road back from the hills.
The climbing into Sierra Calderona is short and sharp and everyone remembers it. Hold 182 W on a 9.6 percent pitch and you are crawling, which is the correct speed. The trouble starts on the drops between the pitches, where the next ramp is already in sight and it feels right to carry speed into it. Do that eight times and the hills have cost far more than the few minutes they take.
Then kilometre 38. From here to Paseo de la Alameda it is 51 km of flat or gently falling road, most of it in three long stretches, and it is where the bike is truly won or lost. A rider who climbed on plan settles into the number and holds it into the city. A rider who spent the hills finds that the road home is longer than it looked on the map.
The run then asks for patience twice over. 1:59:16 for a Trained athlete from an input of 5:06 /km threshold pace, two out-and-back loops along the Túria River path, and the finish line passed twice before it is yours.
Getting it wrong
The first mistake is the drag. From kilometre 20.1 the road climbs at 1.7 percent for 7.7 km, too gentle to see and long enough to cost you. Riders who ride it at their flat-road feel arrive at the steep pitches over their number.
The second is treating April as early. A race this early in the year still needs 24 weeks of preparation, which means long rides through November, December and January. Valencia punishes a winter of short sessions on its 51 km home.
The third is the finish line. The run passes it twice before the end, and on the first pass it pulls every runner a little faster than planned. That pace is due back on the second loop along the river, with 8.7 km of flat path still to go.
Conditions on the day
- 2026high 25 C, low 12 C
- 2025high 26 C, low 11 Cwater 18 C
- 2024high 20 C, low 10 Cwater 19 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 Valencia 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
- 5:52:25
- Of the day on the bike
- 52%
- Dimensions scored per leg
- 12
- Season runway shown
- 24 wk
Questions people ask
- How hilly is the IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia bike course?
- The file measures 688 m of climbing over 89.2 km, and nearly all of it sits between kilometre 20 and kilometre 35, on the way into Sierra Calderona. The steepest pitch is 167 m at 9.6 percent near kilometre 30. From kilometre 38 to T2 the road is flat or gently downhill.
- What is the water temperature at Playa de la Malvarrosa?
- The organiser logged 18 C in 2025 and 19 C in 2024, and its course page says to expect between 16 C and 17 C. The swim is one 1.9 km loop starting and finishing on the beach. The wetsuit decision is not published on the course page.
- Is the IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia run flat?
- Mostly. It is two out-and-back loops from Paseo de la Alameda through the City of Arts and Sciences and along the Túria River path, and the file measures 219 m of climbing over 21 km. Two long flat stretches make up more than three quarters of it.
- How long is the season on this page?
- The illustrative season runs 24 weeks, with five developmental blocks and a two-week taper. For a race on 18 April 2027 it begins at the start of November. A member's season starts from their own numbers and can be longer.
Course data from the organiser’s published files, analysed 23 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 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.