How to master the 70.3 distance run leg.

Let’s be honest, most athletes ‘survive’ their Ironman marathon with usually plenty of walking and stopping.

In contrast, a 70.3 Ironman and its half-marathon, can be raced by many. It takes conditioning with significantly less chances of major stomach shut-down, huge cramping issues in the legs or soul-searching and sobbing.

But to make your foray into the 70.3 distance a success you need to be endurance fit, to have practiced feeding over the entire race and to pace the bike correctly. But as you can race more 70.3 races than full Ironman races, you can also learn more readily what works and accelerate the cycle of race-learn-improve.

For a successful 70.3 run we suggest the following 3 types of training, which don’t have to be ticked off every week but still need to be regular:

High-intensity

Short intervals, e.g. 4 x 1mile, stand-alone 5km-10km races or personal loop time-trials. A small amount of this – where you have to increasingly go into the "red zone" – reminds you to go mentally ‘hard’ on the run. 

Endurance run 

Approx. 1.5-2h in Zone 1. For example, fasted morning run, split as a double-run day, or use gels and drink throughout to teach the gut race feeding. 

At least two brick sessions a week 

These can be varied: short run after a very hard interval or a time-trial bike effort; quick tempo run after a longer ride; short multiple runs off the turbo or a gym bike working on transition efficiency.

With these 3 sessions you’ll have the raw materials you need to help you master the 70.3 run.