Mallorca iron man 70.3 race recap
- Clem Duranseaud
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
On May 9th, 2026, I completed my first Half Ironman in Alcudia, Mallorca.
While crossing the finish line felt great, the most surprising part wasn't my finishing time, it was how much I enjoyed the entire race.
Ten years earlier, I completed a full Ironman. It absolutely destroyed me.
My knee was wrecked after the bike. I walked most of the marathon. By the end, I was so exhausted that I stopped training altogether for an entire month.
So when I signed up for the Mallorca Half Ironman, I wasn't sure what to expect. At 86kg, still prioritizing strength training, and balancing triathlon around work and life, I wasn't exactly built like the typical endurance athlete.
Yet somehow this race turned out to be one of the most enjoyable sporting experiences I've had.
In this post, I'll share how I trained, how race day unfolded, what went well, what I'd change next time, and why this race reignited my interest in endurance sports.
Why Mallorca Is a Fantastic Race Destination
The race took place in Alcudia, on the island of Mallorca, Spain.
A beautiful Mediterranean island, sea breeze in the air, dry vegetation and gorgeous small mountains. Cute and picturesque all around.
The town of Alcudia is a classic coastal village: a beautiful beach, a nice seaside footpath with many beachside restaurants.
We stayed at the Zaphiro Palace Hotel. 5 min walk from the beach, all you can eat buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I was in paradise.
Training leading up the Half Iron Man
I had two objectives for this race:
Complete it in 5 hours and 30 minutes.
Maintain my body weight at 88kg
My weekly training 6 months out of the race consisted of
4-5 strength workouts
2 Bike workouts
2 Run workouts
1 Swim workout
Strength training
The strength workouts were full body, powerlifting style training. I focused on improving my bench, squat and deadlift. I had time to do some weightlifting and auxiliary days as well.
Day 1
Heavy bench
Volume squat
Technique deadlift
Day 2
Barbell clean
Auxiliaries
Day 3
Heavy squat
Volume deadlift
Technique bench
Day 4
Barbell snatch
Auxiliaries
Day 5
Heavy deadlift
Technique squat
Volume bench
The heavy work consisted of 5 sets of 5 reps, progressing to 3 sets of 3 reps over 6 weeks.
The volume work was 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps.
Technique drill for bench: Paused bench
Technique drills for squats: paused squats, box squats, pin squats
Technique drills for deadlift: paused deadlift, rack pulls
Bike workouts
The bike workouts were a bit all over the place, here are the main workouts I focused on.
The 4 x 4 method
4 minutes at 110-120% FTP
4 minutes rest
4 rounds
Brutal, be it on the bike or the run, I have a love-hate relationship with this workout
Tempo workouts
8 minutes at 90-95% FTP
3 minutes rest
Repeat 3 times
Progress the duration of the working intervals
Random cycling class
The gym I work at has Watt Bike classes which I took when my scheduled allowed it
I started off with an FTP of 315 and finished with 340 before the race.
Running workouts
On top of similar 4 x 4 and tempo workouts, I had 400-meter repeats and long runs in there.
I ran the 400 repeats 30 seconds faster than race pace.
The long runs were few and sporadic.
Swim workouts
The swims were a loose combination of drills and short distances.
The weekly training 2 months out of the race consisted of
3 Strength workouts
2-3 bike workouts
2-3 run workouts
2 swim workout
I kept the power lifting workouts and ditched all auxiliary/weightlifting days to focus more on triathlon specific training.
I tried to add a long ride and long run each week. It's fair to say I did not do a good job at that.
The swimming became a tad more structured, with the classic 10 x 200m becoming my go to workout.
Looking back on this, I can see many areas of improvement. The tricky part becomes managing two opposite goals: strength vs endurance.
I did not lose too much strength. My upper body strength (bench, pull ups, rows) pretty much stayed the same throughout the whole prep, but did not increase.
My lower body strength (squats, deadlifts) decrease a little bit. Nothing alarming, but something I want to fix going forward.
We'll talk more about what comes next after going over the race.
Race Day Breakdown
The swim, 1.9km
Expected 40 min, got 35. Happy days.
I thanked whoever was in charge for the staggered start, 5 people every 7 seconds. A lot less chaotic than the general start of my previous triathlon.
The sea was a little wavy, I just had to adjust my breathing to only breath facing away from the waves. Other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing.
Transition 1: Swim to bike
F, this one was long! I wrestled with my wetsuit for a good 2 minutes, then had the genius idea of sitting down and having two gels...
Was hoping for 5 minutes, got 8, yikes.
I got 6 minutes on that one on my previous Iron Man. I don't know how this time took me so long.
The bike, 90km
Aimed for 3 hours, got 3:04. I'll take it.
After training for 6 months on a stationary bike, staring at the emptiness of the wall in front of me, the ride through Mallorca was beautiful. Just seeing the scenery was a treat for the whole 90km.
The last 10km were a bit rough. I'd only done two long rides in my training leading up to the race: 70km and 80km.
Transition 2: run to bike
6 minutes, not bad.
Lost two minutes relieving myself. I tried as best as I could to do this while riding but my tri suit was too tight and I was unable to execute the act.
Otherwise that transition went pretty smoothly.
The half marathon
Aimed for 1h45, got 1h46.
I don't remember my previous half marathons and marathons as enjoyable. This one was pure bliss.
Not only did I PR my half marathon time, but the whole section was enjoyable.
On top of that, this was the heaviest (86kg) I've been during a long distance event.
My pace stayed decently steady but the biggest help was from everyone cheering. The course was a loop of the harbour/beach/sea side walk. This allowed supporters to be staggered the whole way. I rarely went more than 5 minutes without someone cheering, which was a massive help.
When I crossed the finish line I felt great, I was able to grab a quick bit to eat at the finisher's tent and meet my wife shortly after.
Nutrition during the race
11 Morten 100 gels. Should of been 12 but I lost one
1 banana from aid station
1 orange from aid station
As much water as I could handle
2 glasses of Coco Cola from aid station
The gels have 25g of carbs and 100 calories each. Those plus the 2 fruits gave me roughly 1200 calories. I burned 5000 over the whole race.
My energy stayed up the whole race, I never felt like I hit a wall. For the next race I'll experiment with more liquid calories during the bike.
Breakfast was two toasts with honey and jam.
Carb loading before the race
My carb loading strategy was pretty simple: Eat as much as possible two days before the race.
I focused on complex carbs two days before and switched to simple carbs the day before.
Looking back, I'm happy with my whole nutrition approach. I can probably optimize it here and there, but this worked.
What I'll Do Differently for My Next Half Ironman
The bike has become my favourite event, and I will focus on this one more next time. The running is ok, but since I want to stay heavier, it's just a slog.
The swim is what it is, I'm happy with the time I got and don't feel the need to improve it much.
Here are the goals I'll set myself for the next Half Iron man I'll do.
Sub 5 hours
2h30 on the bike section
1h45 run
Faster transitions
Get my FTP up to 400
The two improvements will come from the bike and the transition. All I have to do for my swim and run is to maintain my current fitness.
Here's how I'll train the bike differently:
Do way more long rides. This will most likely involved buying an actual bike to avoid doing these on the stationary bike
Do four bike session a week
Have a more structured approach
Final thoughts
Doing this half iron man as rekindle my interest in endurance sports. Compared to the past, I feel like I can manage both strength and endurance goals at the same time.
I don't know when the next race will be, but I'm already excited about it!
Happy training,
Clem
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