The Puzzle

The pieces are small and scattered all over the jagged emptiness of the Big Island lava fields. The edges have been blasted to bits by the hellacious winds that can, at different times of the day, help you, frustrate you… or destroy you. The colors of the pieces now blend together after being scorched off by the mid-day sun, just like the runners who dismount their bikes and head out for a marathon with triple figure temperatures smacking them right between the eyes.

Mix in food poisoning, jet lag, cramping, a forearm shiver to the goggles, a penalty on the bike, a mechanical, missing a special needs bag, a stomach not able to assimilate all of those thousands of calories in one hundred degree heat, and you’re one step closer to solving the Ironman puzzle.

Kind of.

READ The Puzzle on Babbittville.com

Training Day with
Craig Alexander

A few years back, a film crew from Triathlete Magazine, including Steve Godwin and Kevin LaClaire, went to Boulder to tag along with Craig Alexander for three days as he ramped up his training for Kona. This was exactly four weeks before he won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas, and eight weeks before he won his third Ironman World Championship and broke the course record. In this episode, we followed Crowie as he put in a grueling day on the bike, and got insight from the champ on how he trained to help tackle the bike course on the Big Island.

Thank you Crowie, for all the amazing performances and insightful interviews throughout the years. You are missed on the race course in Kona, but it’s great to have you join us on race morning as a spectator!