Harry: Hello everyone and welcome back to the uncomfortable triathlon podcast with myself, Harry Palmer and my better looking co-host Andy Horseful Turner. Now we've got an exciting show for you tonight or today, whenever you are listening to this bloody podcast because Andy is fresh off of Ironman South Africa. So first off, Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Whatever time of day it is, yeah. Yes I am, yeah. Harry: How's, how's sensations mate? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Good mate, I was just saying to you it's Wednesday, like just after lunch and I travelled basically overnight so I left Port Elizabeth, you know, just after lunch yesterday, ⁓ flew up to Johannesburg and then Johannesburg overnight to Heathrow and then Heathrow, three hour drive back here so I land in Heathrow at like five o'clock this morning and then ⁓ yeah, back in sunny Swansea. Without a bike, but ⁓ yeah, hopefully that will be returned to me in the next few days Harry: I'm Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Ugh. Harry: Yeah that's not so ideal but I guess at least after an Ironman it kind of forces you to have a bit of rest as well like you need the rest and it forces you to not be on the bike so it's all good. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, and like, there's nothing you want to do less than be in like time trial position come like three days post Iron Man, so... How are you doing anyway mate you've just been for some of you Harry: Yeah, exactly. ⁓ yeah, just been for a swim and had probably one of the most infuriating swims. I normally don't get too irritated by people because we generally book lanes and so we have our own little squad so it all works out pretty well but today I was swimming at a slightly different time so I just went in the public lanes in Bradford and Avon and there was some absolute Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, yeah. Harry: fucking beefcake in the fast lane doing breaststroke and it was just infuriating me because it wasn't like it wasn't the fact he wasn't going that quickly like he was actually fairly quick for a breaststroker but it was the fact his stroke was so wide that he'd almost kick you every time you're going the other way ⁓ man infuriating Andrew Horsfall-Turner: You kicked in the face. Yeah. Oh, I know it. I know the feeling. I'm so used to it now because I obviously do all my swimming in public lanes. And I was chatting to Ollie Turner, who is out in South Africa racing as well. And he's part of the car that's set up with Josh. And he was chatting about how do I do public swimming. I was like, oh, well, you just get, I think the more public swimming you do, Harry: Yeah, so that's not fun. Yeah. Survival of the fittest. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: It is survival of the fittest and you do get annoyed, like don't get me wrong, you do get annoyed. ⁓ But I think you just kind of have to let go of like perfection a little bit in those settings. So you're like, I have a session, I know what I want to do, but like, I know I'm going to get held up by like someone doing breaststroke. I know someone's going to like push off in front of me. ⁓ And you just like, you know, if you can get the session like 90 % to what you want it to be, then it's decent session. Harry: 100 % Yeah. Yeah, I completely agree. Whenever I've done public lane stuff, almost like sometimes need to adapt based on what's going on around you. if someone stops at the wall and you're like, oh, I could get a clean extra 50 or 100 meters in here, you may as well do like a little bit extra on that rep and then maybe cut it from the next rep or whatever. Like you kind of just need to make it up as you go. But I would love it if the lifeguards instead of sat there doing Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, yeah. Harry: fuck all would actually like manage the lanes a little bit. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: The thing is, I think they're obviously there to keep everyone safe and to make sure no one drowns. But I also think they're in the, they're very much in the business of like not upsetting people. And I think nothing worse than going up to someone and saying, excuse me, can you move down a lane? You're swimming quite slowly. Harry: Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah, excuse me, you're a bit shit. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But, ⁓ yeah. You do get, every so often you do get a good lifeguard who just like, I guess, polices the pool a little bit better and they're like, ⁓ there's more space over in this lane if you want to move over here. But, yeah, not very often. Harry: Yeah. No, no, because normally they're like 15, 16 years old as well, so they're probably like, they're maybe a bit shy or they don't want to upset anyone, which I completely get, but I did say to this guy today, I was like, do you mind moving this guy across? And he was like, well, he's swimming a bit faster than guys in the medium lane. I was like, mate, even Stevie Wonder can see he's not swimming any faster than the fucking medium lane. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: haha I don't care. Nightmare, But you got it done anyway. Harry: But anyway, it's all fun and games, it's all fun and games, yeah. Now I'm really pissed. So my bike session later is gonna be incredible. ⁓ mate, it's like three hours on the turbo, which not crazy, but just a lot of over-under stuff, which I know is good for me, I know it's what I need to do, but I hate it so much. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ What have you got in the cards? Yes, yeah. Just like, you kind of have to like really like lock in and focus a bit too hard. Nice. Harry: Yeah, it's not fun. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Nothing's like, it's not a chilled three hours, that's for sure. anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about South Africa. Why don't you go through like the, I don't know, the travel, the lead up to the race, how did that go? And then we can go through the race itself. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, yeah, cool. Yeah, as we kind of spoke about in the last podcast, I think it's quite nice to go back to a place you've raced before, ⁓ just because the familiar, I can't say that word, familiarity, familiarity, there you go. You know what we mean. ⁓ But yeah, obviously, I know where the supermarket is. ⁓ The accommodation I got, Harry: Yeah. Familiarity? Good question, now on air. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: this year, staying with the Anne de Bries was like literally right next to the shopping mall as well so location wise it was like ideal so yeah it was super easy to travel over you overnight to Johannesburg and then a connection down to Port Elizabeth bike got there so I landed on the Tuesday and on that Tuesday I just built my bike up and then again went straight up to the pool because I knew and know where the pool is and I was like that's ideal and I got to the pool and it was shut. Because basically the... Basically the South African swimming nationals were going on. So the pool was like basically, it was open, but it was just full of like, yeah, just swimmers like walking in and I was like, I don't think we're going to be able to train. ⁓ So we ended up going to a, I want to say it was a Virgin Act. Harry: You Yeah, that's not ideal. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Virgin active maybe? a... yeah. So we managed to have a little swim and then actually the rest of the week we end up going to this place called something Eagles, Bay Eagles I think it is, and it's like an old school pool where they've got like a it's a 50 meter like five lame five six lame pool and they've got a like a wooden boom that they literally just like stick in the middle and it floats and it literally looks from the outside Harry: ⁓ I've been there before, yeah. Yeah. them. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: It looks so shit. ⁓ But it was actually pretty decent. And it was like, I think it was like £1.90 to get in. It was so good. Harry: Yeah. ⁓ sweet. Shut up. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, so cheap. So yeah, other than that though, other than that, the week before the race was pretty chilled. Skipper was out there, so went for a couple of rides with him. We did like a purpose like group run one morning, went for a swim in the sea, didn't get eaten by a shark. That was AI, if anyone saw my Instagram story, which a few people... Harry: Unbelievable. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: A few people did think it was legit, which I was like, I thought it looked pretty fake, but... Harry: I thought it looked very fake but I did, I showed it to a few people when I was on camp and they were like, no way, ⁓ my god, like guys are you fucking stupid? It's clearly not real. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: hahaha But yeah, other than that I was pretty good sensations up to race day. Yeah, I think as far as pre-race weeks go, it was probably one of the least eventful ones I've ever had. Like nothing went wrong, didn't have to go to the bike shop once. ⁓ Yeah, happy days pretty much. Harry: Mm. That's always a good race week when you don't have to go to the bike shop. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, no punches, no gears going wrong, no broken cables, yeah. Harry: Yeah. I can't remember actually the last race week that I've been to where I haven't been to the bike shop. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: My dad was out with me and he was literally joking from the start. was like, alright, what day are we going then? And I was like, no, no, we're not going. Harry: So... We're going then, how was, ⁓ so race morning and talk us through swim, bike and run from your perspective. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, cool. It was shockingly, I guess, close to what I'd maybe anticipated and maybe hoped for as well in terms of like how, especially how the start of the race panned out. ⁓ I think Jamie Riddle must have listened to our podcast because he, for some reason, had in his head that I think he's a shit swimmer. ⁓ And I was like, or like, I think he said like, Harry: Okay. Seriously? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, I remember, I watched his video a few days before the race and I don't know if you've listened to our podcast, but I basically said like something along the lines of like his get out speeds amazing, but like his swim speed when he's like in the middle of the race, I don't think that faster than anyone else. And for some reason that's been interpreted as I think he sucks at swimming. So. Harry: Yeah. You think he's a shit swimmer? Wow! Andrew Horsfall-Turner: So he said it a few times in the YouTube video and I actually didn't see him then until race morning and I stood next to him on the start line and I gave him little nudge and went, mate, I don't think you're a bad swimmer, it's okay. And he just sort of smiled at me and was like, ⁓ yeah, no, I'm just playing around. Harry: You're like, mate, please don't hurt me. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But I definitely, um, I definitely regret poking the bear because, uh, yeah, he was, he was determined to go. Um, yeah, and like the, speaking to him and Ollie and like the idea was to try and get a little bit of a break. Um, the idea was that like, it could be anything between like three to six or seven of us, depending on how quickly people got out and like who wanted to do work sort of thing. Harry: Was he on it? Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And then basically what happened was as the gun went, Jamie like sprinted to the far right along the beach a little bit and then went straight into the sea, whereas like Ollie and myself kind of went like diagonally towards the first boy. And Jamie's got that really good gout speed. So he basically had instantly had like a five meter gap on us, like within 50 meters. Harry: Yeah. Yeah, okay. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And me and Ollie said to me before the race, he's like, I am getting on Jamie's feet. He's like, I don't care about the rest of the race. I'm getting on Jamie's feet. And I was a bit more reserved. Like, I'm like, I don't feel like I need to. I was like, I don't feel like I need to swim on his feet. Like if we swim behind then like so be it. So anyway, me and Ollie are neck and neck. And I'm like, right mate, you said you're gonna get his feet. Off you go. And I didn't want to slow him down. Yeah, so I actually pulled back and went on his feet. Harry: confident man yeah Yeah. Yeah, you need to close the gap, yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And I kept on like lifting my head to see if he was like closing in on Jamie and the gap was getting bigger. I was like, oh shit. So I went back around him and then long story short is then I ended up leading the rest of the swim and Jamie was just out in front. And and he was joking, we were joking because he said he did a bit of a Josh Lewis because Josh Harry: Okay. ⁓ no! Ollie has had your pants down there. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: had basically the same thing last year where he had a bit of a shocking swim for his capability and he kind of went out pretty hard and then just like kind of blew a little bit and Ollie's like, I think I did the same thing. ⁓ But it was alright, know, ultimately I wasn't actually that fussed because I knew that Jamie was kind of going for like win or bust and you know, all credit to him for going like Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: He literally like went for it on the swim and then kind of like kept that foot down the rest of the day. He ended up obviously not having his like didn't pan out the way obviously he probably dreamt it to. But you know, being someone who's from a swim background who likes to kind of go hard from the gun, I kind of like really respect that how he kind of attacked it and you know, ultimately your home race, can't do anything but that really I think. Harry: Yeah. Mmm. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But yeah, if I then run through the rest of the race, I got out the water with an Italian guy called Sinarelli, Florian Anger, Ollie Turner, and then there was kind of a gap then to a couple of minutes back to like Gregory Barnaby, Peter Hemerich, and a few others. And then again, another like three minute gap to like the Skipper, Tristan Ole, and a few others more like sort of like... Harry: Okay. Yeah. Right. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: five minutes back from me but like six or seven back from Jamie. So yeah on the bike I rode with Sinurelli for a bit ⁓ but then I kind of just like started doing my own thing and and kind of accidentally dropped him I guess I just was sort of like riding the watts I wanted to ride. ⁓ Matthew Marquardt came through like an absolute steam train and I was like yep right that's just Harry: Yeah. Yeah, I bet. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: like you just knew he was on a day. But yeah, other than that, basically... Harry: What were you, so what kind of, ⁓ what kind of power were you holding at that point? And was there a question mark in your head? Were you like, ooh, do I go with Matthew Mark, just to see what it's like? was he just coming past so strong that you were like, okay, maybe I'll see you later if you blow up and if you don't blow up, fair play. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, I think with the 20 meter, I was much, much less inclined to even try. I think with 12, I probably would have maybe kind of seen how it felt for a bit. But I kind of had the mindset of like, a bit like I said to you when we were talking about how did I want the race to go? I basically wanted to still feel good on that last 60 kilometer loop. So it's 360K laps. Harry: Mmm. Yeah. Sure. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And I basically did that, I definitely went out a little bit stronger on the first lap, I controlled it on the second lap and I definitely like, probably knocked it back a few watts on the last lap. But, and when I was knocking it back on the last lap, I was very conscious of like the fact that there is athletes behind that could catch me. And I was kind of just sitting in third and I was quite comfortable. ⁓ But you know, no one ever did actually ride up to me. ⁓ Harry: Mmm. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And it's like the best I've ever felt in the last like hour on the bike. you know, I rode like 4.20, I think it was. So was like four minutes quicker than I rode last year. And it just felt like on that last hour, was like, I was consciously like knocking it back a little bit. Energy felt really good. Like didn't feel like I'd been on the bike for like four hours. Like, you know, sometimes in an Ironman you feel cooked come like the last 50 K. Like I was so far from that. I was like, Harry: Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I felt fresh, like so fresh. Harry: It's like really, really impressive. And also like that South Africa bike course is like, it is grindy because the road surfaces, I mean, maybe like trying to describe them for people that have never been. I mean, they're pretty shit, aren't they? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah. Oof. Yeah. I think the only way you can describe them is like, it's kinda like big chip seals, so there is like big pebbles that are kinda like sealed together. But also I guess I'm not sure how they do the kind of foundations of their roads because they kind of like seem to just like fall away in places so it's like, it's chip seals so the surface is like constantly kinda like bumpy. And then you've also got these like little dips. Harry: Mm-hmm. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: in the road and it's hard to describe because it's not like British roads where we just have like potholes. There was definitely a few potholes but it was like it's much more like you can't really see them and all of a sudden you're riding along and you just like kind of hit like a big bump and you kind of feel like you're constantly like there's that vibration going through like the arms, the shoulders, the legs. I think it's yeah grindy is a good word to say because I think it doesn't feel smooth. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I think once you've been on the bike for a long time you are a little bit like, I'm getting bored of being like that vibration of like, da da da da da da da constantly. But, you know, ultimately it's still like, it's got bit of elevation, it's got like 1,100 meters of gain, it's not a flat course by any means. But yeah, we could still like, we still rolled quick. Like I was rolling at 41 point, I think it was 41.1 or 41.2 km an hour, so it's like, it's not slow. Harry: Yeah. And how windy was it? Because it is sometimes can be known to be quite windy. They call it like beast from the east. If it's an easterly wind it's horrible. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, West is best, think that's what they always say, yeah, yeah, or something like that. Um... Um... West is best. So whatever it was, we got the wrong way. So I think we got the beast version, because... Basically, it didn't... It wasn't a windy day by any means, but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. So as you came to the coast, like the last... Basically, 360 kilometer loops... Harry: West is best, that's it, yeah yeah. Okay. ⁓ Andrew Horsfall-Turner: and the last 20ish kilometers is along the coastline and as you're riding along the coastline we had a headwind so that last 20km of each lap was grindy and normally it's tailwind so last year it was tailwind and that 20km stretch you do it at 60kmh whereas this year I was really having to work for 35kmh, 36kmh, 37kmh and it was like Harry: Hmm Yeah, not fun. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: It was just like it wasn't free. But then obviously you were getting a push from the other side. I don't know if it's a... Yeah, I don't know if it's a quicker... I don't know if the wind made it quicker or slower, but it definitely felt grindier because you're having to push at the end of each lap instead of like properly easing up. Harry: hard work. Yeah, yeah, yeah, makes sense. How was, so then you, I mean, you clearly felt really good coming off of the bike and having, you know, clearly fueled properly and everything like that and paced it well. Coming off the bike, were you like, you know, what, position were you in at that point? And what was going through your head? Were you thinking, fuck me, like I'm in, I'm in a good place here. I'm like, I'm in a position to potentially run, run a PB. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Well someone like, only, like, again, it's a weird one because I knew I was in third the whole race in terms of on the bike. So I was rolling into transition and as I said, I kind of was expecting someone else or a couple of people to catch me on the last lap of the bike. But it kind of never happened. So as I was coming into transition, I'm like, okay, I'm in a good position here. Someone shouted a split to Matthew Marquardt and I was like, ⁓ like fuck, he rode. Harry: Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: quick on that last lap because like he wasn't that far ahead of me and he took like three and a half minutes out of me and Jamie in the last 20k so fuck knows how that happened but ⁓ yeah but then obviously I think my intent was never to like like my kind of A goal or big A goal for the race was trying to get like top four to five and maybe get a Kona slot Harry: Yeah, he must have gone hard. Mm. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: So being in like third place, was like, well, I'm right where I need to be. It was still came down to like what we spoke about last week, which was just like executing a good run. ⁓ and I spoke to my coach about this and the idea was that like, basically to like not to almost be like super reserved, like coming out on the run. And I know you've kind of had this mentality before, I think one of your races and it was basically I was, the plan was to run four minutes a K. Harry: Yeah. Mmm. Okay. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And the idea is that a lot of people will run 3-30s, 3-40s and come the second half marathon they'll start running 4-20s, 4-30s when they properly blow. Whereas my plan was to run formulaic Ks, try and get through the half marathon and then as people start to fade, just lock in and almost like... Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Mmm. just consistently. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: You if I can keep repping 4 minute K's, the AA result then would have been like a 2.47 marathon if I could hold bang on 4 minute K's. But also gave me that like room for like, if I had a bit of an implosion back end to still come in comfortably under 3. ⁓ But yeah, I was feeling like, I wouldn't say my legs felt incredible, but my energy felt really good. Harry: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: So like, as I said on the bike, like the last hour on the bike, felt really like energized and I felt really good starting to run energy wise. My quads were feeling a little bit smashed, but you know, you've just ridden 180 K anyway. yeah. So I kind of ticked through the first 10 K pretty chilled, like literally like, think 401 average heart rate was really controlled, like super happy. And then I started getting those like Harry: Okay. Yes, never gonna be great. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I don't even know how to describe them, little like stomach twinges. Where you're like, ⁓ my stomach doesn't feel quite right here. But I was like, I'm okay here. And I was still like taking gels on because I was like, you know, I knew I had like a good nutrition plan and the energy felt really good still. So was like, right, like don't like force it down, but like, you know, stick on the plan, like continue doing what you're doing. Like you're going well. Like Joe Skipper had flown past me, a couple other people had come past me, but. Harry: Mmm. Yeah Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Again, still had that mindset that like, a few of them can blow. Um... Got to like... 16, 7- 16 and a half K or so? And then like... I basically was like, all of sudden was like, oh no. And then like, literally within like 500 meters, I was like, poor Lou. Like, I just like, had to sprint. I was like, I'm done. Like, my stomach's done. So... Did that. And I- I thought I was being really like, sensible here, cause I think... Harry: Yeah, yeah, exactly. No. ⁓ no. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: anyone who's had to do that before, I think it's easy to like come out of a port-a-loo and then like try and like sprint back up to like try and get back on pace and like like force it. Yeah, so what I did is I like like lapped my watch and I went right forget about the two minutes I've just lost or whatever it is, you know. That same plan run four minutes a K, you know, start a new lap. Let's run four minutes a K and I did that for like another three or four K and then Harry: Yeah, yeah, try and get back on it, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: the worst like stomach cramps like just underneath the bottom of my ribs to the point where like I literally like I just like had to stop and like almost you know when you like you take it at your fingers and you like jab them in under your ribs to like try and stop the pain yeah ⁓ my god mate I was absolutely like and as soon as that happened I was like fuck sake like why why now ⁓ Harry: Yeah, you're like jamming them in. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ mate, it's so infuriating when the stomach stuff happens because it's like, it's not a fitness thing, it's not a tactical error, it's just, you know, potentially something, yeah, yeah, like, ⁓ mate, that's... Andrew Horsfall-Turner: No, yeah. And I hadn't gone too hard either. Like, I could have ran that first 10k at 345, 345, if I wanted to run too hard, I could run too hard. But I was being, like, sensible and I still got fucked up. Harry: Yeah, yeah. Fuck sake, man. So what goes, okay, so when this hits and you're like, fuck, okay, I'm in a bit of a sticky situation now. What goes through your head immediately? Like talk me through ⁓ whether you're questioning pulling out or does that even enter your mindset? Do you consider other options? Like what's going through your head? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Mm. So like I was still like I went through like the half marathon in like one I want to say like 128 50 and I was literally as I went through the half marathon I was literally I was stopped and I was walking because like I had a stomach cramp So I literally looked at my watch and I saw it was like half marathon and I was like stomach cramping. I was like, okay I was like, all right. I was like right. I was like if I really get my shit together Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, 128, nice. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: and I run like 130 or even 131 on the second half marathon, I could still break three hours and I was like, and actually where I came off the bike, it would still put me probably, you know, just inside the top 10, payday, et cetera. So I definitely started the next, you know, I started going into lap three because it's four 10K loops. So I started going into lap three with, yeah, good intentions of trying to like get, you know, Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: even run 415s, you know? Just trying to get the body going again. And again, I lasted 3 or 4k, and then I'd cramp and I'd walk for 30, 45 seconds, trying to get going again. And then I kind of got to 26, 27k, and I could see that Jamie Riddle had also... Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Completely like so he I think he just blew in terms of just energy like energy ⁓ But he'd blown I could see him coming back to me So at that point like my pace was starting to slow and also because of the stomach issues it I probably gone 45 to 60 minutes without taking any like nutrition on or even water because like my stomach was like I was like You know when you see like a stations like you're like, I don't want to take anything like it's not gonna work ⁓ Harry: Yeah. YAY Just felt so bad. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: So my, I guess my energy was then starting to dip. So I passed Jamie and tried to like give him some encouragement. I basically was looking for someone to like help me. So I was like, come on mate, let's run together. And he's like, he was walking, he's like, he's like, can't run. I was like, oh, fair enough. So, but at least it was like. Harry: Yeah. He was like, fuck off, leave me alone. Was he... so what was... did you ever like did you manage to have a little chat with him or was he just was he so like cooked and so out of it he couldn't even chat to you? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, he was cooked. He was really struggling. was in the... But he also... I've never seen... I know from experience, and I think the first year we did Swansea, when we were running together, I got a lot of support being at a hometown race. ⁓ But this was next level. The South Africans were so behind Jamie, it was unreal. Even when he was walking... Harry: Yeah. Hmm. Really? They love it, don't they? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: People were just coming up to him, just tapping him on the back and going, come on bro, you can do this. And they were properly egging him on to just like, yeah, Laka, let's go. So I was crumbling. And then not long after that, so was probably, what, we're like 28K in. And that's when I realized that I'd gone past the point of no return in terms of like, the three hour marathon was out the window. Harry: Like a brew, like a brew. Mmm. Yeah. It's gone. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I was well and truly outside the top 10, so I out of the money. My race was pretty much down the shitter. And so I kind of then was having a bit of a pity party. I walked for a bit. Some of the South African supporters are incredible because I was walking for a second and these boys were like, come on, you can do this, get running, let's go running. I started jogging. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: probably like 5 minutes per K, pace, 5.30 per K even. And I started jogging and like 30 South African men just start erupting going RAAAAHHHH! Yeah, and I was like wow! I was like, I better keep jogging for a bit! Harry: Yeah. Just running with you. Yeah. Yeah, god damn. ⁓ All you want to do is walk and they just hype you up so much. ⁓ Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I know, I know. But yeah, was definitely having a pity party from like, yeah, 28k to like the end of that third lap, so sort of like 30, 31k. I was shuffling, shuffling and then also like hadn't fueled, energy was so low and at that point then my legs just started giving up as well, like my quads just started to like not function and like, don't know, when the body goes, the body goes really weird. I pulled over by Harry: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Rebecca and Dan, so Rebecca Anderbury, she DNF'd on the first lap of the bike, because she was having a terrible day, I think slightly unwell. ⁓ So I pulled over by them and I literally stepped outside of the fencing, because they were like right in middle of town where there was fencing. So I literally opened the fencing, like stepped off the course and just like leaned on the fence for like two minutes. I was like, yeah, I'm done. I stopped the Garmin. I'm like, yeah, like fuck this, I'm done. Harry: ⁓ Yeah. Okay. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Um, yeah, you know, as you do, like for some reason, I didn't feel that sad, but just like started like bawling my eyes out for no reason. just, just knackered. Um, and then, uh, he was slightly further down. Um, so yeah, I kind of had this, was, it probably all happened within the space of two minutes. Like, I was like, fuck this, like I'm done. Like I don't need to prove I can finish an Iron Man. I've finished enough of these ones, you know, like, like. Harry: Yeah. Did you see, was your dad with them as well? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I was trying to race for like, I'm trying to race for money, I'm trying to race for Kona slots and I'm like, I'm not doing that today now so... And then Rebecca just goes, ⁓ you've done three quarters of a marathon though, are you sure you don't just wanna finish it? And I was like, Alright then. Because then I was like... And also like, I had patches a couple of years back where I was really struggling. Harry: It's like ⁓ fuck off Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I with the mental side of it as well. I was like, I kinda had that in the back of my head which is like, DNFing is the easy way out. And like, if I DNF now, yeah, if I DNF now, that kind of like, the rest of the season, and I don't want that to be a theme. ⁓ I wanna kind of finish things I start, unless like, know, something very severe happens or whatever. Yeah. Harry: Yeah. Yeah it is, yeah. Hmm. Unless you're absolutely fucked. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: So I started, I got back on course and then I saw my dad like probably, yeah, a few hundred meters later. But just as I was getting close to him, Penny Slater came around and she was a lap behind me. So she was just about to start a third lap and I was just about to start my last lap. And she had just hit the Port-A-Louse as well. She also was not in a good way. But she was like, Harry: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ no... ⁓ no... Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Let's run together, like let's jog together. And she's like, we'll jog, we'll try and jog as much as we can between the aid stations and then we'll like, we'll have a good walk break in the aid stations. ⁓ So yeah, yeah. So we did that. ⁓ And she was basically saying like, we were basically like, you know, as you do, like, what, are we doing this? Like this, like Iron Man's so hard, like, and we're basically just like, you know, trading war stories of what had happened that day. Harry: Yeah. Walk the aid stations, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ And it was like, it was really nice because I think like I Like I wasn't like I was in survival mode But I wasn't having to like survive and just be in my own head because I think that can be quite difficult Whereas like I'll survive like I was in survival mode, but I was like sharing it with someone else ⁓ So I guess like I guess the comrade camaraderie of like having someone there and also she was like saying to me like you know Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: if I can get her to the end of her third lap, so if I can get to the finish and she can get to the of the third lap, she'll see the rest of the race through. And then also in my head I'm like, well that makes my, she's got 20k left and I've got 10k left. I was like, that makes my 10k look so easy. Yeah. Harry: Yeah. I was gonna say I'd... I'd much rather be you with one lap left than her with two. Because if I was her, as soon as you go down to the finish I'd be like, ⁓ fuck this. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah I know, I know. But yeah, so yeah, massive shout out to Penny for helping me because yeah, I think I, you know, once I'd had that little cry and started running that third, like the last loop, I know I'm mentally strong enough to have seen it through. I think I would have, if without Penny, potentially been out there for another 10, 15 minutes, because I just would probably would have been even slower. So yeah. Harry: You Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But hey, I think, ⁓ Harry: How was, how was like sensation straight after the race? You're obviously disappointed. You didn't get, yeah, like the Kona slot in the prize money, but you did. mean, mate, I'm very impressed with you stepping back on the course and getting it done because I actually, I don't think I would have done like genuinely, if I'm being completely honest with you, if I, if I stepped off the course, I probably, and if, if Rebecca was there and she said, Harry, you've done three quarters of Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah Harry: Marathon do you want to do the rest? I'd probably look at her and tell her to fuck off So like I think fair play mate. I'm like, yeah I'm Proud of you for finishing it. But like how's how was sensations as you cross the line? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: You ⁓ I think, I think... I think because I'd had that bit of emotional outburst going into that last lap, kind of like, I don't know, in a really weird sense, of like had let out that level of frustration that the race had gone to shit. I think if I'd just soldiered through it and I hadn't had that little moment, I think I probably would have probably felt super emotional at the finish. But I think because I had that and I was like, right, I'm just gonna go get that medal. Harry: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I'm gonna tick that box. ⁓ I got to the finish and like, I wouldn't say I was like sad. It was just like, it's just immense like disappointment, isn't it? Cause you know, you put a lot into it and you know, we always hope that it's gonna kind of be your day or like things are gonna go your way. ⁓ And I think even more frustrating when it was like, especially on that last hour on the bike, I'm like, ⁓ things are going really well today. Which is like, it's yeah, very bittersweet because Harry: Mmm. Yeah. Mmm. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: There's so many like highlights but also like so many lowlights as well now. ⁓ Harry: Yeah, it's a horrible place to be in when you're like, you feel great and then you feel so shit quickly after that. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, and it's so like, it's so emotionally driven as well. Like I'll share, we were staying with like Rebecca and like I felt really bad for her, like having to step off the course 60k into the bike. So like, although I felt like, you know, in my head and in my weird little bubble that I'm a bit of a failure, it was also like, she also had not finished. So it's not like, I didn't feel like. Harry: Hmm. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Not like, not like I'm the only failure, or like we both failed, but like a little bit like, ⁓ shit, no Ironman's really hard, like Penny had a bad day, you know, Rebecca had a bad day, I had a bad day, and then also like on the flip side of it, sorry, was out, obviously Olly Turner didn't have a good day either, but then like the flip side of it is that we went for like food with ⁓ Skipper after the race, and I'm pretty sure that's the first podium Skipper's had, or like first Ironman podium Skipper's had in like Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and had a great day. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: 3 or 4 years and he's had some really bad times over last few years so I was also really kind of delighted for him as well because I think he really needed that as well. So it's a weird one. Yeah. I was super happy for him. He would look... Yeah. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seeing that was actually really cool. like really nice to see his name up there on the podium was really, really nice. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And like, just it's weird, he looked like the skipper of old, if that makes sense, on the run, like he looked so good on the run. ⁓ So I think a lot goes into an Ironman and I think like, yes, it's very emotionally driven in the moment and it's, I'd be lying to say if I haven't come away from the weekend like definitely with like, you know, quite a lot of disappointment. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But also like, you know, I definitely, I definitely am trying to look at positives and I think, I think I am like in potentially some of the best Ironman fitness I've ever been in terms of like conditioning and, and also like how I executed that, you know, the aspect of the race that I did well, I think I did really well. And I know that like, I could probably go around in circles for, you know, days, weeks, months, trying to work out why my stomach Harry: Mm-hmm. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I don't it was something bad in the water. I don't know if I ate something bad the day before. You just don't know. Harry: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It also seems to be quite a common theme in South Africa. I remember last year, Leon and plenty of other athletes having stomach issues as well. so I don't know if it's something in the water or if it's... mean, most people prepare their own food, don't they? But if you're going out to eat or something and they, I don't know, they use... Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ Yeah. Harry: tap water or whatever for whatever it is like you never know like there could be a something contaminating here there and everywhere but you just don't you don't know what it is Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Hmm. Yeah, and I think I probably like, I'm going to try and stay clear of like that, like over analyzing the situation. ⁓ because as you said, I think there's so many different factors to like what could have gone wrong. I think I did, I did feel like probably the most aggressively I've ever fueled, ⁓ on the bike. but then obviously chatting to my coach and like knowing kind of how Harry: Yeah. Okay. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I feel like if you overdo fueling you normally have like almost like a sugar low at some point and I kind of never got that so I don't think it was I think on terms of like the energy and also how I felt on that last hour of the bike I don't think I overdid it I was like I probably have to do the maths but I probably was somewhere in the region of like 130 135 grams an hour on the bike so like Harry: Yeah. Okay. Mm. Okay, yeah. Pretty high, but not like outrageous. Yeah, you're not doing a cam-worth, you know? Like... Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Decent amount but like also not like I'm not trying to shove like 200 grams are down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah No So yeah, I guess I'm in the position now where I need to Yeah, chat a bit more with my coach Work out What's next because I think like the only I guess the only thing that I've really kind of got concrete in my head is Ironman was obviously 70.3 Swansea as well is gonna be Harry: Hmm Andrew Horsfall-Turner: you know, it's definitely gonna be on the calendar. But I think I don't know if I'm gonna kinda pivot and I don't know if I'm gonna do another Iron Man before Wales or if I'm gonna, you know, just do some 70.3s. Yeah, I don't even know if it's to necessarily get the Kona slot. think it's, I think for me, I feel like I'm like 85 % of the way there. Harry: Yep. Sure. to try and get a Kona slot. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: And I just don't think I've had like that. I don't think I've completed the Ironman in the last few years to the point where I'm like, you know, even if I was like 90, 95%, you know, like say I blew up in the last 10K or I just feel like ⁓ I'm close, but I'm not quite nailing it yet. And I feel like maybe I need another opportunity to kind of practice, but ⁓ we'll see, we'll see. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that sounds, I mean, Iron Man Wales is going to be epic anyway. So I need you on good form for that mate because me and you will be off the front. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah. I think that literally it's gonna be every British athlete under the Sun is gonna be racing that Harry: You Yeah, it will be. It will be. Everyone else is racing for third and onwards. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: But yes ⁓ enough about me anyway, but How is how was the because I think ⁓ Mate you gotta be you gotta be confident in your abilities. That's what they that's what they say isn't it? ⁓ But but yeah, let me Harry: That's the cockiest thing I've ever said. ⁓ Yeah, something like that, I don't know. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Let's just quickly hear about, you I've got to shoot off in like five, 10 minutes, but let's quickly hear about you were finishing off your training camp with T3 last episode and then obviously you've traveled back. How far out are we from first race of the year? How are you feeling, et cetera, et cetera. Harry: Yeah, good question. the camp went really well actually. It was really nice to see so many of the athletes just absolutely ripping it. We did have quite a funny moment on, well, it was quite scary but then funny afterwards. On our last big ride, we did like 160k ride. For anyone who knows the island, we went out on the MA10 road down to Andrax, which is lovely. We didn't quite get to Andrax. We cut short. before that and headed back along the flats. And at like the turnaround point, one of the lads looked horrific, like white as a sheet. He like looked horrible. He said he was having chest pains. I was like, ⁓ my God, this guy's, it looked like he was having a panic attack or whatever. So, so me and Crudge, we took him to the pharmacy while everyone else cracked on and she was like taken to hospital right now. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ no. Yeah. Harry: So we rode to hospital and yeah, we just walk in in our bib shorts and ⁓ he ends up having to get like an ECG and some other bits. And luckily he's absolutely fine. He was just, I think he was just having a panic attack or something. Like just felt horrific. then me and Crudge, we decided to try and catch up the rest of the group. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ god. ⁓ fuck yeah. Harry: So we got him to sit on our wheel and we just rode at like 300 watts for the next couple of hours. And then we didn't quite catch up. So then we just stopped at the petrol station at the top of York and had a couple of beers and ice cream. So that ⁓ was an eventful last day. ⁓ And then I got home on the Saturday evening, felt good on the Sunday, just did a steady long run. ⁓ Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Hahaha Harry: and then I must have eaten something bad on Sunday evening because I then ended up getting food poisoning. Mate, it was horrific. I was up all night throwing up on Sunday. So then Monday was a complete write off. Tuesday, I managed a chilled ride, but that's it. Today, I have done my swim. I'll do my bike. I'll try and run, but my stomach's still like, Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Mm. ⁓ no. Fuck. Yeah. Harry: not sure on things so yeah that's not that's not fantastic yeah yeah yeah you know that all too well yeah so so yeah that's that's not so good so i do have although i did email i emailed belinda and i've got entries for saloo and challenge champs so those are those are in the books but Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the feeling. You Nice. Okay. Harry: I do have to be honest, Rob, so my coach for anyone listening, I don't think he wants me to do Saloo, but it might be a case of ask for forgiveness not permission. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ no. Harry: ⁓ I mean after this bout of food poisoning it's probably not the best idea because my run volume this week will be a bit low as well. ⁓ Andrew Horsfall-Turner: It's probably like, Harry, you need to some bloody training. Harry: Yeah, Harry, you need to actually do some, yeah, do some proper weeks of training. Because last week with the T3 lot, it was really good, but it was only like 22 hours of training. So it wasn't that big at all, to be honest. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: You you also probably you'll probably cater for like the majority so you don't like necessary hit exactly what you need kind of thing Harry: Yeah, exactly. Like it was probably only at 950 TSS weeks. It wasn't big at all. So this week I was like, oh, I really want to step on the pedal a little bit. And obviously now having like three days of shit training because of food poisoning. So maybe I'll try and squeeze 32 hours of training in four days. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah. Hahaha Nightmare, nightmare. that is, please don't do that mate, please don't do it. It's not gonna work. ⁓ Harry: No, I guess... It's not, it's not gonna work. I did question it this morning. I was like, yeah, I can do that. I was like, actually that's, that's retarded. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: You basically just do just do like Just do like three back-to-back Ironman days, you know 3.8k swim go out for 180k Talk about specificity Harry: Yeah, yeah, it's easy. So that's what I'm living with, yeah. So it's all fun and games in my house. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ nice. But yeah, hopefully, I guess hopefully you're going in three weeks time then if if all's being well, I guess. Harry: If all's well, then three weeks time race day. I'd quite like to do Challenge Slough because I just know there'll be something that will happen. First race of the season, it's always gonna be a bit meh. I'm always gonna make some little stupid mistakes. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Nice. You kinda wanna, yeah, you wanna have your... You wanna have your fuck up moment, don't you? Yeah. Get it done. Get it done early and then you can like, kinda relax into the more important races. Harry: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly that. I think I'd like to do that before because I don't really fancy Challenge Champs being my first race because I'd quite like to do well there and I know that there's potentially, if that's my first race, there's probably a few things I'll fuck up somehow. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Yeah, well it's just, it's inevitable isn't it? Literally it's inevitable. ⁓ mate, mate. Right. Anyway everybody, I've- Harry: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's what, yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to, but... Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I'm gonna have to end this quite abruptly because I'm off to go get a haircut because my sister's getting married in a couple of days so I better... I know. Anyone who is gonna see the reel or this picture, this is not too bad but it definitely needs a little trim. Harry: God. Yeah, nice! I mean, I was gonna say actually, it's not terrible. Did you not have it cut before roast day? Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I had it cut like three or four weeks ago but I was like I probably need to get a haircut like just before the wedding. Yeah. You know, sister's wedding you can't be too scruffy. Harry: Okay. Yeah, that's fair enough. Get the mullet chopped in, mate. It's a good look. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: I don't know, feel like father of two, I think I'm past my mullet days. Harry: That's a good point actually. Yeah, you've maybe you've missed out on that. You need to be a bit more responsible. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ Right mate, let's ⁓ we'll probably get another one. We're gonna get this one out probably tonight ⁓ But yeah, we'll try and get another one in maybe back end of the week and try and get back into our regular Monday Viewing audio listening, whatever people want to call it ⁓ But yeah, anyway mate Harry: Yeah. Yeah, let's do it. And we'll get some sort of guest on. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: ⁓ have have you got unplanned have you? ⁓ Harry: No, I have no idea. I just made that up. Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Oh brilliant. Right, anyway, see you next time guys. Catch you later. Harry: I'm just teasing you. Alright mate, bye bye bye.