Andrew Horsfall-Turner: First out the water

Andrew Horsfall-Turner took up triathlon in 2017 after spending his childhood, teenage years and early 20s as a top swimmer. He did Ironman Wales in 2019 as an age-grouper and won a Kona slot in the 25-29 age group. The plan was to go to Hawaii as an age group athlete, but then Covid hit. So he took the decision to turn professional, rather than waiting to go to Kona as an age grouper. He returned to Ironman Wales in 2022 as a professional and finished in a brilliant 5th place. He's the Welsh record holder over the full distance and hopes to build on this and return to Kona as a professional.

You'll hear:

07:00 Andrew talks about doing his first triathlon in 2018 and his background in swimming. "I turned the pedals over and that was how a bike worked. I called myself a novice and it's been a really steep learning curve." "I loved swimming. I was that strange kid who loved it. It just became part of life. I identified myself as a swimmer first and then everything else second." "But between 21 and 23 I was probably training too hard and I was getting frustrated but then my coaches suggested I tried swimming coaching and that was the beginning of the end in terms of my swimming."

12:30 How Andrew came across Ironman World Champs in Kona and how it all led him to triathlon. "Straight away I wanted to go to Kona."

14:00 We talk about the Olympics and how it was one of Andrew's aims to go there and compete but how he pushed himself too hard and dug himself into a bit of a whole. "Being so young and hungry for success was probably at my own detriment."

17:00 Andrew talks about stepping into a coaching role and how it changed his mindset and why he now is working with a coach. "I was so blinded by wanting to be the hardest worker in the pool, but I should have calmed myself down rather than working too hard."

19:30 We talk about the process of finding a coach and what's important to take into account.

21:30 How he's started working with David Tibury-Davis, and the confidene that has given him. "It's the reassurance that what I think I am doing is what I am doing. If you go into a race doubting if it's good enough, then you probably won't do as well as you could. He's helped me develop that belief."

24:30 Why Andrew feels like it's been a 22 year work in progress, rather than a 5 year progress since his first triathlon.

25:30 We talk about going from swimming into running and what the process has been like for Andrew. "I feel like I'm in running infancy and it's a really cool project as I think there's so much more to come.

31:00 We chat through how Andrew developed his cycling after first getting into triathlon.

36:00 The difference between doing Ironman Wales as an age group athlete (2019) and doing it as a professional (2022.)

40:00 Andrew shares his thoughts on how to improve swimming as a triathlete. "it's a gradual process." He suggests if you don't live near the sea, prioritise going to the beach, or pick a race that is lake-based.

44:00 We talk about the Neptune Steps, 420m of swimming with 100m of elevation. It's bonkers.' They decided to do it in February in Scotland.' I did it three years in a row and finished runner up each time.'

47:00 How Andrew combines his swimming coaching with his training.

Find out more about this week's guests

Andrew Horsfall-Turner Instagram

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