Andy White is part of CSSM’s Athlete Sponsorship Program. Andy signed up for his first ironman in 2010 and has since completed 9 half ironman events and 3 ironman races.

I am currently training approximately 8 -10 times per week. I would like to train more as I’m sure most people would. I feel that any more than that is counterproductive for me as my ability to recover is diminished and my productivity in life and at work takes too much of a toll. It is not sustainable and also not fair to those who rely on me to be too exhausted to function.

I have been running as part of my triathlon training for 8 years. Prior to this, I have been running for as long as I can remember. I raced cross country in my younger school days and always loved to run. I wanted to take my running further after receiving a qualifying spot for the 2017 Ironman World Championships in Kona last year. Since then I have progressed my regular running and included more run specific races of which I am really enjoying.

I have had two significant broken ankles in the last 10 years that both required surgery, along with countless other soft tissue injuries. I have done lots of work to re-strengthen the ankles and have no trouble with them at present. Running as many would know is very taxing on the body so battling injuries makes it difficult to be consistent over a long period of time.

I find remedial massage is great at reducing the built-up tension that your body maintains from the constant muscle contractions. After so much contracting (post a hard week of training) the muscles become tightened and shorten so popping in to see Julien, the CSSM remedial massage specialist is just what is needed. Remedial massage can help relieve that tension and thus improve the quality of your recovery. This is why I really see the benefits.

“Ride for show and run for dough.” This is a saying applicable to triathlon that my coach told me one day. The real race doesn’t start until the run so don’t burn all your matches on the bike. Just get through it with the least amount of energy expenditure. Then run for the money. However, I do admit I do not always follow this advice to the tee!

Battling mental barriers comes with the nature of any sport and long-distance triathlon is no exception. The way I break it down when struggling mentally is to focus on the present – the here and now. What can I do right now to make it more manageable? On my longer sessions I would often ride or run from one place to another – from A to B. Thus knowing that every pedal stroke or every step I took was actually getting me closer to where I wanted to go. I found that ‘out and back’ training sessions were mentally the toughest. I also found enlisting social support by running to meet someone or running to and from work was a great way to get myself training.

My goal for the rest of 2018 is to run a sub 35min 10K. This may seem quite manageable for some. However, for an endurance specialist anything that involves speed is really challenging and involves lots of suffering. This is a goal I am working towards to improve my overall running, which will no doubt carry over into my endurance triathlon running down the line.