Making the Leap to IRONMAN®

Experienced Triathlete Decides to Go LONG

Meredith Kursmark is an experienced triathlete. She has finished 7 half iron distance races in the past and has qualified for USAT Age Group Nationals several times. However, she was ready for a new challenge.
 
In December of 2021, she signed up for IRONMAN Lake Placid. She knew she would need an experienced triathlon coach for such a big undertaking, so she began to search on IRONMAN U® for coaches to interview.

Meredith cruising to her finish line. All smiles!

Target: IRONMAN Lake Placid

​Her #1 goal was to finish IRONMAN® Lake Placid (which she did). She also wanted to hit her goal times in each discipline and feel confident in her training and race preparation while having fun during the process. Spoiler Alert: She did that too!
 
In fact, she TOTALLY crushed her goal swim goal. It was actually a significantly faster pace than any of her previous 70.3’s (half the distance for those keeping track at home, lol) and proceeded to crush her bike and follow it up with a solid run. Her race was well executed, and it showed in her results.

Q & A with Meredith
 
Below is a Q & A on Meredith’s triathlon journey and how she ultimately achieved her goal of finishing IRONMAN® Lake Placid.
 
We hope you find inspiring.
 

​Enter, Meredith:
 
 
How and Why did you get into triathlon?
 
I got into triathlon in med school when a friend asked a few of us if we wanted to do a Sprint triathlon later that summer. I was never good at sports and had just started running about a year before this. I had a hybrid bike I rode around the city. And I had never swam other than sometimes a few laps at the gym. So, the 4 of us trained for the next couple months and then did the race. I finished 348th of 368 but still had so much fun. Since it was so fun, we signed up for the NYC Triathlon the following summer.  I did significantly better and had even more fun. Since then, I've been hooked! 

​Why did you decide to hire a coach and more specifically RTA to help prepare you for your races?
 
I signed up for my first Ironman in Dec 2021 and knew that I would want a coach to prepare me for it since it was such a big undertaking. I had never done an IRONMAN® before and Lake Placid has a reputation of being a very challenging course. I wanted to be able to finish the race and have fun doing it. Ultimately, I decided I wanted someone with the expertise to help me reach my goals.
 
I looked for coaches who had experience specifically with IRONMAN® Lake Placid since I thought that would be helpful. I also liked the idea of a coach/club that offered a training camp because I thought it would be good to get experience on the course.
 
I spoke with 3 different coaches, all of whom had lots of Lake Placid experience and had training camps. RTA seemed like the best fit. 

RTA's triathlon training got me super prepared for a successful and fun first ever Ironman!" - Meredith

​You recently completed your first full IRONMAN®. What was that like?
 
It was awesome!
 
Most of it was fun, and some of it was rough and kind of miserable, but I had no doubts about my ability to finish, even when it did get tough.
 
The crowds were amazing and seeing my friends and family and teammates and their support crews along the course was incredible. Everyone was cheering so loud and so sincerely that it just made the whole day so fun and exciting. 

Coach E cheering on athletes at IRONMAN Lake Placid

It was so exciting seeing Coaches Elizabeth and Chris on course. And all of the support I got from the other RTA athletes and their families incredible. It was amazing and such a morale-booster."
- Meredith

Coach E offering encouragement on the IMLP Run Course

​What was the best part of the race for IRONMAN Lake Placid?
 
I can't decide! I think some was the joy I felt seeing my friends and family along the racecourse.
 
And the feeling of accomplishment when I was coming down the finisher chute. 

What was the worst/hardest part of the day and how did you overcome it?
 
The worst part was some GI issues on the run so I had to walk a couple times to manage them. But otherwise, physically I felt good enough that I knew I'd finish so that kept me going. Plus knowing I had gone ahead of schedule on the swim and bike so had some time in the bank and that I could still meet (and actually beat) my time goal really helped. 
 
 
What will you do differently next time (if anything)?
 
I will have to figure out long course nutrition a little better to prevent (or minimize) the GI issues. But other than that nothing I would change as all my training prepared me 100% for the race. 
​

​What was going through your head when you crossed the finished line?
 
I was just taking in the crowds in the finisher chute and then was excited to see my friends and family near the finish line. I didn't hear my name being called. I think it was because the crowds were so loud and I was so excited to be there, but not really sure what I was thinking otherwise. 
 
 
You just completed your first full IRONMAN... was this something you had planned when getting started with triathlon? What would you say to other women thinking about doing IRONMAN?
 
I definitely did not think I'd do an Ironman when I first started. The first several years I did mostly Olympic distance races (after starting with a Sprint) and even a 70.3 seemed insane to me at the time.
 
About 8 years after I started triathlons, a friend was signing up for 70.3 Muncie and asked me and another friend if we wanted to do it. Since it was a flat course and I had some friends doing it, I figured I would give it a try. My goal was to just finish before the time limit and I did, with a finish time of 7:14.
 
I knew I could do it faster so the next 5 years we kept going back and getting faster and faster each year. By then, I was very comfortable with the 70.3 distance and then started to think a little bit about doing a full Ironman. I decided it was a good time in my life to put the training in and make it happen so I researched all the IM races scheduled for July-Sept of 2022 and decided on Lake Placid. 
 
I would tell other women considering doing an Ironman that it is an amazing experience and I would definitely recommend it. But also that the training is very time-consuming and therefore you need to either have or be able to make the time and/or have supportive family/friends to help with things that you may not have time to do because training is taking so much time. 

There's nothing like the finish line at IRONMAN Lake Placid

Any general advice you'd give to other women in general about triathlon?
 
Go for it!
 
It is so fun and the great thing about it is that it is just you doing your best. You can compare yourself to others or try to make the podium, but a lot of triathletes are just trying to do their personal best or meet another individual goal.
 
You don't have to have played sports in high school or been a runner or a swimmer to still have fun and even be quite good at triathlon! ​