Tower of Terror Training

Can you believe it's June already!? When did that happen?! I am excited that it's finally starting to feel like summer here in New Jersey. Thanks warm weather for finally deciding to show up!

Now that June's here it also means that training for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler starts today. I have to admit that I haven't really done much running since the Nike Women's Half Marathon. During training and the half I developed a HUGE blister on my left foot from my orthotics. So I had to send my orthotics out to be adjusted which gave my blister some time to heal and not look so scary. My orthotics came back at the end of last week, just in time to start up this next round of training-yay!

My goal for this training cycle is to complete the whole thing! In my 2 prior training cycles I haven't stuck to the schedule as well as I should have for various reasons. I know I'm capable of running a better race but I just need to stick to the plan! Since I have been running for more than a year but not so consistently I've decided to follow Jeff Galloway's finish in the upright position plan. Originally I was going to select the time improvement plan, but right now I need to focus on completing a training schedule and feeling strong at the end of a race. My past 2 races I've always lost steam towards the end and want to avoid that this time around. 

The other areas I want to focus on are weight lifting and nutrition. I'd like to work in Body Pump classes as cross training twice a week. I also really need to start eating better to keep my body fueled properly. I'm starting off slowly by tracking meals into MyFitnessPal again but would like to slowly transition over to clean eating. I've been browsing blogs for recipes and meal plans to get some ideas. If anyone has any resources that helped them transition to clean eating, please, let me know! 

QOTD: Are you starting training for Tower of Terror or another fall race? 

Don't forget DVC and Passholder signups for the Star Wars Half-Marathon weekend are tomorrow at noon!

Nike Women's Half Marathon DC - Race Review

Ready for Race Day!

My alarm went off at 5am and I woke up feeling a little nervous. I couldn't believe race day was already here. I ate my pre-race breakfast of a bagel and peanut butter and kept hydrated with water and gatorade. I had laid out "flat Lauren" the night before just to be sure I had everything and wouldn't have to think about it that morning. Right around 6am Bryan and I made our way out of the hotel towards the starting line. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt which was only a few blocks away, a quick 5-10 minute walk. 

One of the 3 gear check areas

I decided not to check a bag and would just have Bryan bring flip flops for me to change into after. If you did have a bag to check the areas were divided into 3 separate locations depending on bib number. Since we had some time to kill we just looked around to see where everything was located and to figure out a good spot to meet up after. Soon enough they were asking everyone to get into their corrals to get ready. Both Shalane Flanagan and Joan Benoit Samuelson were there to kick off the race but unfortunately I couldn't really see or hear them from where I was. Right at 7am the race started with the first wave. There were 3 waves total which started about 5 minutes apart each. I began in the 3rd wave just about 15 minutes after the race start.

The view form my corral

They were AWESOME

We started out heading towards The Capitol and already there was tons of on course support. We passed this bad ass (there's no other way to describe them) all women drum line. They were AMAZING and really got you pumped up. Right after that I passed a spectator with a "may the course be with you sign" dressed up as Princess Lea. The FULL get up people, side buns and all. Bravo Princess, I applaud and thank you for your dedication.

This video doesn't even do justice to how
cool this section was

Around mile 2 we went into "the tunnel" that I've heard about. All I can say is WOW, this was my absolute favorite spot on the course. You go in and immediately you can feel the drums reverberating off the walls and completely engulfing you. It put a HUGE smile on my face and I decided I was going to just enjoy this race. I knew I was under trained so I was just going to enjoy all that the course had to offer me at whatever pace that may be. The "We Run" sign was also here, glowing for photo ops.

The We Run sign made its way into the tunnel 

Just past mile 2 I spotted some port-a-potties that didn't have a completely ridiculous line and jumped in. I waited about 5 minutes but I'm glad I went when I did because the lines were long at pretty much every stop throughout the whole race. It's a women's focused race, we've been hydrating like nobody's business, and we always have to pee all the time, of course bathrooms were in high demand. One thing that I did love that I think all races should incorporate was Nike had flags at each bathroom stop stating how many miles until the next stop- GENIUS! 

Photo: Nike

I quickly got back on the course, kept going past The National Mall, then out and back towards the Arlington Cemetery. I had started my intervals right after my bathroom stop and was feeling pretty good. I was tailing these 2 girls dressed as Aubrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's and loved seeing their outfits the whole time! How had I not thought of that? I love anything Audrey, oh well next time. Right up until Mile 6 the crowd support was phenomenal. There were people cheering everywhere and it kept spirits high. Mile5/6 is usually where I find my groove and was feeling confident at this point. 

I kept trucking on until, uh-oh, my calves were cramping WAY early. Like mile 7 1/2 early. I said some curse words to myself because I knew this was the part of the course where there wasn't as much spectator support. I text Bryan "I think I'm going to walk a lot more than I wanted to." I was really annoyed at first but then I reminded myself, this race is more about the experience than the race. I knew I didn't put the training in to PR and wasn't expecting to. It was an absolutely beautiful day so I was going to walk/run as much as I could and take in as much as possible. 

I would run until I cramped, then switched to walking until that hurt and started cramping, and just kept repeating the vicious cycle. There was this one woman on the course around mile 8 1/2 that was handing out Oreos. Guys, I don't really even like Oreos but I had never been SO HAPPY to eat one in my life. I yelled "thank you" to her and loved every bit of sugar and chocolate that was being soaked up into my body. 

So close!

At this point I just kept telling myself "make it to mile 10 then you only have a 5K left." Once I made it there I felt like the end was in sight. I tried to run/walk as fast as my legs would let me. Around mile 12 the crowd support picked up again and this was what I needed to help push me through. I knew I was getting close so I text Bryan to see which side of the road he would be on. I headed back through the tunnel again, the drumming was not as intense this time since so many racers had already passed through. 

Bookin' it to the chocolate milk & Tiffany's

Outside the tunnel I knew I wasn't that far away. There was a giant screen greeting us by name like at the Expotique with words of encouragement. I was going to wait to see my name but then decided to just push through and get done. I saw Bryan in the crowd, made my way over long enough to yell "my calves hate me!" get a kiss and run off. At this point I could see the finish line in front of me so I took every ounce of energy left, powered through the finish line and threw my hands up in the air with excitement. 

I was exhuasted but so happy to be done. Some sweet woman who finished next to me said "good job!" and put her hand up to give me a high five. Me, still not being completely coherent looked at her like she had five heads, realized she wasn't talking to someone else behind me, realized what a jerk she probably thought I was, and said thank you and high fived her back. Real smooth Lauren. If you high fived me at the finish line THANK YOU and congratulations on your race, sorry I was so spaced out! 

Victory!

My official finish time was 2:52:56, just 9 minutes behind my Wine & Dine time. For how early my calves started cramping, being sick withing the 2 weeks before the race, and how much more I should have trained, I was more than happy with that time. There are plenty of races for me to try and PR in the future, this was not one of them. 

Option 1

Option 2

After the finish line there was a good sized crowd that you unfortunately had to wait with. The first table you had to wait for was where they handed out water in reusable bottles that had the Nike Women's Half and the Whole Foods logo. I thought this was a nice touch and I'm sure helped with water bottle clean up after the race. The next table was food, which I was really disappointed in. We got some dried fruit, some nuts, a mini luna bar, and some other stuff I wasn't really interested in. Honestly, for a race of that size I think you should at least have bananas to offer your runners when they're done. I'm not sure if there was at one point but they ran out by the time I crossed. Either way, volunteers were scrambling to get everything into the bags to hand out to runners. Once we got our food and chocolate milk (YUM!) there was heat sheet distribution which was much needed at this point. 

Can you hear the choir of angels?!

Then, the moment we had all been waiting for-TIFFANY FINISHER NECKLACES! You could either go through a line where the guys just handed the box to you, or you could go to the line where the guys were holding the boxes on silver platters. Since I was feeling worn out and my calves did not want to stand in any more lines I chose the quicker option. 

Finisher area pre-race

There was also a finishers tent with mats and foam rollers-I completely missed this but probably would've taken advantage of it had I know. There was also another tent for finisher merchandise. The lines looked long to get it so I decided to skip it, I had spent enough money on merchandise for one weekend already! I finally located Bryan and my friend Colleen who had come to cheer me on. I switched into my heavenly gel flip flops to slowly stroll around to cool down. I was a happy girl and couldn't wait to celebrate my accomplishment with mimosas at brunch with my friends later!

Photo: Nike
Thanks for making me look so legit! Hopefully I'll be back next year!

Considering this is only Nike's 2nd year in DC, I think they listened to runners last year and made improvements for this year. Hopefully, this will only continue to happen as the race goes on. For a $175 race fee where you get a Tiffany's Necklace as your medal, I think this race is absolutely worth it and I would love to run it again in the future.

QOTD: Have you ever run a Nike Women's race? Would you ever consider running in DC or San Francisco?

Nike Women's Half Marathon DC - Pros & Cons

I'm still waiting for some race photos to come up for my full recaps. Plus it's Friday, who wants to read a huge long post on Friday? So today I will leave you with my Pros & Cons of the Nike Women's Half Marathon DC.

Lets start with what needs improvement.

Cons:

• Expotique Crowding: Fitting 15,000 runners plus their guests into a few tents in Georgetown for the expotique seems like a logistical nightmare. It was so crowded I could barely move to see what was going on.
• Port-a-Pottie Availability/Lines: Lets be honest, women have to go to the bathroom all the time as it is. Make that 15,000 women who have been hydrating for race day? Yikes. 
• On Course Crowding: A wave start was implemented this year but I felt the course didn't really thin out until mile 7. Even then I was still weaving through people.
• Preparedness at Water/Food Stations: At some of the later water stations I filled my own water cup because the volunteers couldn't keep up. After the race the volunteers were having trouble getting all the food bags ready to keep us moving as well.
• Availability of Merchandise: You could pre-purchase a lot of race merchandise online which I thought was great, but if you didn't order right away a lot of it sold out. Luckily most of it was available at the Nike Georgetown store. Things like finisher gear was only available at the finishers tent after the race where I head a lot of gear sold out early. There was also some online, but again, it sold out quickly. If you're a local, you could head back to the Nike store for finisher gear in the days after the race but unfortunately that isn't the case for everyone.

Now onto the good stuff!

Pros:

• A Race Specific App: This is where you can find everything from course info to your race pass to pick up your packet. Later it held your results & finishers photos. 
• Fast/Easy Packet Pick-Up: Scan my race pass from my phone, check all my info on the screen in front of me. Done. Easy.
• Perfect Weather: I know you can't control this one, but it really just made race weekend that much better. Temperatures were beautiful for walking around Georgetown on Saturday then cooled off just enough for the race Sunday. 
• Fast and Flat Course: There was minimal elevation change throughout the course.There weren't any spots that suck out as making me think "OMG I can't make it up this hill." 
• On Course Support/Entertainment: Except for the stretch on the Potomac Golf Course, there were spectators cheering you on everywhere! In addition to the spectators were awesome drum lines along the course to get you pumped up.
• Volunteers: All the volunteers were so helpful and friendly throughout the entire weekend. 
• Water/Fuel: On course fueling and food was fantastic. There was water or Nuun every 2 miles. Whole Foods handed out orange slices and chocolate on the course in addition to there being mini Luna bars and Cliff shot blocks.
• Marketing/Branding of Race Weekend: Nike knows what they're doing people. It was an event not a race. From personalized message boards with your name, to race merchandise I'll actually want to wear again.
• Free on Course Photos: Kudos to Nike on this one. All your photos are delivered directly to you We Run DC app and can be downloaded for FREE from there.
• Finishers Necklace: Come on, did you really think I was going to forget about the best part? The Tiffany's finishers necklace! It's beautiful and I never want to take it off. 

QOTD: Have you run a Nike race either in DC or San Francisco? What do you think is done well or needs work on?

Lauren

Nike Women's Half Marathon DC- #RunnersLove Meetup & Expotique

I can't believe race weekend has come and gone already! Last Friday night, Bryan and I made the drive from New Jersey down to Virginia. A few of my friends from college live in the area so we were able to stay with one (and her new dog!) Friday night. 

#RunnersLove

Saturday morning we drove into Georgetown around 10:00/10:30 for the #runnerslove meetup at Sprinkles. Just driving around you could see the masses of runners making their way to packet pickup and the Expotique. As we got to Sprinkles, there were even more amazing #runnerslove ladies taking over the cupcake shop. A huge THANK YOU to Kristy and Meg for organizing this get together. We all chatted for a bit, ate cupcakes and got to know each other. Since it was so beautiful out we moved outdoors to a cute garden down the block. After a while we all parted ways, I needed to go pick up my packet!

Nike Women's Half Marathon everywhere!

We didn't make it down to packet pick up without a pit stop at the Nike store. I had pre-ordered items online but there was still a water bottle that I had my eye on. I got into the store and to the right was a wall lit up with the course map and the TIFFANY NECKLACE that we'd be receiving the next day! Sidenote: I've been so obsessed with this pattern, I wanted to get my nails painted with in it. You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw it was going to be our medal!

I'm famous!

After snagging my water bottle, I headed outside to find my name on the We Run DC wall. Holy crowds batman. There's girls everywhere with their eyes fixated on the wall scanning for their name crossing up and down the sidewalk in front of it, guilty! It took me a few minutes, but there I was!

Everything moved quickly even though there were a good amount of
people in each area

Now that that was done, on to packet pickup! I was expecting a HUGE line to get my bib at noon on Saturday, but I was in and out withing 5 minutes, it was seamless. First, you'd go to the packet pickup tent, there you scanned your race pass from your We Run DC app and all your information appeared. Once you confirmed all the information was correct, you were given your bib, pace bracelet, and all other info, then directed to go to the next tent to pick up your shirt. Again, I walked right in, up to the counter, the girl checked my bib for my shirt size and I was off. 

Unfortunately for me, that's where the "busy but moving quickly" stopped. We passed the "We Run" sign on the way down to the expotique. The line to take a picture with the sign was 45 minutes long. I won't even wait that long for character pictures in Disney! I kept moving down to the expotique tent which was PACKED. I did love the personalized sign with your name when you walked in. Besides that there were so many people I could barely move, let alone see what was going on. If I wasn't visiting friends as well I might have stayed a little while longer and tried to check out the products. I decided I got what I needed and it was time to go catch up and relax with my college friends. 

Ready for race day!

Nike knows what they're doing when it comes to race weekends, but my biggest problem was SPACE. You have 15,000 runners plus whoever their traveling with and there are only a few tents and a store for expo/packet pick up. Georgetown can be a logistical nightmare before you add that many extra people in. I would've loved to have been able to actually move in the expotique and not feel like I was fighting crowds almost the entire time. In hind sight, I probably would have taken Friday off of work, come down early, and gone to the expotique Friday afternoon. I would imagine the crowds would've been much less then. Besides that I really can't complain. Nike is a marketing/branding genius and knows how to cater to the women running their races. 

QOTD: Have you ever experienced an overly crowded expo? How does it effect your race weekend?

Lauren 

I'm Still Here!

Sorry I've been MIA the past few days. I've been trying to get back into my routine after my weekend in DC for the Nike Women's Half Marathon! It was an amazing weekend with beyond beautiful weather, new friends, and old friends. I'll have recaps up later this week. Until then, I'll leave you with my awesome view from the start area. I hope everyone has a great week!

Good Morning, D.C.!

Lauren

QOTD: What do you do to help get back into your routine after coming back from a racecation?

Training Update-Nike Women's Half DC

Since my last post about my training (or lack-thereof) for the Nike DC Women's Half Marathon, I have to say I'm feeling much more confident about race day. I completed a 7-miler yesterday where I tried out some new things for race day. Some went well, others not so much. First, the bad of yesterday's run.

• I tried Cliff Shot Gel, I do NOT like Cliff Shot Gel. I'm a texture person when it comes to food so it kinda threw me off. The texture didn't throw me off as much as the taste. I couldn't decide if it was trying to be sweet or salty. I'll just stick to shot blocks in the future.

Source

• I didn't bring back up fuel so I was feeling slightly sluggish the last mile. Rookie mistake! I'll make sure to have more than enough fuel on future runs
• My orthotics starting rubbing the last 2 miles :(. I'll need to make sure I bandage up that area to help prevent rubbing and blisters on my next long runs.

And guess what, that's it for the bad! The good list (which is longer-woo hoo!) is as follows.

• I've been doing exercises for my shin splints and I can tell they've been working because NO SHIN SPLINTS during or after my run!
• I also tried those ribbon elastic hair ties. They stayed in my baby, fine hair like a charm. I didn't adjust my ponytail once. Ladies, you'll understand it's the little things.

Source



• I also listened to a new music app called FitRadio and I didn't hit next the entire run! That's big for me as I'll probably shuffle through half my iPod on a 30 min run. You can choose all different genres of music and it lists the BPM for each station.
• My splits were all within 20 seconds of each other throughout my entire run, yay for good pacing!

Overall, I still don't think I'm quite ready for race day, but I'm feeling much more confident. Only 3 more weeks until I'll be taking on DC!

Lauren 

QOTD: What are your "must haves" for long runs?

Training Update-Nike Women's Half DC

Time to come clean, I have been doing some serious slacking in training for my 2nd half. I know what factors have been affecting my training or lack thereof. I also know that I'm only hurting myself and no one else can run this race but me. GAHHH I know better but why do I keep doing this to myself?! Here's the culprits of why my performance has been so lack-luster.

1. Weather

When I moved from Florida back home to New Jersey this past April, I distinctly remember telling my boyfriend, Bryan (who was born in Florida and raised in Minnesota) "Winters in New Jersey are nowhere near as bad as Minnesota winters." Insert foot into mouth. Thank you universe for rewarding us with the worst winter New Jersey has seen in YEARS. When I started running last February, I could just hop outside in my shorts in the 70 + degree weather and take a loop around the neighborhood whenever I pleased. Now I have to bundle up, drive to the gym, fight through the after work crowd to secure a treadmill etc. I'm really missing the convenience factor the warm weather affords you of being able to run outside whenever you please. Considering the bulk of my training is during these frigid winter months I really need to dig extra deep for that motivation.

2.  Lack of Training Partner

Part of the reason I felt so prepared for Wine & Dine was because I had Kayla as a training buddy. There was always someone to talk and share the experience with. I was always researching and looking for any tips that would help us along our new endeavor. Part of this second half still doesn't feel like it's happening because I'm not constantly talking about it or obsessing over it with someone else. Reality check-It's happening whether I'm prepared or not!

3. I'm a HUGE procrastinator

Plain and simple. I have perfected the art of procrastinating. One of my interior design professors at school called interior designers "Professional Procrastinators," and I couldn't find it to be more true. I'm used to being able to pull an all nighter and come out with a decent product. Half marathon training is one place in my life where I know that pushing everything off to the last minutes will NOT help. It will probably just leave me injured and unhappy. 

When I signed up for this race I thought I'd be able to go out and crush my last half time. I had figured out all my problem areas the last round of training; this time I just needed to go out and put in the work. I haven't been putting in as much work as I should and I'm at the point now where I'm telling myself, "Enough! Put on your big girl panties and do the work!" 

From here on out I've written every workout on my calendar so I have to look at it every day. I can tell Bryan on any given day to make sure I go do my run and he is more than happy to remind me and give me the push I need. Since I don't have a training partner to hold me accountable, he is great at making sure I do what I've set out to do for the day. I can tell you this past week I've gotten in all my training runs and I already feel better. Why don't I do this all the time?! It's been the push I need to keep me going in the right direction. 

Lauren

QOTD: What do you do to keep your motivation up during training when you're just not feeling it?

Picking the Right Training Plan

The next big race on my horizon is the Nike Women's Half Marathon DC. I was so excited to be one of the luck ones chosen for the second installment of this race. As of this past Monday I am officially 3 months out from race day which means I need to get my butt back into a training schedule. After Wine and Dine I took it easy; first my orthotics had to be sent out to be refit (there goes 2 weeks) then Christmas, New Years, and my birthday all came in quick succession. Oops, maybe I haven't kept the post-half momentum going quite as strong as I would've hoped. Oh well, you live and learn.

Nike offers a training app exclusive to the DC half marathoners featuring that beautiful Tiffany blue. I'm already a Nike+ user so I was excited to see what their training plan held. Once, I had the chance to check it out I was honestly disappointed in their developed plans. You can choose from Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced. All 3 version have you running 5-6 days a week. Personally, I felt like that was too much running and not enough cross-training/rest days. 

                   
I had encountered a few injuries during Wine and Dine training and didn't want the same thing to happen again. For my first race my main concern was to cross that finish line in one piece and not feel too much like death. This time around I know I can finish all 13.1 miles, so I'd like to add in strength training and maybe some speed work. 

I looked into Hal Higdon's plans as well as the Runner's World Smart Coach. Hal Higdon's plans again were like the Nike's plan with too many days in a row of running.

Source

For the Runner's World plan I loved that you could customize the length of your plan. It really broke down what you should be doing during each training day, what your pace should be while running, etc.

Source

I've decided to give the Runner's World plan a shot. I liked that it's structure is similar to Galloway's but I can adjust the length & intensity to fit my needs. Looking back at the Galloway plans I feel like I'm somewhere in between a "beginner" and "time improvement" plan and this new plan appears to fall into that area. I'll keep everyone updated on how this new plan works for me!

Lauren

QOTD: What do you look for in a training plan?