Importance of SLEEP & all the food

Hi Friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was two beautiful, sunny, cloudless days here and I did.not.want.it.to.end. On Sunday, we went into town to do some sightseeing and visit a few of the shops. The Steamboat Marathon was still going on and I felt both sad (this was the first year that I haven't done it since I moved to town) and excited (the energy was contagious and got me pretty pumped for my race next weekend)! It definitely is a small-town race (I did the marathon one year and half-marathon the next two years) and gets to be pretty hot with not a lot of shade along the course, but the scenery is fantastic. HIGHLY recommend if you're looking for an early-June race next year! 

We visited a few of the local springs in town (the one above is Steamboat Spring)- we have a total of 7 natural hot springs in the center of town (only one you can actually go soak in). Unfortunately, the riverfest that we planned on going to wasn't happening, but we made the best of it and walked the town then headed to lunch before relaxing back home! One of Alexs' close friends also had his parent visiting (him & his friend grew up together) from Maine, so we took them all out to eat at the Ore House--> a MUST visit if you are ever remotely close to Steamboat. They have a sunset happy hour menu (5-6pm) and all entrees are typically ~$2 off regular price. I had the green chile chicken and off-course filled up on their all you can eat salad bar and dinner rolls (they have a cinnamon roll flavored one and it's amazing). 

On our drive home, Alex's dad had us stop to get a picture of the pelicans that we have at the lake by our home. They're always there every morning and the gray swan (alittle to the right of the pelican group) is also in this photo! 

Who knew that there were pelicans in Colorado?! This ended our weekend and it was so great. 

I bought some rustic sourdough bread this week and had to have some for my breakfast this morning! Half had a smashed avocado, red pepper flakes, and a egg and the other half had butter & raspberry jam with a side of oj :) Is it just me or does anyone else get even more hungry when they're tapering?? I think it's because our metabolism is still really high from all the miles we've put it through and is trying to play catch-up. Definitely not complaining and I'm trying to eat as much healthy light food that I can!

Met Alex & his dad for one final meal together before he left and of course we had to go to CREEKSIDE! I was torn between breakfast or lunch (they serve both all-day), but wanted to try something new so I got the falafel salad and it was so amazing! After about two hours, I was hungry again so had some fresh watermelon that we got this weekend.

Watermelon- definitely one of my favorite summertime treats. I also managed to squeeze in a short run before lunch (on my lunch break from work) and a few strength moves (did some dips on the assisted pull-up machine and calf raises on the side of a stair). I don't like to completely cut-out strength training the week of my marathon, but do stay away from any leg exercises and focus on just a few core/upper-body exercises to keep myself feeling fresh and strong, but not over-worked. I'll do one more day of a few strength training moves on Wednesday or Thursday, then that will be all before race day on Sunday! I've already started to pack a few things for my race and create a list. Tonight I'll work on  my playlist and packing some food/ more clothes. The more I plan ahead and pre-pack, I've found the less-likely I am to either 1. forget something or 2. stress about the race. I will probably finalize my race-day plan on Wednesday, so I can start visualizing it and feeling confident leading up to the race. We will leave Saturday late-morning for Denver (about 3 hour drive) to allow enough time to go to the expo, do a short shake-out run, drive along a portion of the course, check-in to our hotel, and get some dinner!

Anyone race this weekend? How'd you do?

Any big races scheduled this Summer?

What are some necessary things you do the week of a race?