Swim | Bike | Run … and hydrating.

Don’t tell anyone… But I’ve starting biking. I have a super sweet bike, and in our super tiny cramped apartment, we have no room for it except leaning up against my bed. Our room looks great.
So after having it leaning against my bed for 3 months, my school/work load kind of let up, and I introduced her to the world! Lately I’ve been biking the 3 miles to the beach, running about 5 miles on the sand, and jumping in the ocean for a swim for about 20 minutes. After I bike back, this whole exertion has taken about 2 hours!

People tease me that I should do a triathlon. Nope. I’d rather keep all of my miles in the single digits when doing all three :) (maybe I could be convinced to do a mini-mini-mini triathlon? We’ll see!)

Basically, being near the water is what I’ve been doing in order to ‘keep cool’ while working out this summer. Another important aspect of healthy summer working out is keeping hydrated. I know, everyone keeps talking about our water intake, but what’s some tips on making sure you have enough?

In this heat, it’s important to keep the hydration up… water is vital to our athletic performance and health. Before a long run, a race, or a training workout, drink plenty of fluids. The day before an event, drink extra water and monitor the color of your urine. The goal is pale yellow, not clear.

The morning of the event, drink 2 cups (8 oz.) of fluid two hours beforehand. This gives your kidneys enough time to process the liquids, giving you sufficient time to empty your bladder before the start of your event.

These tips should help out in keeping you hydrated in this extra-hot summer, and will definitely help with post-race throwing up and other problems.

Source: How to Hydrate Before, During, and After a Workout

Weekend on the Beach

What a gorgeous weekend! I finally submitted my final paper for my Capstone class, and it was only 35 pages…. but my professor accepted it and gave me a wonderful grade! What a relief! I was spending about 4-5 hours every night studying and writing after working an 8 hour day, 40 hours a week. Pretty often I would fall asleep with my mac on my lap, halfway through a sentence. I was the BORING friend “I’m sorry, I have to work on school and can’t hang out” *whiny voice*.
After that paper was submitted, I was finally free to enjoy my weekend… so I decided to make it epic! I rode my bike down to the beach, and I went running on Saturday with my wonderful group of running girls. On the beach. On the sand. Four miles later my feet were raw and today my calves HURT. In fact, I woke up at 4am this morning and foam rolled them so I’d be able to run this morning (Monday). But it was all worth it because as we were cooling down in the ocean, swimming around… a couple dolphins swam within about 10 feet of us! It was beautiful and we were ecstatic (and started frantically swimming towards them)!!

This was definitely a break from not being able to run for more than 2 miles all last week, since it’s just too hot and humid. Running off the ocean, partly in the water was SO fun :)

Later that morning a group of girls from church had a bible study and hung out at the beach afterwards… and we went ocean kayaking for a little while! (my arms were pretty sore, so I didn’t last long). But all of us had the best time hanging out, getting a tan (aka burn, despite my trusty SPF 30 sunblock!). My friend has a pretty much private beach, so it was great to score some not-so-crowded sand.

Our girls group is going through the book “One Thousand Gifts“, and it’s been so motivating to find gifts going through the everyday motions. From mundane tasks like cleaning to frustrating things like getting stuck in traffic, Ann Voskamp is truly motivating me to see the joy in the little things!