Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

Excuse the title, this song has been stuck in my head ever since I started thinking about this blog post. And I only hope to share the stuck-in-headedness with the rest of the world!

Hellooo summer.

That's what Philadelphia's looking like for the next couple of days. And from taking a gander at the map of the country, it seems that way for most areas in the States. I rode my bike to school today for an 8:40 class. It's only a twenty minute ride, but by the time I got there...oof. I was feeling a little lightheaded! So today I'm going to talk about hydration. If not for anybody else, then for me!

In general, drinking a few glasses of water today is not going to keep you functioning at 100%. Especially if you're planning on exercising even a little bit. Which I hope you are! Keep it inside during the peak hours of the day if you can!

(From Pinterest)

I found this wonderful, wonderful idea on Pinterest to help keep track of your water intake! If you're clueless about how much water you need, take your weight and then chop it in half. That's how many ounces of water you should drink! I know for certain that Tone It Up supports this ideal, but seen it popping up other places as well. Also, you should hydrate before you go to bed as well! You'll have less of a deficit that you have to make up in the morning and you might feel more ready to go when that alarm goes off. I know I can definitely tell the difference.

EAT! According to WebMD, 20% of our water intake over the course of a day comes from food. I know, I know. It's hot. You don't feel like eating. I don't blame you!! But how awesome would it be to take a bunch of fruits (bananas are 74% water!), blend them all together, and sip on a cool refreshing drink? Yeah. I thought that would sound pretty awesome. Who doesn't love watermelon?

Especially this one! (From pinterest)

So you're finally exercising, you're hydrated and ready to go. The humidity is not going to do you any favors. I used to be very against drinking while running because I thought it caused my stomach to hurt. But if you drink the right amount of water at the right intervals, it shouldn't be too bad! FOR ME, I like to take a couple sips every fifteen minutes or so. Again, this is FOR ME. You need to find what works best for you!

My anatomy professor said something during the spring semester that I think is especially important now! Thirst is a delayed signal that you are getting dehydrated. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Maybe not to an awful extent, but you're dehydrated nonetheless. You wouldn't not eat until you're stomach is clenching from hunger. So drink before you get thirsty!

Can I drink sport drinks, Amanda? Water is just as good as any sport drink if you aren't spending more than an hour outside (WebMD again!). After that, you're going to want to start putting different electrolytes back in ya. The Tone It Up girls SWEAR by coconut water, but that can get really expensive. It also turns out it isn't a miracle drink as people are trying to claim. So find what works best for you!

Abby Wambach seems to prefer Gatordade. ;)

When all else fails, look at your pee. I know. It's gross. I said it. But taking a peek can indicate whether you need to step up your hydration game! Let's just say, it should be on the paler side. If you want to know more about pee or what YOU know about hydration head over to this quiz on WebMD. Stay watery, my friends!!

Do you have any tips for hydration?

Summertime!

I wish I knew where I found this. I love it.

Yesterday marked the last day of my junior year of college. It is for real flying by. So I went in yesterday to take my last final and then had lunch with my biff and PEACED out of there.

And then, of course, was greeted with this message this morning:

I JUST finished and you're welcoming me back?!

Regardless of that one class, I think this summer is going to be one of the most wonderful summers around. Ever since highschool I can remember thinking "THIS SUMMER IS AWESOME!" But then each year it gets better and better. And I am SUPER pumped for this one.

And what better way to kick it off than to visit my favorite park.

Citizen's Bank. :)

YEAH PHILS!

Aw yeah. Check the skills.

Cheesin' it up.

They lost to the Mets. Which was a headache. But it was still a nice outing! And we're going back next Monday, so hopefully things look a little better by then. Oof.

Today I'm running some errands and I'm heading into work at four. I get to close tonight, so I'm sure you can see the enthusiasm on my face. Besides that, I am hardcore fighting the urge to workout. I'm giving my legs ONE MORE DAY of rest before I kick it back into gear. So I'm trying to chill. But it's really hard when the majority of your twitter feed is from FitFluential members.

I am STRUGGLING.

But I foam rolled and I feel one hundred percent better. Walking down the stairs at the stadium last night was so rough. It got to the point where I started side-shuffling down the stairs because it was a different motion than just walking. I thought it would make it better. And it did!

That, my friends, is some analytical thinking at it's finest. ;)

Are you as disappointed in the Phillies so far as I am? Rough start to the season.

Hanging in There

School is so close to being over. I had my last day of classes today and I couldn't be happier. I mean I guess I could. My professors could have cancelled all of my finals. BUT. Regardless of those tests, summer is coming. Granted, that means I get to start new classes, an internship, and work a lot more. But I think it's going to be better. :)

World Dance Day '12 at Northern Liberties. :)

So while it may look like I'm neglecting my blog ridiculously, I WILL be more dedicated to it in roughly one week. And hopefully I'll have a lot to blog about. I have some goals in the meantime!

• Choreograph a piece this summer.
• Get a library card instead of thinking about getting a library card.
• Try all sorts of workouts. And then actually blog about them.
• Eat (and cook!) better!
• Go on adventures!
• Become a FitFluential Ambassador? That would be cool. I've got a looooong way to go, I think!
• Keep dancing.
• Become a certified personal trainer. (Test is on 6/16!)
• Ride my bike more.
• Go to the beach.
• RUN!
• Have an amazing summer before my senior year! I'm so lucky to have two of them. Ayyy.

I'm really excited. I'm going to see the sunrise at Penn's Landing earrrrrly tomorrow morning because Temple is officially on study days. I've never actually seen a sunrise before. So I'm really excited. :)

Workout for the Day

I started my morning with the HIIT the Beach workout from the Beach Babe DVD. I quite liked it actually! It was short but I was definitely sweaty. That was my first time using the DVD, so I'll definitely tell you more about it as I discover it! I'll probably do a review too. Maybe.

Tonight is my last day of dance for the semester and we get to spend time with all of the new members this evening. We're going to have a stretch/strength session and then watch our DVD. It's going to be lovely. I love those dancers so much and I can't wait to be the captain of this crazy ship. :)

Who let these crazies take over?

Any exciting plans for the summer? :)

Junior Year?

WHERE DID YOU GO!? I feel like my life is speeding by so fast right now. I'm loving every second of it! Okay. Maybe not the few million seconds that I spend at Rita's, but that's okay. I try really hard anyway.

So with school winding down (eventually), I have a lot of plans fitness-wise on my plate. So if you want to know what's going on in my life, this is the post for you.

InMotion's Show and Auditions: I love my dance group so much. And our end of the year show is on April 22nd. THAT IS NEXT WEEK. It is going to be here before I know it, and I don't know if I can handle the excitement. But I get to pick some great new girls for the team next year when auditions come around. So that will be fun!

My heart literally swells when I think of these girls. :)

Broad Street Run: You know, that little race I've been training for. I'm really nervous about it, I'm not going to lie. I go through waves of being really confident and really terrified. It's an interesting experience. Today I ran five miles instead of four and it was ROUGH. But I did them anyway and pushed through them. The fact that I can do that keeps me looking up. Also, the fact that I bought new running clothes yesterday helps me too. :)

My new love and obsession. Thank you for being so amazing.

Dedication to Stretching: I know I've talked about Bess Be Fit on here before, but my admiration has risen to a whole new level! She and Lauren from Peanut Butter Powered are issuing a challenge! The task is to dedicate at least twenty minutes a day to stretching. It can be of any kind! You just have to streeeetch. Stretching makes me feel free, loose, and happy so I think this is an awesome challenge and I'm really excited to start. They have GREAT blogs, so I really suggest you check them out if you want some fitness role models. :)

I am way too excited for this.

Becoming a Beach Babe: I have heard so much about Tone It Up. SO MUCH. I'm not sure if their diet plan will work for me, mostly because I don't want to drop over $100. However, I'm super inspired by their workouts and so I'm joining their second annual Bikini Series! I'm really excited to see how this works out (get the pun?) and see how it makes me feel! Also, if anybody has anything they want to share about their plan, please don't hesitate to tell me. I want to know all that I can! I also might invest in the new DVD. So if you want to share anything about that too, that works!

Our first challenge was to share the challenge. COMPLETED!

COLOR! I am officially signed up for Color Me Rad in Philadelphia and could not be more excited. Thanks to Groupon it was half price! I promptly used the money saved to invest in a white tutu to wear. I don't know if Paul will acknowledge me during this race because of it, but I am SO EXCITED. JOIN ME! :)

I almost peed my pants when I got my registration e-mail.

Staying Immersed in Dance: This summer, I am lucky enough to have an internship with BalletX! They are a more modern ballet company associated with the Wilma Theater on Broad Street. I am so unbelievably pumped to be a part of their team. I'm also crazy excited to stay surrounded by dance lovers during the summer. So I'm counting it as fitness. So there.

So there's that! There's also my job, some more schooling, some Philles games, some beach runs, maybe ziplining, etc. It's going to be an awesome summer! I'm going to miss camp dearly, but I can't commute that far for a job with a camp paycheck. But I'm sure I'll go visit sometimes. Hopefully, if they let me. Casey, are you reading this? :)

Anything exciting for you to share with me? Signed up for either of the races that I'm running? Do you love tutus? Let me know!
*All pictures were taken from the websites of the people/companies/races I talked about. I'm not trying to pass them off as my own. Except for InMotion's. That one is awesome.