Practicing marathon fueling now! We all know fueling is an important part of running. Many people find this topic confusing, and we are going to shed some light for beginners. Everyone's body is different. I know I struggled with this a lot. It can almost feel like you are fighting your body at times. I promise you practice makes perfect for this! Your body is trainable! You can really transform how your body processes fuel and water and how you run. What have you been doing during training for nutrition & water before & during? Our body stores about 2 hours of glycogen that is easy to convert and use in endurance events. Each athlete responds differently in a glycogen depleted state. Some people can still run just fine. Others see a dramatic shift in their performance. It all depends on how you train. The biggest issue is with waiting until mile 11 to fuel is that your body may not be able to absorb the nutrition at that point. Our body is really smart. Towards the middle of the race, our body realizes what we are doing. The blood circulation priorities become your legs/ muscles working hard on running. As a result, sometimes our body/brain temporarily signals to 'slow down' or shut down temporary digestion processes. This is sometimes why running AND fueling is such a tricky spot for athletes! We will definitely want to get you comfortable to drink liquids while running at the least. Especially running a marathon in June! Dehydration can be a huge issue if we don't train the body how to take in liquids during training. Step 1- Start drinking 4-8oz of water 10-20 min before EVERY run you do (all easy runs, workouts, etc). I want to get your body used to having liquids Step 2- During a longer workout or run, stop in the middle for a 30 second water break drinking 2-4oz Step 3- Start to eat 60 min before your run something light that sits well with your stomach (half a banana) Build on these 3 points. The other fueling with gels is not a 'huge deal' but it is still important. One step at a time :) I know many athletes who have ran well off just liquid fueling.