2 hour run without fuel.

I'd never heard of those GU things until getting on this forum, but I only really ran 5ks prior. My training so far has topped out around 2hrs, and I dont take anything but water, and have been avoiding food within 2hrs of the run too. Well except a little while back I thought I'd experiment with the GU's for possible use on future half marathons and up. I took one 15min before like it said and then took one in the middle of a 12 mile run. Wow that stuff was hard to choke down. I seemed to tolerate it just fine, but man it was so sickishly sweet it was hard to get it down in the first place. I'm slightly puzzled by your great disdain towards Gatorade yet you use GU's... are they really that different? I'd down a bottle of gatorade any day over that stuff.

But since I seem to be doing fine with just water so far up to 2hrs, I'm going to just keep going with only water and see what happens. I was going to bring a GU pack or two on my half sunday but I forgot them and did just fine. I did grab a Gatorade on the last station figuring maybe it would help give me some energy to increase my speed the last mile. It was a small cup, 2/3 full and I probably only drank half of it with the other half ending up running down my face and on the ground (first time ever drinking from a cup while running). But other than that one aid station it was just water. I was hungry as a hostage the rest of the day though!
 
These products are designed for endurance athletes, it's the marketing of them that is faulty not the science. Watch the Tour De France, these guys are burning anything between 6 and 9 thousand calories a day, a big difference than jogging for two hours or running your local half.
 
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good for you. the body is a fantastic machine that god gave us and man is no where close to understanding it. it is capable of doing more than "science" tells us it can. like running bf.

push yourself to find your limitations. don't let someone else set them for you.

i never run with any water and my runs are from one hour to five hours. ya, that's right. i "ran" for five hours without any water or other "sports drinks". i only stopped at the streams to make sure my little dog drank something so i wouldn't have to carry him, which i have done a few times because i pushed him to hard in the heat.

i say "ran" because you already know the acronym for maf training. moseying along forever.
 
That is what I do, except for water I never bring any fuel for runs under 16 mi.
Now that I think about it I have never hit the wall yet. And I hope I never will, it looks very painful according to Zetti's picture.
 
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I ran 2 hours, barefoot, this morning without bringing any fuel with me, this was a first. On a two hour run I would usually bring one or two GU's with me. Before I left the house, I ate a small box of raisins, and that was it. I did feel a moment of hunger but as always that passes. It was extremely humid, even at 6am. I brought my hand held with my trusty fluid of choice, water. I don't mess with Gatorade or any other energy/sports drink on the market, it's all garbage.

The outcome was great, I was definitely taking is slow and easy but I felt relaxed and had no experiences of crashing. In a few weeks I will be ramping up my long to run to 3 hours, a few more long runs without fuel I think I will be ready to run the 3 hour without anything as well.

I never fuel on runs of less than 22 - 26 miles and only drink water. I also do a lot of those runs in a semi-fasted state and rarely have any issues. You shouldn't have any issue working up to 3 hours without fuel and you could probably do those runs without eating beforehand.

I think the fuel is a mental crutch that can easily be broken.

I think it is highly dependent on your effort. Bonking is very real and it pretty much sucks but even a bonk will pass, if you slow down and give it some time.
 
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