Posture—it says a lot about a person. Tall, strong posture gives the appearance of a powerful, confident woman (not to mention it gives the girls a little boost), while slouched posture can make you look timid and not exactly self-confident. Aside from how great posture makes you look, what about the effect it has on your body—and running performance?

Most of us are well-versed in eating on the run, but in terms of actually eating while running, many of us come up short. For runners new to distance, this can be one of the most difficult concepts to grasp in the course of training. The thought of putting food in your mouth while pushing your body to its limits can seem pretty unpleasant. However, longer distances demand you harness the concept of eating on the run or risk turning in less than stellar times or, worse yet, bonking before you reach the finish line.

You’ve seen them on your way to work, at the gym and basically everywhere you look—those svelte gazelle-like women who make running look so easy and a “runner’s body” so good. And every time, you tell yourself you’ll start running and join the ranks of those graceful creatures once you finally get down to (enter goal weight here), but now another year has come and gone and you’re still not at that ideal weight and you’re still not a runner.

Have you ever devoted yourself whole-heartedly to a training program only to be, literally, stopped in your tracks by a nagging pain in your outer knee? Welcome to the world of iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), where you have plenty of company. This pesky knee pain is one of the most common injuries runners deal with. It can squash your training efforts faster than Flo-Jo could burn up the track. Thankfully, if tended to, it’s not something that’s going to derail your running career. When it comes to ITBS, knowledge is power; there are several preventative steps you can take to beat it to the punch as well as some rehab instruction if it takes the first swing. Strap on your learning helmets, it’s time to delve into everything you need to know about ITBS.

During my career as a child-bearing woman, I have endured the destruction and rebuilding of my core on three different occasions. From those experiences, I have discovered one very important fact: no matter what we do to thwart the devastation, babies will always ravage our bodies to some extent (but those adorable coos and slobbery kisses make it totally worth it). While you can’t prevent what happens to your core (don’t even get me started on the other victim of childbirth), you can minimize the carnage. Training your core throughout your pregnancy is your best bet for battling the bulge, so to speak, and reducing collateral damage.

Pregnancy brings some pretty spectacular things, the first and most important being a baby, with thicker hair and bigger boobs taking up second and third place, respectively. But with the good comes the bad and, in this case, it’s a weakened and less stable pelvis. As a runner you know the importance of strong, stable hips – unfortunately, big Momma Nature required things down there to stretch and relax in order to accommodate the arrival of your tiny human.

Sweating is a natural process critical for helping our hard-working bodies deal with the hot temperatures. As the mercury rises, so does your risk of dehydration and complications from the heat. Don’t let the summer swelter put a damper on your training efforts—it’s time to get serious about your hydration. Why Do We Sweat? It doesn’t matter if you’re running in a snow storm or under the scorching summer sun—your working muscles create a slight bump in body temperature. As your body begins to warm up, part of the brain sends a signal to the sweat glands to get busy.

Nine months ago, six weeks of no running would’ve seemed like an eternity, but now it’s a drop in the bucket. Whether you chose to hang up your sneakers during your pregnancy or were forced to due to your changing body, your little bundle has arrived and you’re ready to hit the road. As you await that much anticipated post-partum check-up, take this time to prepare your new body for the stresses of running.