Hungry??

Yesterday was hills...the dreaded hills. Truth be told, the hills aren't so bad - I actually kind of enjoy the hills. I ran 3 sets of 4 hills and a 1 set of 3 hills with warm up and cool down included it was about 6mi. Tomorrow will be the long run of the week - I'm already dreading having to get up early on a saturday just to go run, but the alternative is running late and that is even more unappealing.

My point today is not so much the actual exercise as it is the hunger (or lack there of) after a work out. During my group trainings, I often here people discussing their eating habits and the need for a light snack after a work out much like yesterday. I hear people talk about how they are ravenous by the time they get home if they don't have some fruit or something. This got me to thinking about my own hunger. I've noticed over the past few weeks/months of running that I rarely am ever 'hungry' after a run. The longer or further I run the less I want food. I am typically thirsty beyond belief, but food...not so much. This goes for fruit or anything else light. I can eat half a bannana after a 6 mi run and it feels like I just put 5 lbs in my stomach.

This is really only the case after a long run at which due to the change in training has been at a slower and more steady aerobic pace as opposed to my faster 5K race pace. I was talking about this with some other runners and it was said that "perhaps my body is still burning my surplus of fat stores and that is why I am not hungry, where as in a race I am burning sugar and my body feels the need to replace this with food."

Hum...run slow, burn fat - run fast, burn sugar and be hungry. Maybe the coach has got a method to his madness after all.

What do you think??