Get tough... and hungry.

Since August, I've spent the first hour of every Monday and Wednesday morning in Group Power, a group weightlifting class at my gym. If you've never tried a class like this, you really should! When I started, I was woefully out of shape and totally intimidated by the prospect of lifting (or failing to lift) weights in front of other people. Once I bit the bullet and tried it, I was hooked. Hooked enough to get up at 5:15am for class, even when I was following class with 8:30am-9pm workdays in DC.

Weight training helps with running in so many ways: Obviously, it makes you faster and more able to cope with hills. More surprising to me is the fact that it actually makes me want to run more. I get fidgety now if I have to sit still for too long. The stronger my legs get, the more they just want to move. Its a big confidence booster, too. If you push yourself, you see results from weight training really quickly. Trust me: you'll be flexing in front of the mirror in a matter of weeks (not that I've ever done that).

Another unexpected side-effect of weight training is that it makes me hungry. Really hungry, pretty much 24 hours a day. When I first started, the hunger was constant for a few weeks. Now, its the worst whenever I add weight. I added weight this week, and even though I eat both before and after going to the gym, I've found myself counting down the seconds to lunch pretty much from the moment I get to work at 9:30. Today, I gave in and ate a cereal bar and 10 and now its 11:30 and I'm writing this post to distract myself from the stomach rumblings for 30 more minutes.

I'm expecting this hunger thing to only get worse as the marathon training progresses, so I'm doing a lot of reading and experimenting with different food options. I'm even semi-considering eating some meat for the first time in nearly 16 years. Does anyone else have this issue*? How do you handle it?

Okay, I'm going to fix lunch now.

*I use the word "issue" intentionally, so as not to reinforce the idea that a woman eating a lot is a problem. If you're hungry, you should eat.