Final week of aerobic base building

So quite a few running highlights this week. First as the title states, this is the last of my 12 weeks of aerobic base building. This phase has been hampered slightly by the metatarsal injury and some really crappy winter weather. But that aside I am quite please with how it's gone.

My treadmill run on Monday was my first in a non-Asics running shoe. I got a deal on a pair of "training flats" at Scheel's. The shoes are the adidas adiZero Mana. I ran in them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and so far I am quite pleased. They are very light and have a very sock-like feel. I'll post a full product review here soon (once I get a few more miles in with them).

Tuesday I attempted to get in a good run outside. My New Years Eve 19 mile run on the Iowa trails lulled me into a false sense of security in regards to the state of the trails on the other side of the Missouri River. I left from work and headed toward Narrows River Park. I got in the middle of a large drifted section of the trail and ended up walking through a large portion of miles 2 and 3. I ended up coming back through Council Bluff's streets to avoid the unplowed levee trail. Then the to cap off a bummer of a run, I fell on the ice at the base of the pedestrian bridge. Just need to erase that run from memory.

Thursday I had the opportunity to run in descent (realitively speaking of course) weather around my neighborhood. Got in a great run on some very hilly streets.

Friday was my quarterly assessment with my coach/trainer. Mixed results. My weight is up slightly. So is my body fat %. My cardio measurement was way too high (theory is that it is not a good measure of aerobic base) but who knows. But with all of those negative results, my physical tests were all improved (even without any training work in those areas). Followed that up with a very slow 3 miles on the treadmill.

Finally today was an awesome run at Lake Z. I have said it time and time again on this blog; whenever I get the chance to run with a group of people who share my passion for running, I love it. Today was no exception. It was colder than expected. Snow packed trail. Slow pace. But I loved every minute of it. Carried the camera along again and got some cool winter pictures (link below).

20100116_run

Monday: 5.25 miles on treadmill
Tuesday: 6.67 miles outside (fail)
Wednesday: 10.0 miles treadmill
Thursday: 5.66 miles outside
Friday: 3.17 miles on treadmill + qtr assessment
Saturday:  10.03 miles group run @ Lake Z