Monday - rest

 Tuesday - easy bike, weights, core - 2 hours

 Wednesday - 2 runs, sprints AM, easy short PM - 10.7 miles

 Thursday - lunges, core, pushups, wrecked - 45 minutes

 Friday - leg blasters, easy trail - 9 miles

 Saturday - rest

 Sunday - 9 mile hike with 30lb pack - 3 hours

 Total - 29 miles, 9 hours training time
 
This sort of week is hard on me mentally.  I have a rough time looking at 29 miles and feeling good, but I did some out of the box training this week that I know will be helpful for the long haul. I still hit 9 hours or training time which is about what I averaged last year, it was just all running as opposed to running and wieghts, core, etc.

 Busy week ahead with work and some travel so I'm going to have to work on a strict schedule to get in what I need too.

 Monday - short easy run and core work - 4 miles
Tuesday - Speed work in the AM, shake out in the PM - 11.8 miles
Wednesday - leg workout and easy run with accelerations at the end - 7 miles
Thursday - Treadmill progression run. Warm up and 9m/m then increase speed/effort every 10 minutes until 6:24m/m for last 2 minutes - 9 miles
Friday - active recovery run - 5.2 miles
Saturday - Easy trail with hard 20 minutes at the end. - 21 miles 4k climbing
Sunday -  Fat burning run. Kept it easy - 12.75 miles

 I ended up with a total of 71 miles for the week and right at 12 hours of training.  This type of volume for me has tended to come near peak training time so to hit it this early and still feel strong is a great sign.  That Saturday run is on my staple trail, the Green Rock, and I think I may have ran the last 2.5 miles as fast as I ever have.  Sunday was also a good indicator as I ran comfortable with hardly any soreness or major fatigue.  It seems like I am starting to adjust to the strength and core training and it is not having as much of an "negative" effect on my pace and effort as several weeks ago.

 Lastly, I'll call out a sweet new piece of gear that I picked up, the  Patagonia Wind Shield Jacket http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/mens-wind-shield-jacket?p=24982-0-791 . I wore this all weekend.  Saturday was about 12 degrees at the start of the run and this jacket paired with a silk-weight base layer long sleeve was perfect.  Plus when it warmed up the full legnth zipper and vented pockets allowed heat to escape.  Sunday warmed up but was really windy. I wore a sleeveless shirt and the jacket and again that was all I needed for 40 degrees and 25mph cold winds blowing across the open fields here in IL. 

 Hope you had a great week!

Lower volume last week but 3 speed specific workouts but the hurt on me.

Monday - speed work and strength training - 5.5 miles

Tuesday - 1 hour easy bike and strength training

Wednesday - Tabata runs, these sucked! It's a 24 minute workout with 4 minutes of hell ~3 miles

Thursday - Easy trail run - 7.75 miles

Friday - strength training, leg specific

Saturday - off

Sunday - Anaerobic threshold for 2.5 hours on the Chubb Trail. Pretty solid outing with my buddy Tommy who kept me honest and pushing on some really tired legs from the day before. Hit the climbs hard -16.5 miles and around 2k of climb

Total - 33 miles ran, 1 hour bike and 3 leg/strenght workouts.

That Sunday run was a bear. My legs were trashed from the first step so to average a 9 minute pace on this trail with mutiple climbs between 200-400 feet is a good feeling. Sometimes its good to just see what you can grunt out.

Monday - core work

Tuesday - sprints and leg work

Wednesday - 40 minutes super easy running to shake things out.

Thursday - 13.5 miles on Silver Lake Trail

Friday - weights at the gym

Saturday - 25 miles on the Berryman Trail with friends (running and scouting for Mark Twain 100)

Sunday - rest

Total - 48.11 ran/10.5 hours of run+cross training

A little lighter miles this week but starting to feel the positive effects of the strength training.  We turned it up a bit in the last 5 miles of the 25 on Saturday.  Running in the high 7's on the flats and mid 9's on the climbs was pretty great, especially after a leg workout the day before.

Also, I'm signed up for my "A" race for 2012.  Tahoe Rim 100, here I come!

Lastly.... I had a goal to hit 2400 miles for 2011 and I ended up with 2425 which is exactly a 20% gain in mileage over 2010 where I hit 2021.

Lots of articles, tweets, and blog posts have gone up in the last few weeks with a focus on individuals' 2012 goals as well as the state of competition in the ultra scene. Most of these items are written from elites or those covering elites. One tweet (then post) in particular from Dylan Bowman really got my wheels turning. He brings up the idea of ""just jogging" is no longer an option in competitive ultrarunning." So if the elites are going to take their training up a notch what does that mean for us non-elites? Upper 25%? Middle of the packers? Everyone else?

The way I look at tiers of ultrarunners is pretty simple. This graph represents the all up talent pool not specific runners. The point is not to nitpick on details of "runner X would fair better at course Y because he/she possesses Z trait," but to make a generalization in terms of ability. Think about a triangle graph split into 4 pieces horizontally. At the tippy-top, highest point is the elites. This is the 5%. Below that there is another tier of about 25%. Below that is 50% and at the very bottom is the remaining 20%. For the most part everyone fits into one of these sections. Occasionally someone can move up or down but in general, we all fall into this triangle somewhere. A 25% runner who takes 3rd at a 100 miler in Wisconsin is still a 25%er. Sure he or she did well at that event, but in comparison to the pool, that person still sits at 25%. Make sense?

The bottom 20% is not really affected by the competition. The assumption here is that these runners, are either slower and fighting cutoffs or just out enjoying the run with no regards toward finishing time. These types of runners are not in it to compete so higher competition means little to them to begin with. My gut tells me that their training will pretty much stay the same.

The middle 50% is a pretty large band. All type of folks exists here and of course make up the majority of finishers of any race distance. Where the "just jogging won't work" mentality starts to take hold is toward the top of the 50%. See someone that decides to take it up a notch can make that move into the 25% and that steady 25% guy or gals now finds themself fighting to not be middle of the pack.

The 25% again gets fun at the top. That top tier 25% individual can maybe move into that bottom 5% and again the bottom 5% person is fighting to not be 25%.

While most of this current talk is about the tops in the sport, the rest of the field won't just sit back and watch as the fast get faster. The majority of the spectrum will adjust their game to meet the new "expectation." Like to compete and are comfortable with your training? It might be time to start getting uncomfortable if you plan to hold on to your spot in the pack. Everyone's getting faster and the "just finish" mentaility is not what it's all about anymore, for better or for worse.