Being semi-new to the ultra scene, I'm still experimenting with training approaches and determining how much my body is able to handle.  For the first few months of 2010, my training was geared along the lines of traditional marathon preparation, leading up to a strong Spring marathon (Cleveland, in mid-May -- 3:19:34). Following the end of May, I am switching the focus substantially to trails, while maintaining a small amount of speed work.  I worked upwards from about 50 miles per week early in the year, and reached around 80 miles per week in the month before the marathon. Post-marathon I am building up into the 80s and 90s per week, in the last 1-2 months leading up to Burning River.   Throughout, I plan to have many 20+ mile runs, including several 30+ (either 50K races or very long training runs).  This is somewhat a trial-and-error situation, since I haven't trained quite at this level before.  Hopefully with small steps, I can reach July free of significant injuries and at a level of fitness to get the job done.

 

Below are the details of my training from mid-February onward, for those who are curious (or knowledgeable and experienced in the ways of marathon and ultra training -- I welcome your suggestions as I'm trying to learn what works best!).  I've found that keeping a log, updating it daily, and exposing it publicly is a great motivator for me. You can click on the hyperlinks in the "Surface" column to view a map of each outdoor run, produced from data collected by my Garmin 405.  I tried mapping the track and treadmill workouts, but they weren't very interesting :-).