Timely. Read this: Ultrafit Nov.

Swimming is the easiest workout to do during the winter, so it makes sense to have a swim heavy base (though it should mostly depend on your strengths/weaknesses).

Hey Al...hope all is well.
I think Ken is spot on with just about everything... except the weight vest.
Having followed you since you started here we all know you are a strong, focused athlete...and you get injured a lot.
Here is a great link about training with weight vests:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0001.htm
Pay attention to the DO's and especially the DON'Ts.
I personally know several athletes who have injured themselves using weight vests by ignoring the guidlines...
All the best..what races you planning?

Now THAT"S what I'm talking about! Except one year I but on 10 Holiday pounds and it took me TWO years to get 'em off!

I absolutely agree that not using the weight vest correctly can be dangerous, but I have used it for injury prevention with many clients and it is an invaluable tool. It allows controlled overload of the tissues that act vertically in the running stride and is an excellent tool for improving running technique.

Additional info is below and more is in my book, The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training

Ken

Weighted Running: Run Faster with Fewer Injuries
© 2003 by Ken Mierke

Every runner is interested in two primary objectives, running faster and running injury free. Weighted running can help achieve both of these objectives. Weighted running enables an athlete to systematically overload aspects of running that no other method allows. Proper use of a weight vest reduces injuries, enhances running economy, and increases fitness.

With any kind of strength training, tissues get thicker, stronger, and more elastic. This effect is specific to the movements involved. While strength training in the weight room is important and beneficial, it does not stimulate many tissues specific to running. Using a weight vest will strengthen many tissues in the foot, calf, and lower leg more directly than weight training does. Accomplishing this in the preparation and base periods, while volume and intensity are at their lowest, prevents injuries later when volume and intensity increase. Do not include weighted running in any long or fast workouts in your schedule.

Weighted running is an excellent tool for increasing running efficiency. Just as swimmers use fins to swim faster to increase the pressure of the oncoming water so they can feel hydrodynamic mistakes, weighted running makes technique errors more obvious. Overstride or land on your heel with an extra few pounds of weight added and you can feel the extra effort and wasted energy and you will naturally correct the errors. You will probably notice that without any intentional effort, you will shorten your stride, reduce vertical displacement, and increase turnover when wearing the vest. The vest almost forces you to run correctly and when you run without the vest, you will maintain your more efficient technique.

Runners use one set of muscles that act horizontally - creating forward propulsion - and another set that act vertically - they hold us up. Faster running overloads the muscles that act horizontally (glutes and hamstrings), but not the muscles that act vertically acting muscles (quadriceps and calves). Weighted running increases intensity for the vertically-acting muscles. This is important and useful for all runners, but especially those who must run after hard cycling with fatigued quadriceps (triathletes).

With correct running technique, the quadriceps contract at foot-strike to keep your knee from bending. They simply catch your bodyweight. The quadriceps should NOT contract to create propulsion at toe-off, because the propulsion they create is mostly upward and not forward. Weighted running teaches the quads to contract very quickly and powerfully at foot-strike and then to relax and not extend the knee at toe-off. By exaggerating the penalty for vertical displacement, and helping you to feel it when you are moving up and down too much, weighted running helps you run fast for less energy expenditure.

Athletes often fear injury from the use of a weight vest. If a runner is going to get injured from running a short, endurance pace workout starting with an additional 2 1/2 pounds of weight, I believe they should look at running technique and not the additional 1% or 2% added to their bodyweight as the issue. Certainly a runner who lands on their heel with the foot in front of the body needs to avoid anything that increases stress to the tissues, but a runner who keeps the heel unweighted throughout foot-strike and lands with the foot in the right spot has plenty of shock absorption available to handle a couple of additional pounds.

Weighted running is not right for every athlete at every point in their training, but it is a useful off-season tool for preventing injuries, increasing fitness, and maximizing efficiently. Use the weight vests conservatively and provide adequate recovery between sessions to optimize the benefits that use weighted running while avoiding potential risks.

How do runners overload the muscles that act vertically in their stride? To overload the muscles that act horizontally, we run faster, but this does not significantly increase the stress on the muscles that act vertically. We run hills, which do include a vertical component of resistance, but the amount we can run on hills is limited. Few athletes, other than those living in Colorado, have a hill around that they could run up for an hour, and even then they would need to come back down.
Running while wearing a weight vest can be an effective way to increase overload on the quadriceps and calf muscles that act vertically. I have many of my athletes run with a weight vest at certain times of the year. This topic is discussed further in Chapter 2, which covers technique, and Chapter 14, which covers injury prevention.
I recommend that athletes with a force limiter use the weight vest heavily (pardon the pun) during the preparation and base periods which focus on force and speed-skills. Just as with every aspect of any type of workout relating to running, start conservatively and build consistently and gradually.
Half-ironman and ironman distance athletes may want to continue using the weight vest through the build periods. Running with a weight vest simulates running with extremely fatigued cycling muscles. You train yourself to rely less on the quadriceps and to run effectively with overloaded quadriceps without the risk of injury and overtraining that would come from actually simulating race fatigue. Running with an extra ten pounds does feel very similar to running after 112 miles of cycling.
During the appropriate times of the season, include serious strength training and strength transfer training in your routine. You will suffer fewer injuries and race faster as a result.
Weighted Running
Proper use of a weight vest can significantly reduce running injuries. With any kind of strength training, tissues get thicker, stronger, and more elastic. This effect is specific to the movements involved. While strength training in the weight room is important and beneficial, it does not stimulate many tissues specific to running. Running with a weight vest will strengthen many tissues in the foot, calf, and lower leg more directly and more specifically than weight training does. Accomplishing this in the preparation and base periods, while volume and intensity are at their lowest, prevents injuries later when volume and intensity increase.
Use the weight vests conservatively and provide adequate recovery between sessions to optimize the benefits while avoiding potential risks. Begin with only two pounds in the vest and add two every several weeks until you can handle a maximum of five to eight percent of bodyweight. Use the vest for one or two easy runs per week. Do not perform long or intense runs with the vest. Weighted running can be a useful tool for building an injury resistant body, but don’t get carried away. A little bit goes a long way.

Ken Mierke is head coach of Fitness Concepts (Fitness-Concepts.com) and Director of Training for Joe Friel’s Ultrafit, and developer of Evolution Running ([url]www.EvolutionRunning.com)[/url]. Ken is a two-time I.T.U. World Champion Triathlete and author of The Triathlete’s Guide to Run Training

That's exactly what I thought when I read the words "weight vest."