The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

His closing speed is phenomenal. He's kicking guys down running 25-point for the last 200 meters of these races.

I guess if you have a huge aerobic engine, you get to that last lap having a little bit more left in the tank than everyone else. And if you get used to spending all that time running 160 miles a week, what's another 30 seconds of sprinting all-out? :-)

I don't know, but his training reminded me of what you were doing through 2011. His coach's statements in the Tribune article Sunday about why tapering doesn't make sense were interesting too. There are some good threads on Letsrun about his racing.

The nuts and bolts to me? Mileage. I run best at 100 miles per week, maybe more. I cut way back to do this 5 in 55 thing and kind of lost my groove.

I was pretty much keeping the mileage up higher than my 2011 numbers right up until Boston and this last little cycle. I felt unstoppable in the weeks leading up to Boston. Obviously the marathon result wasn't stellar but that's just how marathons go. There's something to be said for keeping the volume up - as you as you can stay healthy and still hit some good workouts, there aren't many (or any) negatives in my opinion.

I mean, I still ran ~90 miles last week and got a big 10K PR. Your body sometimes responds better when you keep it as close to the normal routine as you can.

The marathons take a lot more out of your body than shorter races and long runs. I think its impressive that you got to #5 still feeling fresh and able to run fast. If it wasn't for the hip, I think you would have been right up there near the front of that race.