An athlete who tells you the training is always easy and always fun simply hasn't been there. Goals can be elusive which makes the difficult journey all the more rewarding.

The marathon is like a bullfight.

I've found that my athletes run their best races after about 10 weeks of intense training.

With my runners now, they get two month-long breaks during the year.

I didn't give myself enough breaks during the training year to recover. I didn't understand the power of periodization.

There are a lot of guys out there now who know they are not working as hard as other people. I can't fathom how they think.

I like the marathon because it's one race where you can find out who's really the toughest. On the track, sometimes a guy can just pull away, and you want to stay with him but you don't have the leg speed. The marathon is slow enough that anyone can stay with you if he wants, if he has the will. The marathon is ultimately a test of will.