Quotes from Alberto Salazar

Trust me, my runners aren't going to run one event while looking past it to the second event. When they get on the line for the 10K, that's a do-or-die situation for them.

The dynamic has really changed in the U.S. Americans believe they can be competitive, that they can win medals.

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

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

We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.

I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards.

Whatever we accomplish in life, if it's solely for our own good, then it doesn't mean that much. The things you do that affect others in a positive way are the ones that count. Whatever facet of life you're in, God has given you a gift; do the best you can with that gift.

Again, simply declaring your goal won't help you attain your dream, but unless you declare it—unless you believe in it—you have no chance of attaining it.

This might sound extreme, perhaps even a little deranged, but I don't think you can make it to the very top rank in any sport if you don't have a similar aversion to losing—a visceral, physical loathing. I look for this trait in an athlete, although the hatred of losing has to be balanced by a certain degree of realism, an ability to step back just enough so that you can process your disappointing performance and learn from it.

But I've since learned that for an athlete, the toughness has to come from within—from some sort of hunger, crisis, or need. You can coach nearly any other quality or skill into a runner, but you can't coach that.

I'm doing great heart-wise. I get a complete stress test once a year, and those have gone well. I have stents in two arteries, and they are holding up. My other arteries haven't shown any additional clogging.

I think in running, to be honest, that even though athletes are very dedicated and are willing to train and do whatever they need to do to prepare, more often than not they're not in a very professional environment where you've got a high performance director and a coach that are really monitoring your daily activities.

I've run a lot of miles over the years, some fast and some not so fast. I've won some big races and I've had some big disappointments, but I enjoy the freedom of running and the challenge of training and competition as much now as when I first started back in high school.

I can't tell you why a particular athlete would leave a certain coach, but I can tell you there could be many reasons. They could have personality conflicts. They could have misunderstandings. Lots of stuff can happen.

You have to change things in order to get to where you want to go. And things might get worse. But if you're not getting where you want to be, already, in a sense, it's as bad as it can get.

I run four miles most days, at about 8:00 to 8:15 pace. It's totally relaxed.

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

We may train or peek for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.

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.

Early in my career I was accused of being overconfident and even cocky, but I really was confident that I had done the training and didn't see any other reason to say otherwise.

I'm interested in Dathan Ritzenhein's future in the marathon, and I believe that's where we need to address some issues he seems to have. He's had good marathon coaches - both Brad Hudson and me. He's figured out the fueling. He's got this incredible aerobic engine. But something's still wrong.

Winning times in the New York City Marathon have not dropped all that much over the years, but rather U.S. runners went backward. In 1983, there were 267 U.S. men who broke 2:20 in a marathon, and by 2000 that number was down to 27.

Trust me, my runners aren't going to run one event while looking past it to the second event. When they get on the line for the 10K, that's a do-or-die situation for them.

I've never enjoyed my running more. I also do 200 sit-ups a day, 60 push-ups, and a lot of stretching. I've had some back issues. I think the stretching helps with that.