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

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

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

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.

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.