Seb Coe

Former Olympic champion and world record-holder Sebastian Coe has told the BBC that he fears for the future of athletics in the wake of recent drug scandals involving Marion Jones and British sprinter Dwain Chambers.

He is concerned about the effect that the reinstatement of drug cheats could have on the sport. "We could end up with a situation like WWF wrestling where everyone knows it is fake and they don't care", he said. Coe again called for drugs cheats to be handed a minimum four-year ban from the sport.

Flat-out in the last 50m of a 100m repeat on the indoor track last night, there was no doubt about it: yes, I was driving with my arms (and everything else I could muster).

Rewiring my brain to lose the obsession with miles has had two mega-boosts this week, first with news of how Spartathlon winner Scott Jurek trains, and second with an inside take on what the 2:10 Kenyans like Ben Maiyo and "Baba" Kiogora are doing.

The "quality versus quantity" debate is drawing some passionate and well-informed comments here and elsewhere on this site. As a result of my research, I've already stopped doing "easy" morning runs, "recovery runs" and anything else that smacks of long, slow distance work.

What was the best advice your father ever gave you?

Seb Coe: "He told me 'nothing good in track in field happens quickly'. He was conscious that you have to be specific about training, that you shouldn't do things that did not add value. He could never see the value, if you were running 800m with two laps close to 51 seconds each, that you should do otherwise. Long, slow, steady, distance was never going to get you there."

Former Olympic champion and world record holder Seb Coe talks about his father's coaching in an interview in the Daily Telegraph's "My School Sport" series. Thanks to coach Gabino Toledo for the alert.

Talking of speed work, intense training, oh, and poetry in motion, which we hadn't mentioned, but that's what we're all about, right? .... check this out: