Victoria Pendleton Quotes

The natural urge when running a distance is to push harder and finish sooner - to race against time. Every second behind a deadline is a little defeat.

Speed eventually neared its peak. The records forced me to work ever harder to drop a less and less time. These time trials came to feel like races, which are fun to run sporadically but not daily.

The field is fantastic, great runners, so the best you can do is stay in control, pace yourself well, and then utilise it when you can do better.

Even though running is work for me, I always miss it if I take a break. A lot of people find running relaxing, but I can never switch off from timing and competing against myself.

Competing at the highest level is the greatest test of one's character.

Finishing races is important, but racing is more important.

I just love playing so much, competing so much. You're able to put your losses behind you. One of the greatest attributes a decathlete can have is the ability to forget... to look ahead, not behind.

I knew what my times were and how my practices were progressing and how close I was to the goals I had set for the year. I swam hard. I always swam hard. If I didn't, I knew I would pay for it either the next day or the next meet.

When I started running cross-country and track in high school, literally every race was a failure.

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time.

I'm so impatient. I can't even stand waiting for a cab, and I'm always early for everything. In training, it means I want to run my personal best every session - but it takes time.

If anybody wants to beat me, let them run a world record.

I don't get irrational about it, but I do have a deeply-rooted competitive spirit. Not necessarily towards other people, but towards any obstacle that I set for myself.

If we have a good day and we win, I'll celebrate and enjoy it. If I have a bad day and I lose, I'll be disappointed and then come back the next day and think about the next team.

As a sportsman you are always testing your limits.

I can be very competitive, but I mainly want to challenge myself.

You are all mates off the pitch, but on it, you are all competing for places. I think that only makes a healthier squad - more players fighting for positions can only mean everyone has got to step their game up.

I've been scoring a lot longer than I haven't been in my life, so I can deal with the ups and downs of it.

I got into hand-cycling to prove to myself that I could do it and get back into some form of competition, and now it's led to this. If someone had suggested a few years ago that I would be taking it to the Ironman, I would have asked them what they were smoking.

I want to be great, I want to fight the best guys, I want to test myself, I want see what my limits are. I don't think a lot of guys in this sport really have that mentality.

BMX is never over until the finish line, and I am always trying to challenge myself for that world stage.

What I have to show, I show on the track.

I'm in this sport to test myself. I want to see how far I can take this thing.

The only thing I can expect from myself is to learn from each competition and improve.

My second 30 is actually very good, where my turnovers are very quick. I just want to put a complete race together, once I get out of my drive phase, I want to hit my next 30 very hard.