If Mo does decide to stick with the marathon, I hope he at least gives some thought to changing coaches, or at the very least, to getting some input from Renata Canova.
At 31, Mo doesn't have much time to waste on the wrong coach, not in the marathon world, where peak time seems to be around 31-34 years old.
And is Salazar the right coach for a would-be elite marathon runner? Salazar was a very good runner himself, but not great by today's standards. He competed before the East Africans really hit their stride, and his PB was 2:08:13, set in a NYC marathon later found to be 148 metres short. Effectively about the same as the 'disappointing' race Mo ran in London.
His training strategy for others seems to be the polar opposite of what he adopted himself as a runner, which was to put in endless weeks of long, hard mileage. I've read he felt his own routine cut his career short by several years, although some would argue that the few good years he did have were much better than any he would have achieved in a longer but slightly gentler career.
He has never coached a super-elite marathon runner. Other than Mo, I believe the only decent marathoner he has worked with is Dathan Ritzenheim, who had a PB of 2:07:47 in Chicago 2012. Very good, although it must be noted that conditions that day were absolutely ideal: cool, flat and windless. And the winner, Tsegaye Kebede, a terrific but not notoriously fast runner, ran a PB and CR more than 3 mins faster than Ritz (2:04:38). Also, unlike most of the majors, Chicago is an early start (7 am), so you don't have the mid-day sun and heat to worry about.
So it may be that AlSal could do a terrific job of coaching a bunch of young east African runners, I just don't see anything in his CV that backs that up, not yet. What he does and says suggests that his runners may have long careers, but possibly never any really great years. Not in terms of times, at least, because yes, 2 Olympic golds for Mo makes for a pretty good 2012.
And as mentioned earlier, at 31 Mo doesn't have much time to decide, not if he sticks with 26.2.
So if I were Mo, I'd be at least talking to Canova. To be honest, I like his philosophy, that long slow runs are often a waste of time for super-elites. That you are better to choose a goal race pace, then run it for as long as you can. And over the weeks, to try and hold that pace longer and longer. I have no doubt that this kind of approach is more likely to burn a runner out. Witness Moses Mosop, who looked ready to explode onto the scene back in 2011, when he pushed Mutai to his incredible 2:03:02 in Boston. But a) in my opinion, it is an approach more likely to push an athlete to his absolute best, if he or she can stay healthy. And b) with all that Mo has achieved so far, why not go for broke - even if he fails he still has a bag full of medals. And c) as I mentioned earlier, if he does decide to drop back to the 5 and 10k, I have a sneaking suspicion that Bekele will follow him. Might as well stay with the big boys.