The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

My guest for today’s episode is Vinny Mauri — and the last time we had him on, he had just run 2:05:53 in his marathon debut on a bike path in Toledo, Ohio, self-coached, without a pacer, without a shoe contract, and with no course clocks anywhere on the route. He looked up at the finishing clock expecting to see 2:09 and it said 2:05. He had no idea.

A lot has happened since then. He signed a professional contract with ASICS. He hired Hawi Keflezighi as his agent. He kept his hours at Second Sole running store in Niles, Ohio, where he fits customers for shoes and occasionally gets asked by someone how training is going. He has not raced once. And he has built one of the more unconventional marathon training blocks any American professional has put together ahead of a world major — seven consecutive weeks of 26-plus mile long runs, a 138-mile peak week, a September day that became 45 miles on the treadmill at Planet Fitness, and an 86-mile stretch across three consecutive days that included 36 miles at 4:56 pace.

The central question of the block was simple: how do you make 26.2 miles feel short?

This conversation was recorded one week before the Bank of America Chicago Marathon — his first world major, his first race since Toledo, and the first time in his career he can honestly say he arrived at a start line healthy and ready. He is joining a field that includes Clayton Young, who has publicly committed to going after Connor Mantz’s American record, and Charles Hicks, who ran 2:04 in Boston this spring. Vinny’s position on the American record conversation is: There is an extremely high probability it gets rewritten on Sunday.

In this conversation we get into:

– Why Chicago
– Why no races since Toledo
– How he handled the process of signing with Hawi Keflezighi and landing on Asics
– Why he’s chosen to keep his hours with Second Sole
– The architecture of this training block
– His work on fueling better
– Treadmill vs. the roads
– Why he doesn’t train much at goal marathon pace
– A guest question from Emma Grace Hurley
– Where he lands on the American record talk and hype
– The moment of the race that he’s visualized the most
– A Planet Fitness partnership?
– What he wants people to takeaway from his 2026

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OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

A lighter week of running action but a big performance out of Berlin needs some more context.

Discussed in this episode:

– Berlin Marathon — men’s race: Guy Adola wins in 2:02:51 in the absence of Sebastian Sawe (stress fracture to the right tibia ruled him out of all fall marathon options).

– Tigst Assefa, 2:11:04, and the Achilles that didn’t quite hold: Assefa won Berlin in 2:11:04 for the third fastest women’s marathon ever. She was on world record pace through 40K. The projection was 2:09:44. At 40K the wheels came off. Her management’s statement says she first felt pain at 31K and suffered a severe injury — described as a complete rupture of the right Achilles — at approximately 40K. She completed the final 2.2 kilometers. Surgery followed on Monday. Recovery timeline: potentially up to seven months.

We unpack:

– The science debate on an Achilles injury

– The medical opinion

– Her Achilles history

– The credibility question on if she would have broken Ruth Chepngetich’s world record

– The Adidas additional AIU testing question

– What’s next for the women’s marathon WR

Also briefly touched on:

– London Marathon’s two-day split — decided by rock, paper, scissors

– NYC Marathon’s cheer zone rules

– Boston Marathon cutoff time

– Clayton Young hamstring reaction

+ More

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SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

“I called my shot. I’m confident in my ability to still chase the American record. I’ve already learned so much this build that it’s already been a success.”

My guest today is Brooks professional marathoner and Suunto-supported athlete Clayton Young, joining us two weeks before the 2026 Chicago Marathon.

Earlier this spring, Clayton finished 11th at Boston in 2:05:41 after a ten-week build that followed a significant injury and a change in sponsors. He’s spent months preparing for Chicago with a bigger goal in mind: chasing Conner Mantz’s American marathon record of 2:04:43.

Part of that ambition came from watching Josh Kerr call his shot at the mile world record. Clayton took to heart the idea of creating the conditions for a breakthrough, and he’s written the same declaration in his journal every day: “I, Clayton Young, will break the American record on October 11th, 2026 at the Chicago Marathon.”

But his tune-up at the Great North Run didn’t go as planned, and he had an MRI afterward. For the first time, Clayton shares the extent of the injury and what it means for Chicago.

We also talk about the psychology of stating his goal publicly, the data behind his training decisions, how Coach Eyestone has adapted, and what Clayton makes of Chicago competitors Charles Hicks and Vinny Mauri. He explains why this race feels different from Boston—and what he wants spectators to yell when they see him on the course.

We discuss:

– The daily journal ritual

– Having fun is a skill he has had to practice

– Josh Kerr’s mile world record as the direct inspiration for calling his shot with the American record attempt

– The contrasting psychologies with Charles Hicks

– Dr. Craig Manning and the purpose of a goal

– Abundant mentality on the field: Charles Hicks, Vinny Mauri and the rest of the young Americans entering this distance. There are only three Olympic Trials spots and only one American record, but this sport is growing and there’s enough for everyone. He’s actively working against the scarcity mindset and wants all of them to succeed.

– Coach Eyestone’s adaptations to recent success by other runners

– The data gathering from Commons Clinic, Stride, Suunto, Brooks Sports Research Lab

– The build being the best training of his career– The injury and the first public disclosure of its extent

– What it means for the 2026 Chicago Marathon

– What he learned from The Great North Run

– What to yell on course for him

+ More

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

Unlike “normal” global championship years, this professional season ended with three championships of a sort: the Diamond League final, World Ultimate Championships, and World Road Running Championships.

As its name implies, the “ultimate” championship feels like the closest thing we had this year to a be-all-end-all determination of who’s the best athlete in their respective events, but it’s easier to look at the calendar and suggest that success in other forays—whether it’s the European Championships, regular-season DL circuit, Commonwealth Games, or something else entirely—could mean the same or more than a trophy in Budapest.

That made sorting out our year-end power rankings all the more challenging. How do you account for a steeplechaser who didn’t have the option of competing at WUC? Or a sprinter who ran really well, but didn’t necessarily face the same competition as a U.S. championship?

When we first took on this assignment in June, World Indoors was the single biggest event on the schedule you could point to as evidence of championship mettle, and spillover good vibes from 2025 were still in the air. That’s no longer true. 2025, and even this year’s indoor season, are both increasingly distant memories. What have you (the top 25 athletes on the track and in the field) done for us lately?

As always, there’s a healthy dose of subjectivity that goes into these rankings. How do you compare a single-event specialist against a more generalized sprinter or distance runner? How much does consistency over the regular season matter compared to winning when it “counts?” How much does the top-end talent of an event or event group like the women’s 800m or the men’s pole vault elevate a star who didn’t win all that much? How much should you weigh consistently beating a deep field of competition, like in the women’s 100m hurdles or men’s 100m?

Top 25 Track Athletes of 2026:

25 – Femke Bol
 24 – Djamel Sedjati
 23 – Gabby Thomas
 22 – Emma Zapletalova
 21 – Cooper Lutkenhaus
 20 – Keely Hodgkinson
 19 – Likina Amebaw
 18 – Faith Cherotich
 17 – Jakob Ingebrigtsen
 16 – Cameron Myers
 15 – Georgia Hunter Bell
 14 – Klaudia Kazimierska
 13 – Oblique Seville
 12 – Emmanuel Wanyonyi
 11 – Rai Benjamin
 10 – Julien Alfred
 9 – Marileidy Paulino
 8 – Kenny Bednarek
 7 – Collen Kebintashipi
 6 – Ja’Kobe Tharp
 5 – Josh Kerr
 4 – Audrey Werro
 3 – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
 2 – Alison dos Santos
 1 – Masai Russell

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠

“I’ve allowed my brain to anchor on the fact that I can run 2:04. It’s physically possible — and that’s as good as it gets as a signal. Now let’s go find out what the trend looks like.”

My guest for today’s episode is Charles Hicks  and the last time we had him on was right after he ran 2:04:35 at the Boston Marathon. A lot has happened since then. His wife graduated law school. They got married. They went on a honeymoon. And then Charles moved out to Park City, Utah, to train at altitude for the first time in his career — no tent, no simulated environment, just real air at real elevation — for what will be his third marathon in less than a year.

That third marathon is the Chicago Marathon, and Charles is going into it with a specific goal he’s been comfortable saying out loud: he finished second American in New York, second American in Boston, and now he wants to be first American in Chicago. The American record conversation is happening around him — Clayton Young has called his shot publicly — but Charles’s approach to it is characteristically his own. Beat the guy next to you. Let the record follow if it’s going to.

In this conversation, he takes us through how Chicago has been on the plan since a text thread in 2024 where he and Jerry mapped out New York, Boston, Chicago in sequence; we get into some of his training and what organic altitude training has taught him about pacing discipline that sea-level training couldn’t and much more. He’s one of the most philosophical marathoners you’ll find.

Discussed in this episode:

– Organic altitude — why no tent in Park City

– What altitude training actually teaches you

– The timeline from Boston to Chicago

– The goal for Chicago — first American, not the American record

– “Anchor” versus “ceiling” — a key distinction

– The mileage log for this block– Daisy-chaining — the philosophy behind the continuous training

– The earache that set up the best workout of his career

– What the taper feels like after 125-130 mile weeks

– The Vinny Mauri subplot

– The track work

– Training alongside Cole Sprout and Kieran Tuntivate

– The brain podcast on solo easy runs

– Race day logistics

+ More

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Like sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blending into one, Olipop's Crisp Apple is so tantalizingly sweet and refreshing it makes every day feel like a celebration. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

SUUNTO: The Suunto Run 2 is their new flagship watch built specifically for road running and the marathon. You get around 10 days of battery with daily use and 24 hours in performance mode with dual frequency GPS. The watch also tracks your sleep, HRV, and training balance, so you know when to push and when to back off in your workouts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you're in the market for a new watch, check out the Suunto Run 2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

KAIZEN: kaizen is a training app that starts with your running history to set the baseline and then updates around the training you do. kaizen looks at the bigger picture of your training to know your current fitness. The app translates your last few months of training into an accurate view of how your current fitness, taking a big picture view that quiets the noise of individual workouts. ⁠⁠Download today in the App Store or Google Play and get two weeks free with code CITIUS within the app.⁠