Rob: What can we call you? Coach Ed? Coach Eyestone?
Ed: My guys called me Easy E.
Rob: Easy E.
Ed: I don't know that it's due to my rapping abilities.
Ed: I think it's just because I'm a kind of easygoing guy.
Rob: Hey everybody and welcome to a special episode of Set
Rob: the Pace, the official podcast of New York Road Runners,
Rob: presented by Peloton. I'm your host, Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO
Rob: of New York Road Runners, and we are here with
Rob: a live audience at the Citizens House of Blues in
Rob: Boston, just two nights ahead of the 2025 129th running of the Boston Marathon
Rob: presented by Bank of America. Who's running out there? Who's
Rob: running on Monday? All right, we got runners out here.
Rob: It's an incredible vibe in Boston this weekend. The weather
Rob: is spectacular here on Saturday, the day we're taping, and
Rob: it looks great for Monday as well. And my usual
Rob: amazing co- host, Becs Gentry, is not with us today.
Rob: She's back in New York tonight, so we have a
Rob: very special guest host with us tonight. She's a great
Rob: friend of New York Road Runners, familiar fans to all
Rob: New York sports fans and sports fans everywhere and especially
Rob: to fans of the TCS New York City Marathon because
Rob: she is a regular host of our broadcast there. Not
Rob: only that, she's running the Boston Marathon on Monday, Sam
Rob: Ryan. Hey Sam.
Sam: Hey there. So excited to be... Missing Becs, but so
Sam: excited to be here with you guys today and this
Sam: weekend, and wow, the weather. Dare we say, it's two
Sam: days out. We can say it now. The weather's looking
Sam: really good.
Rob: It's looking great.
Sam: We're close, so now we can say it.
Rob: Great for Monday.
Sam: All week long, I didn't want to say it, but yeah.
Rob: A hundred percent. Thank goodness that the race was not
Rob: today because here on Saturday, over 80 degrees in Boston.
Rob: An incredible day to walk around, see the sights, take
Rob: photos, but luckily a lot cooler on Monday. So how
Rob: are you feeling about your race on Monday?
Sam: Like those of you who are running, probably a little
Sam: nervous, trying to get out of my head, but the hay is in
Sam: the barn as they say, right?
Rob: That's what they say.
Sam: So you have to trust your training and I know
Sam: we have a special guest who will tell us about
Sam: that too a little later, but I trust the training and I'm excited.
Rob: All right. Well, we-
Sam: I'm really looking forward to it.
Rob: You mentioned a special guest, and if you want to know about
Rob: training for a marathon, there is no person better in
Rob: the United States or beyond to talk to than our
Rob: featured guest today. The legendary coach Ed Eyestone is here
Rob: with us today. Ed is someone who has really become
Rob: the top distance running coach in the country. He's got
Rob: a number of elite runners going on Monday and we're
Rob: going to go deep with Ed on all things marathoning
Rob: and get psyched for what we think could be some
Rob: amazing American performances. So Ed'll be with us in just a
Rob: minute, but Sam, we do this member moment segment at
Rob: every New York Road Runners Set the Pace podcast, and
Rob: so today the member is you. We're going to feature
Rob: you, Sam, as our member moment. You're not only a
Rob: great broadcaster but also a New York Road Runners member.
Rob: So let's talk a little bit about what you're doing
Rob: and how you're feeling about Monday. I mean, it's actually
Rob: amazing. You're a four- time Emmy Award winner, a great
Rob: broadcaster. You sit in our studio broadcasting the marathon in
Rob: New York. How is it for you to get out
Rob: there and actually run these races after you've sat and been
Rob: a part of broadcasting them so many years?
Sam: It's so different now because when I first started broadcasting
Sam: the New York City Marathon after having set my marathon
Sam: PB in New York City, so when you cover it,
Sam: it's like covering the Super Bowl. This is your event.
Sam: It's like, " Okay, now here I am covering the event
Sam: that I love, that I run." You feel like you're
Sam: part of the fabric. But now to go back out
Sam: and to run a marathon after that, it just feels,
Sam: I don't want to use the word authentic, but it
Sam: feels like it's full circle, but now it feels like
Sam: you can feel what you're speaking to also. So it's
Sam: a little bit of that all wrapped up into one.
Sam: I'm not just the runner out there. I can parlay
Sam: this information into the booth as well, but I take
Sam: advice from you, from Carrie, from everybody that we work
Sam: with also, and I listen to them, so now I can
Sam: apply that to myself.
Rob: It's funny. You've covered so many big sports. You've covered Major
Rob: League Baseball, the NFL, you've been a part of these
Rob: big sports, but you haven't been able to play Major
Rob: League Baseball or play in the NFL. So it's got
Rob: to be so cool as a broadcaster to go out
Rob: on the field of play that you've been covering and
Rob: kind of have that crossover moment. And that's one of
Rob: the things that's so special about this sport, right, is that
Rob: we're going to have 30,000 people following these elite runners
Rob: in Boston on Monday as we do in New York
Rob: every November.
Sam: You know what? We were just talking about this in
Sam: the green room before that it's such an individual sport,
Sam: right? You're running your pace, you're doing your training, but
Sam: yet there are teammates and there is teamwork. And we've
Sam: seen this with the pros. We see the teamwork and
Sam: we see how the running community just bonds together and
Sam: everybody supports each other. So it is a team sport
Sam: in that sense too. And there's just so much energy.
Sam: It's like being part of a team and everybody roots
Sam: for each other. It's awesome. You guys are awesome.
Rob: It is awesome. We're going to be rooting for everybody
Rob: out there this Monday. That's one of the things that makes
Rob: it special. Sam, you were not always into running, and this
Rob: happens a lot with people. They find a point in
Rob: life when they like running. When you were a kid, I'm told
Rob: you would produce a doctor's note to get out of
Rob: having to run a mile in gym class.
Sam: It was a legitimate doctor's note.
Rob: Oh, a legitimate doctor's note.
Sam: It was legitimate. Yes, yes.
Rob: What changed for you to get you from there to
Rob: where you are now running all these marathons?
Sam: So I have asthma and I don't know if anyone
Sam: else does, but I as a kid, exercise induced asthma.
Sam: So that was my excuse rather than, " Let's work through
Sam: it," because it wasn't advisable back then. It's like, " Okay,
Sam: you have exercise- induced asthma. Don't work out. Don't do
Sam: anything." When I got a little older, when I was 18,
Sam: 19, I wanted to get in shape. I wanted to
Sam: play tennis. I would get winded just running back and
Sam: forth on the court. And I worked on, " Let me
Sam: run to the end of my block, let me run
Sam: to the end of my block and then turn the corner," little by
Sam: little one step at a time. And that's how we
Sam: all began, or most of us would begin our running
Sam: journey if we developed running later in life. So it's
Sam: just one foot in front of the other, let's see
Sam: how far we can go. And then I realized I
Sam: wasn't getting as winded. I didn't need the inhaler. I
Sam: have pictures from my first New York City Marathon, which
Sam: was my first marathon, and there's an inhaler on my
Sam: fuel belt.
Rob: Wow.
Sam: My second one, inhaler in the hand. Never needed it,
Sam: but it was always in my head and I always
Sam: thought about, " Well, what if I need it? What if
Sam: I push too hard? Am I going to need the
Sam: inhaler?" And I didn't. And I feel that I worked
Sam: through it and I feel better physically.
Rob: That's a great story. It's one of 30, 000 stories that
Rob: there'll be at the starting line on Monday and there's
Rob: just so many stories like that in this sport. Everybody
Rob: has had to overcome something to get to the starting
Rob: line of an event like the Boston Marathon or the New
Rob: York Marathon. Every single one of you knows, whether it's
Rob: you running or a friend, you know what they've had
Rob: to overcome, and for you it was that, and here
Rob: you are. It must feel amazing.
Sam: It does. It does. I just want to keep going.
Rob: Absolutely.
Sam: We all do, right?
Rob: Speaking of keeping going, you have a goal of running
Rob: a thousand miles a year. Is that right? You're trying
Rob: to do a thousand a year?
Sam: Well, yeah.
Rob: That's not so crazy.
Sam: (inaudible) crazy.
Rob: Have you done a thousand in the last couple of years?
Sam: The last two years I hadn't, but prior to that
Sam: I did. This year I will make it.
Rob: Yeah.
Sam: Yeah. We are in a marathon training cycle.
Rob: It's true. You can do that pretty quickly. Where are
Rob: you trying to get to in your marathon goals? Do you
Rob: have a time you're trying to achieve in Boston or
Rob: what are you trying to do?
Sam: I do have a time because I've run this before and the last time
Sam: I ran it, it didn't go... It wasn't pretty. So
Sam: I want to finish and finish proud and just happy,
Sam: and I want to prove that the training that I
Sam: did and the dedication that I put into this over
Sam: the past year has paid off and that it worked,
Sam: so let's see. Let's see where it goes.
Rob: Well, we wish you luck on Monday. It's going to
Rob: be exciting for you. Hope to welcome you back to
Rob: New York with Boston Marathon under your belt. And you
Rob: think you'll be able to take some things from this to
Rob: the marathon broadcast in the fall in New York?
Sam: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Rob: We can't wait.
Sam: And just being part of this community, it's so uplifting.
Sam: So you guys are awesome. You guys are rock stars.
Rob: All right. Well, speaking of rock stars, there are going
Rob: to be some incredible rock stars wearing the USA stars
Rob: and stripes on Monday. Ed Eyestone, no one knows more
Rob: about how to prepare for a marathon than our guest,
Rob: so let's bring Ed Eyestone up and introduce this incredible coach.
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Rob: For those who don't know Coach Eyestone, I think we call you...
Rob: What can we call you? Coach Ed? Coach Eyestone?
Ed: My guys called me Easy E.
Rob: Easy E.
Ed: I don't know that it's due to my rapping ability.
Ed: I think it's just because a kind of easygoing guy.
Rob: Not the original Easy E. I love it.
Ed: Our sport is difficult enough to not have a dictator
Ed: as a coach and having been there in their position, I
Ed: want to be able to work with them. I mean,
Ed: I am demanding, and I'm sure you've talked to Conner
Ed: and Clayton, the kind of workouts that they do, but
Ed: it's kind of flattering actually, Easy E. But you can call me Ed. That's fine.
Rob: We're sticking with Easy E. I love it.
Sam: Easy E is good. Yeah.
Rob: So for those who don't know, Coach Eyestone, Ed Eyestone is
Rob: a two- time Olympian himself. He is a former NCAA
Rob: champion and a legendary coach whose athletes include Conner Mantz,
Rob: Clayton Young and Keira D'Amato, who all will be towing
Rob: the starting line on Monday, and they are really leading
Rob: a resurgence in American distance running. He's the head coach in cross-
Rob: country and track and field at BYU, one of the
Rob: most consistent collegiate programs in the country over the years,
Rob: and talking about how calm he is, steady leadership has
Rob: really made that a program that's on the map now
Rob: for all runners, and he's a broadcaster just like you,
Rob: Sam. You guys actually have been together I think as
Rob: broadcasters. You've connected with some of your runners through broadcasting,
Rob: which we'll talk about as well. So he's done it
Rob: all and it's great to have you here.
Ed: Well, thank you. Appreciate that, and probably a little bit
Ed: of hyperbole there in that intro, but I appreciate it. It's been
Ed: fun. And this is a sport that, like many of
Ed: you, I started back in junior high when I got
Ed: cut from the baseball team, of course. If my real
Ed: dreams had have come to fruition, I'd be next door
Ed: at Fenway Park. But when I did get that cut,
Ed: it was the first time that I realized in the
Ed: spring of the year, sure you have baseball, but there's
Ed: another sport actually in the spring. It's called track and
Ed: field. And so that's how I got my gentle introduction
Ed: into the sport. And so like many of you, I've
Ed: been involved in this for the last 50 plus years
Ed: and it's been fun. I was able to run through
Ed: college and then had a pretty long- lasting professional career.
Ed: When I was nearly 40 actually as I was slowing
Ed: down and the competition was getting faster, a good coach
Ed: in the area offered me a position just to get
Ed: my foot in the door of coaching. And so I
Ed: went and worked at a place called Weber State University
Ed: up in Ogden, Utah for about two and a half
Ed: years. And then as that cycled down, my old track
Ed: and cross- country coach at BYU was then retiring and
Ed: I was able to move in. And so for the
Ed: last 25 years, I've been working at the D1 level,
Ed: and over the last 10 years or so, we've had
Ed: athletes emerge who were running at a high enough level
Ed: that they were going to be able to run professionally.
Ed: And so it's kind of fun. My day job obviously
Ed: is a track and field and cross- country coach at BYU.
Ed: We won a national championship this last year.
Rob: Congratulations.
Sam: Awesome.
Ed: Humble brag right there, humble brag, but it doesn't happen
Ed: often so I work it into conversations as often as I
Ed: can. But that may be my day job, but I'm just
Ed: as passionate obviously about my professional athletes that I get
Ed: to work with and it's so cool.
Sam: Before we get to Conner and Clayton and Kiera, you
Sam: talked about your career, and I know this sounds like
Sam: a broad question, but we know that running, in the
Sam: running community, running, there's a boom in popularity in all
Sam: distances, not just the marathon, but what is the biggest
Sam: difference that you see not only in the performance and
Sam: the athletes, but in the training, in the equipment, in
Sam: the shoes and in the coaching from when you ran-
Ed: From the dark ages, you're saying?
Sam: ... to today?
Ed: So from the dark ages?
Sam: Yeah. Well, Easy E.
Ed: When all the pictures were in black and white. My
Ed: guys are going, " Was color not invented when you were running?"
Ed: It's interesting because I think some of the same go-
Ed: to workouts that my guys love and thrive in were
Ed: similar workouts that I was doing in the '80s and '90s. So some of
Ed: that has been consistent, but there are always new innovations,
Ed: and a good coach is going to plagiarize with the
Ed: best of them. We're in a wonderful opportunity now in
Ed: terms of the internet. The internet's not only great for
Ed: learning a guitar song or something, but also fantastic in
Ed: terms of pulling up some good workouts and seeing what
Ed: people around the country and around the world are doing.
Ed: So I think we've all appreciated for this sharing of
Ed: information that's out there, things like double threshold workouts, and
Ed: obviously the equipment and the stadiums that we're running in
Ed: I think are more athlete friendly now as well. And
Ed: so all of those things I think are coming together
Ed: and as a result of that, we're just seeing a
Ed: perfect storm of speed and that's why the records have
Ed: just gone through the roof in terms of across all
Ed: events really, and it's going to be interesting to see
Ed: what the future holds.
Rob: And you were kind of a perfect storm of speed yourself when you were
Rob: a runner. I mean, you haven't bragged that much about your running
Rob: days, but you really were elite. You won something called
Rob: the triple crown of distance running, which I think only
Rob: four or five people have ever done, the national championship
Rob: in cross country in the 5, 000 meters and in the 10, 000
Rob: meters, which is an incredible accomplishment. What did you take
Rob: from those days of running at that level that you've
Rob: been able to really bring into your coaching career?
Ed: Well, if you were to ask my guys, they would
Ed: probably say one thing that Coach Eyestone likes or Easy
Ed: E likes is consistency. And I felt like over the
Ed: course of my career, even dating back to high school
Ed: and college, I was someone who my coaches pretty much
Ed: knew they were going to put me in and even
Ed: if it was an event that I wasn't that comfortable
Ed: with, a 1500 or something like that, that I was
Ed: going to give it my best possible performance. Didn't mean
Ed: that I was going to win every race, but I
Ed: was going to be consistent. When people come to me
Ed: and ask, " Okay, what's the perfect workout? What do I
Ed: need to do?" It's just the consistency and I came
Ed: up with kind of a corny equation because I was
Ed: anything but a math major, but it's C squared equals
Ed: E squared, which is just consistent competence equals eventual excellence.
Ed: So you don't have to hit a home run every
Ed: time you're up to bat. You can tell I'm a
Ed: frustrated baseball player, right? But we just need to get
Ed: out there and do our best on a consistent basis.
Ed: And if we do that day in, day out, week in, week
Ed: out, month in, month out, year in, year out, then
Ed: ultimately I think we're going to have an opportunity to,
Ed: if not achieve greatness, at least come close to our
Ed: running potential.
Sam: That is awesome. So when you take that philosophy and
Sam: that mentality from your training and parlay that to coaching,
Sam: when some athletes join you later, Kiera for example, how
Sam: difficult is it to or receptive are they to your
Sam: philosophy and your message?
Ed: Well, I think anytime I take in someone who... I've
Ed: been fortunate because I've had a number of athletes come
Ed: through the BYU system, and so they've literally been with
Ed: me since their senior year in high school and so
Ed: by the time they get through in four or five
Ed: years, they kind of know the system, and obviously it's
Ed: going to be tweaked as they move up to the
Ed: marathon from maybe the five and 10, 000 meters, but I've also worked
Ed: with people who went to other programs and then came
Ed: in. First thing you do as a coach is just
Ed: sit down with person and you kind of see what
Ed: their goals are. I was in at the Bryan Clay
Ed: Meet in Los Angeles for the last four days with
Ed: my college team. So this morning I got up early
Ed: and caught a nonstop, got in about two hours ago.
Ed: The guy that I was sitting next to obviously looked
Ed: like a runner. We struck up a conversation and the
Ed: first thing I asked him is, " What is your goal?
Ed: What would make you happy in terms of running Boston?"
Ed: And he said, " Well, work's been a grind lately. I
Ed: haven't been able to get the miles in." So I said, "
Ed: Well, obviously you have realistic expectations going in." He wasn't
Ed: expecting to run a PR, but he wanted to get
Ed: the very best performance out of his training that he
Ed: had done. So to answer your question, Sam, anytime that
Ed: I take on a new client or athlete that I'm
Ed: going to work with, we're going to have a conversation
Ed: about where you're at, what you've done in the past,
Ed: what's some of the good things that you'd like to
Ed: carry forward that you think are going to be effective, and then
Ed: hey, maybe we can implement some of these things that
Ed: have proven effective with myself back in the dark ages
Ed: or with some of the athletes that I'm currently working
Ed: with to kind of tweak things. And some of it
Ed: also is just coming to altitude, like Keira D'Amato. When
Ed: she came out, she'd never been at altitude. Here we
Ed: have the American record holder at the time, or previous
Ed: to that anyway, in the marathon, she'd never really had
Ed: any extended training at altitude. And I said, " You know
Ed: what? That's kind of a thing. Let's experiment with that.
Ed: Let's come out to altitude."
Rob: It works for Kenyans and Ethiopians and lots of other stuff.
Ed: I think really if you look worldwide, if you see the
Ed: people in the Olympic Games, I would say the vast,
Ed: vast, vast majority, almost without exception, not necessarily live full-
Ed: time at altitude, but have an altitude training component that
Ed: they will step up to for at least four to
Ed: six weeks.
Rob: That community that you have created out there in Utah
Rob: is incredible now and it really has become... There's been Flagstaff,
Rob: Arizona, there's been Boulder, Colorado over the years for American
Rob: distance running, but I don't know that there's ever been
Rob: anything quite like what you have going on between the
Rob: incredible program you've got at BYU and now this professional
Rob: running scene. And I had a chance to go visit
Rob: out there this past February. A guy named Todd Garner,
Rob: who's a friend of yours and a friend of Road
Rob: Runners, hosted me and my daughter out there. I had
Rob: a chance to have dinner with Clayton and Conner and
Rob: their wives and this whole crew out there and they
Rob: are all hitting the roads Saturday morning, long runs, pushing
Rob: each other. They got vehicle support, and it's a team
Rob: that you guys have out there. What has allowed this
Rob: Utah kind of cluster to become what it has become
Rob: in distance running?
Ed: Yeah. I mean, I think there are various things that
Ed: have contributed to the growth, one, at BYU on both the
Ed: men's and women's. Let me brag about our women for
Ed: a minute because they won a national championship on the
Ed: women's side at cross- country this year and I think it
Ed: was the first time at about 20 years that the
Ed: men's and women's program had won simultaneously in the same
Ed: year. Coach Diljeet Taylor is doing a phenomenal job with
Ed: our women there. She's also part of the Nike kind
Ed: of hub system that they've established there. So she's got
Ed: some very, very talented professional athletes as well. So I
Ed: think it's a combination of having some really good athletes
Ed: that have graduated from the system and have stuck around
Ed: because of (inaudible) success. And then a lot of
Ed: people, Utah is... They call it, what do they call it, Little
Ed: Silicon Slopes a little bit, a lot of big tech
Ed: industry coming in there. So we just have a lot
Ed: of really good people moving in from out of state
Ed: who love running. And as we know, running is a
Ed: wonderful community and people like Todd Garner who's been very
Ed: generous, very supportive, have also stepped up, and as a
Ed: result on any given Saturday long run, yes, we'll have
Ed: Conner and Clayton and Kiera that are leading the charge
Ed: in the men's pack and the women's pack, but we'll have
Ed: 40 plus people show up, some of whom are three
Ed: hour plus marathoners, but they know, " Okay, this is a
Ed: place where we're going to meet and there's going to
Ed: be some support and some camaraderie and all of those
Ed: good things." When you get... There's a certain amount of
Ed: synergy that comes when you have good people training together
Ed: and also maybe not hanging with you in the workouts,
Ed: but just supportive and know who your name is and
Ed: know what your name is and how to support you,
Ed: good things are going to happen. We've also had an
Ed: interesting development with the state legislature, a program called REP,
Ed: which has done some state dollars donating towards the development
Ed: of distance running in the state, so kind of as
Ed: a safety net for those college kids who come out
Ed: because not everybody is running well enough out of college
Ed: to garner a shoe contract, which is kind of the
Ed: bread and butter of professional athletes, right? You got to
Ed: be able to have something to pay the rent, right?
Ed: And the vast majority of kids out of college are
Ed: not at that level, but with some support, with some
Ed: maintenance, and it doesn't take a lot, sometimes it's just
Ed: a matter of having an insurance program, health insurance or
Ed: access to PTs or athletic trainers, as a result of
Ed: those monies that have been invested by the state, we've
Ed: seen I think a rise as well.
Sam: It's interesting. One thing that you just said that I
Sam: want to go back to, you said not everybody is running well
Sam: enough out of college, the development of the runner and
Sam: the distance runner. Can we talk about the maturation and
Sam: how long does that really take after college?
Ed: Yeah. Well, I was having a conversation with somebody the
Ed: other day because if you follow the sport, you probably were
Ed: aware that a couple weeks ago at the LA Marathon, all of
Ed: a sudden we had this college kid, I think in
Ed: his first year out of college, post- collegiately. He was
Ed: a two- time All- American, but he was not a
Ed: name that you would really know unless you were in the
Ed: conference. Went out and on his debut ran 207, okay? So
Ed: Rickman is his name and I'm drawing a blank on
Ed: his first name, but... Did somebody... Matt. Okay, thank you.
Ed: I always get... Dorian, when I'm working in Chicago, she's the one-
Rob: Dorian Cale with the assist from the first row. Yeah.
Ed: Yes.
Rob: (inaudible) .
Ed: Dorian is the one slipping me notes saying, "Okay, you're mispronouncing"-
Sam: You guys can cheer for Dorian.
Ed: " You're mispronouncing that guy's name, you dummy. You gotta
Ed: say it right." You need brains behind the whatever sometimes,
Ed: and we appreciate Dorian. But yeah, so here's a guy
Ed: who it would be easy just to say, " Okay, ran
Ed: D1 college, two time All- American. It's time to move
Ed: on. I got a day job," or whatever, but he's continued
Ed: and he gave himself a shot. He trained and he
Ed: went into his marathon and his debut ran sub 208,
Ed: okay? So my conversation with the team was, " Hey guys,
Ed: I think you owe it to yourselves, if it's a
Ed: desire of yours"... I'm not going to push it. I
Ed: am Easy E, right? I'm not going to push this
Ed: goal onto them, but they should probably have as a
Ed: goal at some point in time post- collegiately to go
Ed: run a marathon. Let's see, because we definitely have some
Ed: people that are adapters that are much better at the
Ed: marathon than they would be even at the 5, 000, 10,000. There's
Ed: a pretty good correlation between 10K success and marathon success,
Ed: but it's not a one- to- one correlation by any
Ed: means. And sometimes you'll have people who are so- so
Ed: at the 10,000 meters, but because of their efficiency in
Ed: running and their fueling ability or the way their body
Ed: spares fuel when they run, they can really make a step-
Ed: up. So I think really most runners, especially, again, D1
Ed: or whatever, college runners, probably owe it to themselves that, "
Ed: Hey, let's give this marathon thing a shot."
Rob: And I was in Orlando a year and change ago
Rob: for the US Olympic trials and saw the incredible moment
Rob: that two of your runners, Clayton and Conner had, and
Rob: now here we are past the Olympics where they also
Rob: had an incredible day. I was in Paris to watch
Rob: them both cross the finish line in the top 10, and the
Rob: strength from the two of them just continues to build.
Rob: So looking ahead to Monday, I'd love to get inside
Rob: your conversations with both Clayton and Conner getting ready for
Rob: this race on Monday. How are you talking to them
Rob: about the way this race might play out and the
Rob: expectations that both of them have in terms of what
Rob: they can do? Clayton has been running strong, Conner just
Rob: coming off of a American record in the half. A
Rob: lot of people right now are talking about him as
Rob: someone who could be podium or better, so different conversations,
Rob: I'm sure. Let's start with Clayton and how you think he
Rob: can approach this race on Monday. What looks like a
Rob: good race for him?
Ed: Yeah. Well, I think Clayton, and many of you are probably following
Ed: along. We often have a documentarian at every workout. For
Ed: those of you who are on YouTube and follow Clayton
Ed: Young, he's got a series that's very, very well done and I think
Ed: it gives you a little bit of an inside peek
Ed: of the psyche of elite marathoners and what they're going
Ed: through and whatnot. And we had an excellent build going
Ed: into Paris I felt and a pretty good build going into
Ed: New York. This build, and when I say build, it's
Ed: usually kind of a 16- week program that we follow,
Ed: this week or this build coming into Boston, when we're
Ed: training for spring marathons in Utah, it can be a little
Ed: dicey, right? Because we're in the winter. People fly out
Ed: to Utah to ski in the winter time. They don't
Ed: come out to train for marathons. So sometimes it can
Ed: be a little hit- and- miss because of the weather.
Ed: But Clayton's had a really nice build and I think
Ed: he gauges somewhat where he's at relative to his proximity
Ed: to his training partner, Conner Mantz, because Conner's just famous
Ed: for going out and just hammering every workout. And I'll
Ed: give him, " Okay, let's try to hit around 418 on
Ed: these mile repeats," and Conner will roll in at 412 and it's like, "
Ed: Conner, that's a little fast there." And Clayton's going, " Conner,
Ed: that's really fast." They get along really well, but sometimes
Ed: they're like an old married couple because inevitably Conner is
Ed: driving the workout pretty fast and Clayton's holding on with
Ed: his fingernails. But he's come into this, as you alluded
Ed: to Conner Mantz coming into this 16- week cycle. I
Ed: like to schedule races periodically because I think having races
Ed: during your marathon build, I think there's a couple of
Ed: good things that come about as a result of that.
Ed: One, you avoid the what I call all your eggs
Ed: in one basket syndrome where you're just training for six
Ed: months and it's one race and then you get a
Ed: cramp or something and it's like, " Oh crud, what do I have
Ed: to show for my six months?" So I like to
Ed: have a couple of races in there so they can
Ed: go and have other races and try to get PRs
Ed: or just see where they're at. I think it's a good
Ed: checkpoint to see where am I in my training, at
Ed: least in the shorter distances, and that can really instill
Ed: some confidence. And I think it also forces them for
Ed: about a week as they go into this to taper
Ed: down just a little bit, because sometimes they'll be hammering
Ed: out anywhere from 115 to 125 miles a week and it's nice
Ed: to have a half- marathon or in Conner and Clayton's case, two half-
Ed: marathons over this 16- week build where they were able
Ed: to actually bring the mileage down a little bit because
Ed: if they're going to run a race, I want them
Ed: to go into it fresh enough that they're going to
Ed: be able to perform to the best of their ability.
Ed: And so in Conner's case, he got the American record
Ed: in Houston and had an amazing race and it was
Ed: a pretty windy day. It was not ideal conditions. And
Ed: then he followed that up about I think five weeks
Ed: ago at the New York City half, which I think you were
Ed: there, Sam, weren't you, covering it?
Rob: Yep.
Ed: And he ran even faster there. Because of the logistics
Ed: of that course, it's not eligible for American record purposes
Ed: because it's point to point, but had another really good...
Ed: Ran faster on what I consider a hillier and more
Ed: difficult course than Houston.
Rob: Definitely.
Ed: So those were really good checkpoints for Conner Mantz. Now,
Ed: Clayton went into... ran Houston. Ran solid, not amazing. I
Ed: think we all thought he'd run closer to one hour
Ed: flat and he was one hour and 50s or something
Ed: like that. So he came away from it a little scratching
Ed: his head going, " I think I just made some tactical decisions."
Ed: It was a windy day. He didn't go with the leaders,
Ed: so he got kind of no man's land. So we go, "
Ed: Okay, we'll work on tactics on that." And then he
Ed: ran the Atlanta half, which was the US half- marathon
Ed: championships and really just had an off day. His back
Ed: tightened and his lower kind of hamstring chain. And that's
Ed: the other thing that happens. I think when we schedule
Ed: races during a build, sometimes we can identify maybe some
Ed: weaknesses in where we're at. And so I think that
Ed: was a really good opportunity for the last... That was about
Ed: seven, eight weeks ago. He's had a chance to meet
Ed: with his PTs, do some strength and conditioning with our
Ed: strength and conditioning coach a little bit, all to the
Ed: workouts, and for the last four or five weeks, he's
Ed: been back running closer to Conner, so actually closing the
Ed: gap a little bit. And so much of the sport,
Ed: if it can't be seamless, which rarely is it, then
Ed: it's all about momentum, and he's hitting momentum. He's hitting at
Ed: the right time. So I'm hoping in Clayton's case that
Ed: we can ride this momentum to a really good performance,
Ed: and by good performance, with this field that they've put
Ed: together, I think Conner and Clayton, although they're 207 high
Ed: and 208 flat PRs, I think they're the 16th and 17th best times coming in, okay?
Ed: So that can have you scratching your head and going, "
Ed: Do they even have a chance?" But what I take
Ed: solace in is that head to head in strategic non-
Ed: paced races, the Olympic Games, they've been beating 204 guys
Ed: consistently. So that's what we're hoping for. We're hoping that
Ed: it's just a grinder and that they can do their
Ed: strength and it's not going to be (inaudible) . We
Ed: saw Lima last year just take it out and fly.
Ed: Got a big minute and a half lead I think
Ed: at one point in time, and that may happen again,
Ed: but I would think that Conner, you're going to see
Ed: him running with the lead pack, even if they do
Ed: go a little bit breakneck at the start, and I
Ed: don't think Clayton's going to be too far behind. They're
Ed: both engineers by training. They both graduated in engineering, and
Ed: so it's fun to see their technical approach to it.
Ed: Talking to Conner just a couple days ago, we had said, "
Ed: Okay." I gave him a homework assignment and said, "Let's look at the last 10 years.
Ed: Let's look at the first half, second half of Boston.
Ed: Let's do a little analytics and see what's up." And
Ed: the takeaway that he came into my office with, he said, "
Ed: Coach, what I've noticed is that whoever can run 103
Ed: for the second half is going to be in position
Ed: or the winner I think in the last 10 years
Ed: on the men's side to run 103 for the second
Ed: half. I think I can do that." So it's how
Ed: they get to that second half is the thing that
Ed: will help determine a lot of things. But I think
Ed: if we see kind of how it is sometimes, even
Ed: though it's downhill, sometimes it can be kind of a
Ed: pack run. Nobody really wants to take it. No one
Ed: wants to be the sacrificial lamb out front. I think
Ed: if they get to half at a not 61 pace,
Ed: but more like 62 or 63, then I think Conner
Ed: is going to have a great shot, and I think
Ed: that's also the best game plan for Clayton.
Sam: I am so in awe with the technical side of
Sam: it and the numbers and the crunching numbers in your
Sam: head while this is transpiring, but when you talk about
Sam: the momentum and sprinkling those races in, and especially what
Sam: we saw Conner do, how much of this... There's technical,
Sam: there's experience, but then how much of this is confidence
Sam: also? How much of this is a confidence build, especially coming off
Sam: Houston and the NYC half?
Ed: Yeah. Well, I think Conner, in fact, I was in
Ed: LA with my college team, so I missed the press
Ed: conference, but I listened to all the various things, and what
Ed: came away for me was him, Conner Mantz, reiterating how
Ed: confident he is going into this and the fact that
Ed: it took... So this will be his seventh marathon and
Ed: I think Clayton's as well, and his second marathon was
Ed: two years ago here. So he had run Chicago, run
Ed: well there and then came into this and he just
Ed: put himself in it because that's the way he loves
Ed: to do it. He just followed every move and he went out really
Ed: probably too hard for his experiential level at the time,
Ed: and then he really suffered at the end and I think
Ed: faded to... I think he ended up 10th or 11th place. And he said, "
Ed: That really shook me. That really shook me, because it was like
Ed: this is the first time when I was blacking out," something that we've
Ed: all experienced ourselves if we've run enough marathons where you're
Ed: kind of seeing stars, and he wasn't used to that
Ed: because he was really a track guy who was just moving
Ed: up. And so I think he learned and he had some
Ed: good takeaways from that, so that experiential factor comes into
Ed: play. And the fact that he's done so well in
Ed: the last four marathons that he's run, and if you go through
Ed: the marathons that these guys have run, really, they ran
Ed: Chicago two years ago. To get their qualifying mark, they
Ed: had to run under 208 to get the world standard. Then
Ed: they followed up with the Olympic trials where they went
Ed: one, two, then they followed that up with Paris where
Ed: they went eight, nine.
Rob: Eight, nine.
Ed: Eight, nine. Yep. And then they followed that up with
Ed: New York, where they went seven, eight. Okay, and that's
Ed: the amazing thing. I mean, I've seen larger gaps between
Ed: Conner and Clayton when they're doing mile repeats than if
Ed: you look at the average. I think the average of
Ed: those six marathons has been about 16 seconds.
Rob: It's incredible.
Ed: They each have their own way to get where they're
Ed: at. Conner has to just hammer, hammer, hammer. Clayton is
Ed: holding on for life and often his back, but he's
Ed: still pushing it pretty well as well. But success breeds
Ed: success, Sam, to answer your question. And I think that the
Ed: success that they've had, particularly over the last four or
Ed: so marathons, is going to make them less conservative and more, "
Ed: Hey, let's swing for the fences." This is Boston, after all.
Rob: All right, Easy E, let's talk about your newest female
Rob: pupil, Kiera D'Amato, who obviously is an elite American runner.
Rob: Let's talk about the move that she made last summer.
Rob: She made the decision to come out to Utah. She's
Rob: not from Utah. She made a decision to come there.
Rob: It was a family decision. She had to work with
Rob: her husband and they've got kids, and this was a really
Rob: big commitment she made to come train with you and this
Rob: group that you've got out there in Utah. Can you
Rob: talk about what led up to that decision? I mean, I know you guys had
Rob: worked together in the broadcast booth in Chicago. You got
Rob: to know each other there. What were the conversations and
Rob: what was the ultimate conversation when she said, " Coach, I
Rob: still want to come out and run with you"?
Ed: Yeah. I mean, I think it's like anything. Before you make that first phone call, you kind of vet
Ed: people and individuals. I had some really good experiences working
Ed: with Jared Ward as his coach, and I think Jared
Ed: and Kiera were probably... She knew him quite well from
Ed: their world championships and just the elite circuit so to
Ed: speak, and so I think she was kind of trying
Ed: to find out what kind of system we were operating
Ed: under. And it's an interesting system because back in my
Ed: days I felt like... And I was following in the
Ed: footsteps of all American and Olympians like Henry Marsh, Doug
Ed: Padilla, Paul Cummings. I saw that they were doing in
Ed: six days what a lot of people were doing in
Ed: seven days. And so I said, " Kiera, we'd like to
Ed: just do it in six days and then I'd like
Ed: to give you a day off and I'd love to have
Ed: you just kind of chill that day and just let
Ed: your body just soak in recovery during that day." And
Ed: I think it's not unusual to have runners occasionally take
Ed: a day off, but one out of seven, it doesn't
Ed: happen a whole lot. But I think she understood and
Ed: she said, " Ed, I'm all in. I'm all in. You
Ed: tell me what to do and I'm up for it," which the
Ed: coach loves to hear, and obviously she's had great experience.
Ed: I wanted to do what had worked for her in
Ed: the past. And also, I think the altitude component was
Ed: an important one for her to check out. And so
Ed: she came in I think early in the summer and
Ed: we had a wonderful build. And as things happen, sometimes
Ed: you have a wonderful build and the week before all
Ed: of a sudden there's a little something going on in
Ed: the foot, and so she ended up not performing in
Ed: Chicago, ended up DNFing from there. And then it was
Ed: a matter of, "Okay, let's figure out what we got going on here. Let's get you healthy." And so she cross-
Ed: trained for... There's cross- training where you just get on the
Ed: exercise bike and you just kind of pedal a little bit,
Ed: and then there's cross- training where there's a pool of
Ed: sweat underneath you when you finish, and that's the kind
Ed: that she was doing. But we have had a great
Ed: kind of 12 weeks where she's been running on ground,
Ed: looking good, and I'm very excited for her prospects as
Ed: well. She'd be the first to admit, she's turned 40
Ed: now, so she's a master. I think that offers some
Ed: excellent incentivizing as well to be the very best master
Ed: that you can be.
Rob: What's it been like for the other young women you've
Rob: got in that program out there in Utah to run
Rob: with the Kiera D'Amano? What has that meant for them? An idol for
Rob: all of them, I'm sure, and really someone for them
Rob: to learn from.
Ed: Well, like I say, that Saturday long run, there's a
Ed: lot more people showing up and a lot more women
Ed: showing up than there used to be. Courtney Frerichs, who's
Ed: an Olympic silver medalist in the steeplechase from 2021, suffered
Ed: a really major knee injury last year. And then I
Ed: got a call from her coach in the fall saying, " Hey"... I mean,
Ed: not her coach, but her agent saying, " Hey, she'd like
Ed: to come out to Utah. She's heard good things about
Ed: it," and it's been fun having her in the system
Ed: and it's fun to see a marathoner and a steeplechaser
Ed: working together, and there's a lot of workouts that cross
Ed: over very well for the two of them to work
Ed: together. So it been great. It's been encouraging. It's awesome for
Ed: the whole running community in the area to see these
Ed: Olympians and American record holders there training and they go, "
Ed: You know what? These are not just fast runners, but
Ed: they're really, really cool people." And I think that's what
Ed: I'm most proud about is it's a very good group.
Ed: It's non- competitive in terms of... I mean, everyone is
Ed: building one another and sometimes that's difficult at the highest
Ed: level. I'm sure you've experienced that in broadcasting or wherever,
Ed: what line of work you're in. Sometimes it's like there's that, what is
Ed: that, schadenfreude, where you're almost wanting them to fail. But
Ed: what I love about our group and our system right
Ed: now is there's a lot of building and celebration when
Ed: somebody in the group runs well.
Sam: When you talk about Keira, and this is someone who wasn't
Sam: running competitively for a brief time and now you talked
Sam: about the build to Chicago and then what happened there, but
Sam: now the rebuild for Boston, what has impressed you the
Sam: most since she's been with you?
Ed: Yeah. I think it's just her determination and just contagious positivity. That's who she
Ed: is. And if you have the chance to talk to her, I've never heard her
Ed: say one negative thing, and that's contagious. The flip side
Ed: of that can be contagious too, and it can be
Ed: kind of terminal sometimes. But to have such a positive
Ed: person come into the group. I think that's the number
Ed: one thing. And I think that's the thing that once
Ed: she had taken that several year break to actually just
Ed: start a family and pursue a professional career and all
Ed: of that, I think that's the thing that got her
Ed: back. She didn't initially start back up after that multiple
Ed: year layoff saying, " I'm going to get the American record." It's like, " Hey,
Ed: I'm going to run this marathon and I'm going to
Ed: see how I do." And then all of a sudden the times
Ed: were coming off by the tens of minutes and she
Ed: set the American record.
Rob: Well, coach Eyestone, you're a baseball fan. I'm a baseball
Rob: fan. We're sitting here feet from Fenway Park hearing the
Rob: cheers from the audience and the crowd over there with
Rob: a game going on. But running's been pretty good to
Rob: you, hasn't it? So its been a pretty good run,
Rob: if you will.
Ed: Well-
Rob: Where do you think it goes from here?
Sam: Pun intended.
Ed: Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I had a high school reunion. It
Ed: wasn't the 50, no, but I think it was, we'll
Ed: call it the 25- year reunion. It was more than
Ed: that, but it was this last summer we had a
Ed: high school reunion, and since we had had a really
Ed: fun experience at the Olympic Games, and we didn't talk
Ed: about Kenneth Rooks, who got the silver medal in the
Ed: steeplechase, which was for me the race of the games,
Ed: but of course because I'm his coach, but they had
Ed: me do a little spiel on the Olympics and what
Ed: Paris was like and my experience, and I've been to
Ed: probably six or seven Olympic Games as either an athlete
Ed: or a coach or a broadcaster. And I thought that
Ed: Paris just was phenomenal the way they put things together, but yeah, and I don't know where I was going with that.
Rob: It's been fun. You've had a great, great time-
Ed: It's been good. It's been great.
Rob: ... and you're doing amazing things.
Sam: I just have one more question. Obviously, most runners feel
Sam: some kind of jitters the night before a race, the
Sam: night before a marathon or anxiety, something. It means we're
Sam: human and we don't know how it's going to go.
Sam: We have a plan. What do you feel?
Ed: Yeah. As a coach, I think I'd like to be
Ed: able to channel all the nerves that my athletes have and say, " Let
Ed: me take this on for you guys." But there is
Ed: a certain amount of butterflies that you want to have
Ed: as an athlete. But I think if they can be
Ed: reminded that it's enjoy the process, don't be so out...
Ed: If you go in and say, " I've got to run
Ed: 204," that just puts a lot of pressure on you.
Ed: So instead, if you can enjoy the process, make sure
Ed: you're getting your water bottles, going, " Okay, I feel comfortable
Ed: in this pack, I'm going to position myself." And if
Ed: you're enjoying the process and just each mile along the
Ed: way, then lo and behold, a couple hours go by
Ed: and you're crossing the finish line. And I think that's
Ed: a really good way to kind of embrace those nerves
Ed: and get you your best performance.
Rob: Coach Eyestone, I can't wait to see what your runners do
Rob: on Monday. I'm sure you can't either.
Ed: I'm excited.
Sam: I'm so excited, yeah.
Ed: I'm excited. I'm getting nervous here.
Rob: Because it's more nerve wracking when you're the one coaching
Rob: and not running, I know. So get ready. Get ready.
Rob: Get some rest.
Ed: I'm ready.
Rob: And we wish you all the best on Monday.
Ed: I appreciate it.
Rob: And for your whole team, all your runners, for you,
Rob: continued success. Thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate
Rob: it. Great having you here.
Ed: Thank you. Thanks guys.
Rob: Ed Eyestone, Coach Ed Eyestone. Easy E-
Sam: Easy E, that's right.
Rob: ... here in the House of Blues where he belongs
Rob: as he gets ready for the 129th Boston Marathon on
Rob: Monday. Well, usually this is the point in the show
Rob: where we go to Meb Keflezighi. He does a little Meb Minute
Rob: for us, Sam, but Meb's a little busy. He's here in
Rob: Boston, but he's actually going to be broadcasting the race
Rob: for ESPN on Monday, which we can't wait to see.
Rob: He's been so great in the broadcast business. Can't wait
Rob: to watch Meb.
Sam: He was at the 5K today.
Rob: Yes, exactly. Meb is a legend obviously here in Boston
Rob: with his win here. You can't walk around with him
Rob: without people stopping him on the street. So he's busy
Rob: getting ready for his broadcast. But instead, we've got actually
Rob: some great advice for our runners, from Lauren Thomas, who is
Rob: a performance dietitian from Morton. Morton, of course, is our
Rob: partner at New York Road Runners, the company behind all
Rob: the great fuels that so many of the runners are using
Rob: right now, the gels and the drinks and all of
Rob: that. And so Lauren, thanks for coming up and talking
Rob: fueling with us a little bit.
Lauren: Thank you.
Rob: How are you doing?
Lauren: Excited to be here.
Sam: So we know Morton will be along the course, and
Sam: I've tried it, so I know you're not supposed to
Sam: try something new on Marathon Day, so once I saw
Sam: that, I tried it. Love it.
Rob: So you tried it two days before marathon day. Much better. Are you going to use it? What do you think?
Sam: Absolutely.
Rob: All right. She's in.
Sam: Absolutely. Absolutely. Tell us about what runners can expect. I
Sam: mean, obviously most of us have tried it, but what
Sam: makes this effective and helpful?
Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. Super excited to be on course at Boston
Lauren: and of course New York as well, but the Morton
Lauren: gel is going to be easy to digest. The idea
Lauren: is that it disappears from the stomach, right? So it's
Lauren: giving quick carbohydrate to the muscles to get the energy
Lauren: that the athlete needs and then moving through the body.
Lauren: So the hope is that the athletes can really just
Lauren: get that energy and move on with their run.
Rob: I started using Morton myself about a year ago. I
Rob: ran Berlin with Morton in Tokyo. In Tokyo, I found
Rob: it was really helpful. I bought a couple days before
Rob: the race the race pack that you guys put together
Rob: that has a mix for drinks, right, so drink a
Rob: certain amount the day before, a certain amount the morning
Rob: of the race, and then it gave you the gels,
Rob: I think it was five gels to use exactly every,
Rob: I forget, a certain number of kilometers I think. So
Rob: it gave you a plan of exactly what to do,
Rob: which for someone like me, I really needed because I
Rob: had never quite gotten the fueling thing. So can you
Rob: talk about that aspect of having a fueling plan for
Rob: runners and how you guys can help them do that?
Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. So the idea is to think about nutrition
Lauren: just like you would your training and have a plan
Lauren: that you're following and that you're training your stomach just like
Lauren: you would train your muscles. So the idea is you're
Lauren: arriving at marathon day and you have exactly what you're
Lauren: going to be doing for your fueling standpoint done and
Lauren: completely confident in it. So our idea from the nutrition
Lauren: team was, " Hey, can we educate the runners on, " Hey,
Lauren: not just during the race, but what are you doing before
Lauren: the race? What are you doing the night before the race?"
Lauren: And then recommend the carbohydrates that we see in the
Lauren: research really make a big difference and guide that for
Lauren: the runner throughout their journey to make sure that they
Lauren: can show up at mile 13 still feeling really good
Lauren: because they've already fueled from the very beginning. That's the
Lauren: goal, right? Fueling from the start of the race.
Rob: Yeah. Once you start to feel bad.
Lauren: It's too late.
Rob: It's too late.
Sam: It's too late.
Rob: The fuel is not going to give you what you need.
Sam: And so important during the buildup and during the training.
Sam: How important is it early on just to try what
Sam: works and really implement a plan?
Lauren: It's so important. It's so important. And everybody is so individual with
Lauren: what they're going to like, what they're going to tolerate
Lauren: at first, and you have to try things over and
Lauren: over to figure out what your plan is going to
Lauren: be, and then you have full trust in that. So
Lauren: the Morton is based off of being able to tolerate,
Lauren: really easy on the stomach and be able to, again,
Lauren: give those athletes those higher amounts of carbs that we
Lauren: see the elites pushing because all of us are going
Lauren: to benefit from more carbohydrate availability.
Rob: What do you think is the best strategy with the caffeinated
Rob: gel? I tried... I think I used one of them
Rob: right at the start in Tokyo. It gave me that
Rob: little burst, which was useful. Where do you recommend, for
Rob: those who use caffeine, people try those, and what's the
Rob: best strategy with them?
Lauren: Yeah, caffeine is so individual with tolerance, but those of
Lauren: us who are daily coffee drinkers and certainly familiar with
Lauren: caffeine, I would recommend have one at the start on
Lauren: the starting line 10 minutes prior to go time, and
Lauren: then integrate one maybe at the halfway. And that way
Lauren: you know that caffeine can take a while to hit
Lauren: peak in your bloodstream, so you're giving it some time,
Lauren: getting the caffeine along with the carbohydrate, and then getting
Lauren: another burst later. So we're not going all six caffeine
Lauren: gels, we're not going all six non caffeine gels, but
Lauren: maybe all alternating and sticking one midway can be a
Lauren: helpful way to approach that.
Sam: Most of us aren't elite athletes. There are elites out
Sam: there who they fuel a different way and they train
Sam: differently than someone like me. But how much can we
Sam: take from that and can we learn from their buildup
Sam: and their fueling? How effective can that be for the
Sam: everyday runner?
Lauren: Yeah, and I think Morton is very athlete first, and
Lauren: we learn just as much from our runners and our
Lauren: elites as we do from our everyday runner, you and
Lauren: me. And I think what we can learn is that
Lauren: fueling is only the beginning of being able to understand
Lauren: how your body works. So how can we make sure
Lauren: that an athlete is pushing those limits that they thought
Lauren: they maybe weren't even realizing was the limit? So I
Lauren: think a lot of times I'll hear athletes say, " I
Lauren: didn't know I could feel this good at the end
Lauren: of a race." And that's where fueling really comes in. "
Lauren: Well, I was taking a gel every hour. I thought
Lauren: that was fine." And sure it is, but what if
Lauren: you increase that and can you get to that last
Lauren: 5K feeling strong? That's going to be a whole different
Lauren: end of the race than it would otherwise. So I
Lauren: think we can learn a lot from these athletes who
Lauren: are pushing very, very high carbohydrate amounts during the race.
Rob: All right. Well Lauren, I think we should give away a little Morton
Rob: right here. We got a crowd here, so I want
Rob: everybody out there to take a look under your chair.
Rob: And if it's not your chair, you can even look.
Rob: It's right up underneath the chair, right? And there are
Rob: some Morton, I think some water bottles there maybe. Somebody
Rob: got one. I hear somebody pull... There we go. There's one.
Sam: Awesome.
Rob: If you've got a Morton water bottle, we've got a
Rob: pack of Morton gels right here for you, so you can
Rob: come up and grab them. This is the Morton Marathon
Rob: collection, seven gels, two drinks. Actually, yeah, four drinks.
Sam: Oh, this is like what you had.
Rob: This is very similar. There's a water bottle in the pack
Rob: as well.
Sam: That's awesome.
Rob: I love this because it just plans it all out
Rob: for you. You don't have to think, and it's really
Rob: great. You guys are doing a great job. I see
Rob: Morton gel, it's just everywhere now. You see it on
Rob: the ground sometimes when you're running for those who missed
Rob: the trash basket. We wanted them to hit the trash
Rob: basket, but still, you see a lot of them on the
Rob: ground. You see them everywhere. So the runners are really
Rob: responding to what you guys are doing.
Lauren: That's awesome. Glad to hear.
Sam: One more question from me. For pre- race, do you
Sam: recommend taking the Morton gel before you start or do
Sam: you wait until a certain mileage? I know it's one
Sam: size fits all, but do you pre- race fuel?
Lauren: I do recommend a gel 10 minutes before the start,
Lauren: especially a long morning like Boston or New York or
Lauren: any of these major marathons that you might be waiting
Lauren: around more. It's been a while since breakfast. Not only
Lauren: do you probably have to have a second breakfast, but
Lauren: you want to start that first 5K feeling strong. We
Lauren: don't want to dip into the reserves at the very
Lauren: beginning, right? So can we start fueled from before the
Lauren: start line and then again at the 5K mark or
Lauren: whatever your plan might be? But yeah, early and often
Lauren: is my motto.
Rob: All right. Well, thank you Lauren. Good luck to everybody
Rob: out there using Morton on Monday. Appreciate having you here. And Sam,
Rob: it's going to be a really fun couple of days
Rob: in Boston. There's nothing like being in Boston for the
Rob: Boston Marathon. The city-
Sam: The energy-
Rob: ... is on fire.
Sam: ... is so great. There was '80s music playing at
Sam: the finish line today. Did you hear it?
Rob: A hundred percent.
Sam: Oh, come on. They were playing New Order.
Rob: They've got a great DJ.
Sam: It was great. It was awesome.
Rob: The finish line on Boylston Street has been on fire
Rob: all week. There's just something about this city this week,
Rob: especially when the weather's good. The Red Sox are playing.
Rob: People are here from all over the world. The city
Rob: is just absolutely at its best. The cherry blossoms are
Rob: in bloom. So if you don't love Boston this weekend,
Rob: you can't love Boston because this is an absolutely gorgeous
Rob: weekend. I just think the energy of the runners is what
Rob: it's all about. So to you, Sam, and to everybody else
Rob: out there running, good luck.
Sam: Thank you.
Rob: It should be amazing.
Sam: And good luck to all of you guys. So excited for
Sam: everybody here. It's going to be great.
Rob: Thank you so much, Sam, for being with us. Thank
Rob: you to Ed Eyestone, to Lauren Thomas, and we just
Rob: love... We're New Yorkers, but we love coming to Boston
Rob: for the Boston Marathon. We love hosting our members here.
Rob: Thanks again to House of Blues, Citizens House of Blues
Rob: for hosting us. Good luck everybody. We will see you
Rob: next week on Set the Pace. Have a great 129th
Rob: Boston Marathon. Good luck.
Sam: Good luck.
Rob: New York Road Runners is a nonprofit organization with a
Rob: vision to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the
Rob: transformative power of running. The support of members and donors
Rob: like you helps us achieve our mission to transform the
Rob: health and well- being of our communities through inclusive and
Rob: accessible running experiences, empowering all to achieve their potential. Learn
Rob: more and contribute at nyrr. org/ donate.