Mantz / Eyestone: The BYU Marathon System

Eyestone's own marathon career peaked with a 2:10:59 personal best and two Olympic appearances, giving him firsthand understanding of the demands the distance places on both body and mind. After retiring from professional competition, he took the coaching reins at his alma mater and built BYU into a national cross-country power, earning over a dozen conference titles and producing multiple All-Americans.

His coaching philosophy rejects the high-mileage-at-all-costs orthodoxy common in American distance running. Instead, Eyestone prioritizes quality over volume, building athletes gradually through a system that leverages Utah's unique geography. His runners typically peak between 100-115 miles per week in marathon training -- meaningful volume, but conservative compared to programs that push 130 or more. The key differentiator is not how much they run, but where and how they run it.

The Eyestone system exploits a natural version of the “live high, train low” protocol that sports scientists have championed since the 1990s. Athletes live and perform easy runs in Park City at roughly 7,000 feet of elevation, where the reduced oxygen pressure stimulates the body to produce more red blood cells and improve oxygen- carrying capacity. When it is time for quality workouts -- tempo runs, intervals, or the signature PMP long runs -- they drive 30 minutes down to Provo at approximately 4,500 feet, where the denser air allows them to hit faster paces with less cardiovascular strain.

This daily oscillation gives athletes the hematological benefits of altitude exposure without the compromised training quality that comes from doing hard sessions in thin air. Eyestone has noted in interviews that his runners often see a measurable boost when they travel to sea-level races, arriving with altitude-enhanced blood profiles and fresh legs from controlled training loads.

The cornerstone of the Eyestone marathon system is the Progressive Marathon Pace (PMP) long run. Unlike traditional long runs done entirely at easy pace, or the aggressive marathon-pace long runs favored by some programs, PMP sessions start easy and insert a block of race-pace running in the final third of the run. The idea is to rehearse the exact physiological state of the late miles in a marathon: running at goal pace on tired, glycogen-depleted legs.

A typical PMP build cycle over four to five weeks might begin with a 16-mile all-easy long run, progress to an 18-miler with 4 miles at marathon pace at the end, then a 20-miler with 6 at pace, and peak with a 22-miler finishing with 8 miles at marathon pace. A recovery week follows before the next cycle. The race-pace blocks always come at the end -- never the beginning or middle -- to teach the body and mind to run fast when fatigued.

This specificity is critical. As Eyestone has explained, the marathon is unique among road races because the hardest part comes at the end, when muscle glycogen is depleted and the body is switching to fat oxidation. PMP training specifically conditions athletes for this metabolic crossover, building both the physical endurance and the psychological confidence to maintain pace in the final 10 kilometers.

Eyestone distills marathon race strategy into three phases, each tied to a simple word beginning with C. In the first third of the race (miles 1-10), the runner should Chill -- run relaxed, conserve energy, and let others dictate the pace. The goal is to feel almost too easy, banking nothing but calm confidence.

During the middle third (miles 10-20), the runner should Cover -- move up to goal pace, cover ground efficiently, and stay in contact with the relevant group. This is where the race begins to take shape, but the runner should still feel in control, not racing.

In the final phase (miles 20-26.2), it is time to Compete. This is where all the PMP training manifests: the runner attacks, negative-splits the final 10K, and races to the finish. Mantz's best marathon performances have followed this template almost exactly, coming through halfway conservative and then running down fading competitors in the closing miles.

Mantz's marathon trajectory illustrates the system in action. After winning consecutive NCAA cross-country championships -- the first BYU runner to accomplish this since Ed Eyestone's own era -- he debuted at the marathon in December 2021 at The Marathon Project in Chandler, Arizona, running 2:11:27. The time itself was strong for a debut, but more notable was the manner: an even, controlled effort with a slightly negative second half, textbook 3 C's execution.

Just two months later, at the 2022 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in January, Mantz ran 2:09:05 to finish as the top American (fourth overall behind three already-qualified athletes). That race -- held on a hot day in Orlando -- showcased his ability to stay patient early and pick off fading runners in the second half.

His breakout came at the 2022 Chicago Marathon, where he ran a 2:08:16 personal best in one of the world's fastest fields. He followed that with a 2:08:19 in Valencia in late 2023, demonstrating the consistency that defines the Eyestone approach: small, sustainable improvements rather than volatile swings.

At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Orlando, Mantz ran 2:10:47 to finish second and earn his spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the Paris Games. The race was tactical rather than fast, and Mantz executed a patient strategy that prioritized position over time. In Paris, he ran 2:12:43 in brutal heat and humidity -- conditions that wrecked many favorites -- and gained invaluable Olympic experience at age 27.

The Eyestone-Mantz partnership works because it aligns training stimulus with race demands at every level. The altitude protocol maximizes aerobic development without compromising workout quality. The PMP long runs condition the exact metabolic and muscular state of the late-race marathon. The 3 C's framework gives the athlete a simple, memorable strategy that prevents the premature effort that ruins most marathon bids.

Perhaps most importantly, the system is patient. Eyestone did not rush Mantz into a marathon debut. He waited until the cross-country career was complete, built the aerobic base over years of collegiate training, and then introduced marathon-specific work gradually. The result was a 24-year- old who ran 2:11 in his debut and 2:08 within a year -- a trajectory that typically takes runners three to five years to achieve.

For recreational and competitive runners alike, the Eyestone system offers transferable lessons: train specifically for the demands of the final miles, leverage your environment (even modest altitude or heat exposure), keep the race plan simple, and resist the urge to prove fitness in training at the expense of race-day performance.