Ed Eyestone, a former Olympian, is one of the best collegiate distance running coaches in the United States. Over the course of 25 years, he has built a Brigham Young University marathon training program that ranks second to none.
During Eyestone’s collegiate running career, he won NCAA titles in the 5,000m, 10,000m, and cross country.
In 1988 and 1992, Eyestone made the U.S. Olympic Team and competed in the marathon. He finished twentieth in the Seoul Olympics with a time of 2:19:09 and thirteenth in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at 2:15:23.
In 1990, he ran his personal best of 2:10:59 at the Chicago Marathon during an era when such performances were relatively rare.
After Eyestone’s competitive running career, he transitioned into coaching for both collegiate and professional athletes, continuing to contribute significantly to the sport, especially with his unique BYU training methodology.
Brigham Young University is located in Provo, Utah, and was founded in 1875 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Its athletics teams, known as the Cougars, compete in Division I of the NCAA and have won a total of 12 NCAA championships.
Jared Ward, a BYU grad coached by Eyestone, finished sixth in the 2016 Rio Olympic marathon running a personal best of 2:11:30.
Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, also BYU grads coached by Eyestone, ran the two fastest American marathon times of 2023. Mantz ran his personal best of 2:07:47 in the Chicago marathon, placing sixth. Young was one position behind him in 2:08:00.
On February 3, 2024, Mantz and Young finished one-two in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, guaranteeing themselves a spot in the Paris Olympic Marathon.
Both elite marathoners are currently sponsored, Mantz by Nike, and Young by ASICS.
So, what are the hallmarks of the Eyestone/BYU program? Why has it produced so many top performances?
Let’s take an in-depth look.
Don’t Get Stuck In The Weeds
The marathon is the longest classic running race and demands the most self-confidence. Eyestone excels in building his runners’ resilience and confidence through mentoring and teamwork.
“Coach Eyestone leads us by his example as a two-time Olympian in the marathon,” says Clayton Young. “He builds us as marathon runners from our college years, so we have less fear than others.”
Jared Ward has noticed another aspect of Eyestone’s approach to marathon training. Ward himself is an academically trained statistician. He loves to deconstruct and reconstruct every aspect of marathon running and is always looking for a way to shave off a few seconds here and a few more there.
Eyestone’s approach is different. Even though he holds a master’s degree in exercise science, he doesn’t use a microscope to design training.
As Ward notes, “There are so many times when I’ve gone to Ed and said, ‘This race is going to be hot and humid, or this other race is going to have certain conditions. What should we do to get ready?’
“But he doesn’t obsess over the small stuff. He doesn’t get stuck in the weeds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard him say, ‘Just get as fit as you can, and everything else will take care of itself.’ ”
Minimize The Negatives, Optimize The Positives
Eyestone began his coaching career at BYU in 2000. What sets him apart from other coaches is that he incorporates the physical and psychological specificities of marathon training to his 10,000m distance runners, preparing them for what’s to come.
As a coach, Eyestone has led BYU to 10 conference cross-country titles and one national title (2019). His individual athletes have garnered more than 30 All-American awards in track events.
Still, Eyestone’s coaching career reached a new high in early February in Orlando, Florida, when Mantz and Young produced clutch performances at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
The Trials are a series of qualifying events that are held to determine who will represent the USA in the Olympic games. Previous qualifying times must be achieved to participate in this one and done single event. The top three men and women make Team USA, provided they have also met the Olympic standard.
In the 2024 Trials, Mantz and his training partner Young entered with the top two times, based on their Chicago performances the previous October.
Sure, they ranked among the favorites, but Eyestone has been around long enough to know that every marathon amounts to a “crapshoot,” as he puts it. After all, there’s so much that can go wrong in 26.2 miles: blisters, bad weather, an upset stomach, a pacing miscalculation.
Eyestone considers himself an optimist who has been tempered by decades of racing and coaching experiences, both good and bad.
On marathon morning in Orlando, he looked at himself in the mirror while shaving and thought, “Today will be a really good day if either Conner or Clayton makes the Olympic team.”
He outlined the day’s plan to his two runners in a pre-race meeting. Eyestone told them to follow a 3 C’s approach: chill, cover, compete. In other words, start at a modest pace, cover any serious move that happens after the opening miles, and compete hard in the last four to six miles.
The strategy worked to perfection. Mantz and Young held back through the early miles. When Zach Panning, who ran for Michigan State University, launched a strong surge after six miles, they followed but let Panning push the pace. They didn’t attempt to up the ante.
The BYU duo didn’t go to the front and take control until they had passed 20 miles. Once they began to “compete,” there was no catching them.
Mantz and Young dominated the end of the marathon so completely that it appeared they would tie until Mantz ducked slightly ahead in the final steps. No matter. Young seemed even more thrilled by the outcome than his younger, better-known training partner.
Young also established himself as a creative student of the sport when he revealed his innovative water bottle strategy.
While other runners simply distributed their favorite drink in a plastic bottle, Young, a confessed “running nerd,” hatched a new idea. He put his plastic drink container and also a frozen replacement runner’s cap inside an insulated metal bottle.
At each refreshment table, he grabbed a cooling drink and a cooling cap. (He checked carefully to make sure the metal bottle satisfied all requirements regarding height and circumference.)
Good planning is essential to strong marathon training and racing.
So is good recovery. Eyestone’s runners often log up to 20 miles a day, six days a week, and take one day off, which is Sunday, following their religious beliefs (both are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) This keeps them fresh for the following week’s workouts.
Eyestone could scarcely believe the one-two finish. “We had a really good day,” he acknowledged. “It was a great story of teamwork and patience, how they put the pieces together. We planned the race and then raced the plan.”
Mantz and Young have been able to build off each other’s strengths, work, and grow together to create this powerhouse of a team. Let’s get ready to watch them battle against the rest of the world’s top athletes on August 10.
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