“You never know which build you're pulling from on race day. The most recent build is the most important build and indicator of what you can do on race day, but there's no reason why you can't be pulling from the Paris build, the Chicago build, and the Olympic Trials build. Fitness stacks over years and that lifetime fitness is just getting really, really big for me. I tried to lean into that. I think I did alright.” 

Within the past 14 months, Clayton Young and his training partner Conner Mantz have become synonymous with performing in high stakes marathon racing, finishing neck-and-neck at four marathons. Now, most recently at the New York City Marathon, Clayton crossed the finish line in an impressive seventh place finish just 21 seconds behind Conner Mantz, clocking 2:09:21.

This year has been nothing short of remarkable for Clayton, from the Olympic Marathon Trials to the Paris Olympics and now New York. We've got episodes with him after each one of those. We decided to keep the tradition alive as we dive into how New York City played out and reflect on Clayton's emotional and triumphant year in marathoning. Plus, we get to thinking about what's next in 2025.

Time stamps:

3:46 - Returning to training post-marathon

5:51 - Reflection coming off the NYC Marathon 

8:18 - His build leading into NYC: overcoming his achilles injury

11:56 - Pre-race plans with Coach Ed Eyestone

15:19 - Thoughts on the depth of the men’s field

18:57 - Breaking down the first part of the race 

22:19 - What happened after crossing the Queensboro Bridge 

32:01 - Tracking power (watts) during the race 

36:04 - “What ifs” from the race 

38:01 - Looking ahead to trying to qualify for the World Championships marathon 

42:17 - Future training plans with Conner Mantz 

48:08 - How this year transformed his running career 

51:10 - Being in the midst of the good ol’ days 

56:50 - Underrated/overrated 

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Clayton Young | @_clayton_young_ on Instagram

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