Give Him A Treadmill

Mauri after his debut marathon in Toledo

I had a patient who told me that while training the marathon segment of the Ironman triathlon event, she would often go to the old Kallang Practice Track and and run 50 rounds (20 km). She could focus on running and not have to worry about traffic lights, pedestrians or spraining her ankle on an uneven pavement.

Meet Vinny Mauri, who ran a 2:05:54 hrs in his marathon debut in April this year at the unheralded Glass City marathon in Toledo. The race had less than 1,300 finishers, no pacers and a previous course record of 2:19:31 hrs. 

He also does most of his training on a Planet Fitness treadmill. 6 months ago, 25 year old Mauri was largely unknown. However, at the Chicago marathon next week (11/10/26), he has a good chance of breaking the American record of 2:04:43 hrs set by Connor Mantz at the same race last year.

Mauri has what many consider an abnormal training routine. He runs the majority of his miles on treadmills at one of two Planet Fitness gyms near his hometown of Warren in Northeast Ohio.

He rarely runs slower than 6:00 min /mile (or 3:44 min/km) for any of his runs. He regularly reaches 30 miles (48 km) at under 5:00 min/mile (or 3:06 min/km) pace.

He runs very little in carbon plated shoes. In fact he only just signed a shoe contract with Asics last week. He does all that while working more than 15 hours a week at a running store. 

On June 28th this year, he earned 611 kudos after his effort on Strava post went viral for running 26.39 miles (42.7 km) on a Planet Fitness treadmill in 2:20 hrs. Impressed?

Only a week later, he ran 29.16 miles (46.66 km) even faster at 2:15 hrs marathon pace again on a treadmill. Or 5:09 min per mile (3:20 min/km).

He clocked a total of 1,223 miles (1957 km) in his last 10 weeks of training. All at an average pace of 5:38 per mile (3:30 min/km).

If you look at Conner Mantz's same 10 week training block leading up to his American record of 2:04:43 hrs set in Chicago last year, Mantz ran 1,182 miles (1891 km). His average pace of 6:35 min/mile (4:05 min/km) was almost a minute a mile slower than Mauri's.

For 4 straight Tuesdays from 25th August to September 15th, Mauri ran 4 godzilla sets of double workouts. On each of those Tuesdays, he ran 36 miles, with at least 27 of those miles at 4:56 min/mile (3:04 min/km) pace or faster. 

On 8th Septemeber, he ran 36 miles at an average pace of 4:56 min/mile (3:04 min/km). 2x50 minutes in the morning, 4x20 mins in the afternoon. That's 36 miles at 2:09:09 marathon pace. If you include his warm up and cool down runs, he logged 45 miles (72 km) that day (pictured below). 

If you include his 28 miles long run and a 13 miles "easy" run at 6:00 min/ mile (3:44 min/km) pace across the previous days from 6th-8th September, Mauri ran 86 miles in 3 days at an average of 5:27 min/mile (3:23 min/km).

He ran the fastest debut marathon in American history on a day the marathon world was watching Sabastian Sawe break 2 hours in London. In one race, he went from being a virtual unknown to 4th fastest of all time on the US marathon list.

Why does he run so much on a treadmill? Perfect weather, no need to worry about wind, snow or ice in winter or heat/ humidity in summer. He likes the convenience, gels and drinks always at hand and the bathroom is nearby if needed.

He also runs on a treadmill to protect himself as he has a natural tendency to pick up the pace during runs outside. In a 60 min recovery run outdoors recently, he wanted to run a 6:10 mile/min (or 3:55min/km), he averaged 5:25 min/mile (3:22 min/km) and was running sub-5:00 min/mile (3:00 min/km) at the end.

The Planet Fitness treadmills stop automatically after an hour, and Mauri has to stop and start the machine again once or twice per session, usually during his rest periods. The treadmills also max out at 12.4 miles/hour (20km/hr) or 4:50 min/ mile (3:00 min/km), meaning he cannot go faster than that, thus holding him back to prevent going too fast. That's slower than his marathon race in Toledo 2:05:54 hrs which is 4:48min/ mile (2:59 min/km).

Can he beat the US record next week? You can get good training on a treadmill, but it does not quite equal to racing outdoors. The race in Chicago next week will require one to know which moves to respond to when the pack goes out too fast or slow and how to adjust to the temperature and wind etc.

Mauri says he feel's fitter than before his race in Toledo. His entire buildup is documented on Strava (pictured above), yet so unorthodox, and does not include tune up races.

I don't know how it will translate to the streets of Chicago. Everything about Mauri's build up to Chicago is superior to Toledo. Longer buildup, significantly more miles at a much faster pace. He will also be racing against a stacked field.

I will definitely be cheering him on. The treadmill companies should give him a faster treadmill (than his race pace) to train at home.