The Breakout Marathon Star Who Trains on a Planet Fitness Treadmill

Elite marathoners go to extreme lengths to chase top times, shelling out fortunes on fancy coaching and remote altitude camps to gain an edge.

Vinny Mauri spends his money on a Planet Fitness membership.

The 25-year-old who lives outside Youngstown, Ohio, is self-coached and logs most of his mileage on standard treadmills at his local gym for $24.99 a month.

“Didn’t even think those could go that fast!” one of Mauri’s Strava’s followers commented on a recent run.

Mauri’s unconventional approach is already paying off. He shocked the running world when he won Toledo’s Glass City Marathon in April, shattering the course record with a finish of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 54 seconds.

That’s 4:48 a mile for 26.2 miles—the fastest debut marathon ever recorded by an American. No longer an unknown, the treadmill phenom is eyeing a bigger prize when he laces up for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

“People love that I’m just doing it from here, doing it from home,” said Mauri, who often bumps into former high-school classmates at the gym. “Didn’t really have to relocate to do the thing that I love.”

Most distance runners would shudder at the thought of grinding away on a machine so boring it has earned the nickname “dreadmill.” (An early ancestor of the machine was used as punishment in 19th-century British prisons.) But for Mauri, the treadmill turned out to be far more than the workout machine of last resort. It actually sparked his athletic rebirth.

As a senior at Howland High in Warren, Ohio, Mauri won the 3,200-meter state title. But in college, first at Arizona State then as a graduate student at Notre Dame, he underachieved. He had a few bad-luck stumbles in races, and suffered from nagging injuries.

The problem, he said, was that he loved running too much. He would get so excited about workouts that he often overdid it.

After college, when he struggled to put his degree in biomedical engineering to good use, he set his sights on the marathon. The treadmill offered an escape from Ohio’s winters, but he quickly found other advantages.

The treadmill surface is bouncier than the road, more forgiving on his body than pounding on pavement. It also saves him from making turns, which is easier on a nagging hip injury he carried in college.

And most importantly, the machine is like a metronome, keeping him steady and curbing his impulse to go overboard.

“Every once in a while he’ll text me and be like, ‘I ran outside today. Got a little fast,’” said Chris Neal, who coached Mauri at Notre Dame. “He knows that he kind of needs that speed governor on his running.”

Which isn’t to say Mauri takes it easy. His epic treadmill sessions have become legendary among running junkies. In June, he ran a full marathon on the treadmill in about 2:20. More recently, he ran a staggering 45 miles across two treadmill sessions in a single day. He’s used the apparatus for about 70% of his training mileage for Sunday’s marathon.

“The weather’s always good inside,” Mauri said.

As for the monotony, Mauri has a whole routine. After he sets the treadmill, he throws a T-shirt over the digital display so he won’t be tempted to fiddle with it. “It kind of helps when you zone out,” he said.

To pass the time, Mauri surfs YouTube, listens to music or stand-up comedy, or watches golf.

He also likes to call friends right from the treadmill, “and just like shoot the breeze with us when he’s doing some ridiculous 50-minute workout at a 4:40 pace,” said Tyler Clark, a former runner at Youngstown State and occasional training partner.

Mauri only recently turned pro, signing a shoe deal with Asics. After his breakout marathon, though, he received a perk that’s less valuable but might be even more useful: a free one-year membership to Planet Fitness.