From 2:09 in New York to 2:04 in Boston: Charles Hicks and Coach Alex Ostberg on the 16-Week Build, 1,000 Extra Training Miles, and Why A Sub-2 Marathon For Him Is Now a Conversation

Charles Hicks ran 2:04:35 at Boston in his second marathon. His coach was watching from Eugene, trying not to lose his mind. 

Alex Ostberg and Charles Hicks were Stanford teammates for exactly one year: Ostberg a fifth-year senior, Hicks a freshman who wasn't even first on the depth chart in his incoming class. Five years later, they're coach and athlete inside Nike's Swoosh Track Club, and they just executed one of the most stunning American marathon performances in history.

In this conversation, they pull back the curtain on the full arc: the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler that first convinced Jerry Schumacher the marathon was Charles's calling; the abbreviated eight-week build into New York that exceeded everyone's expectations; and the 16-week Boston block where Charles never dipped below 105 miles in a single week. 

They talk about what it actually means to train under Schumacher—workouts revealed 10 minutes before, plans built in two-week cycles, and a phone call every night at 9:30 PM—and why Ostberg's role is less about designing sessions and more about being a steady hand when the experiencing self and the remembering self stop agreeing. 

Charles also explains the text he sent Ostberg after a disappointing half marathon in Atlanta that became the quiet thesis of the entire Boston build: I will navigate my failure points more effectively than my competition. 

Affirm the past. Appreciate the present. Inject ambition into the future.

Tap into the Charles Hicks and Alex Ostberg Special.

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