February 19, 2021
This week’s guest is Eric Avila! He is a member of Golden Coast Track Club currently in Flagstaff for a training trip where he’s meeting up with some of the country’s best milers for workouts.
Eric is a 3:36 1500m guy who recently has found some success in the 5K and ran 13:18 in December at the Sound Running track meet. We talked about his shift in training, as well as his love for speed suits, his NAIA roots and his pitch for the Taco Truck Mile in a great conversation recorded a few weeks ago.
Eric will be running the 5,000 at the CITIUS MAG x Trials of Miles Texas Qualifier on February 27th – Catch him on the free live stream on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel in less than two weeks!
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HIGHLIGHTS
On coming from an NAIA collegiate background:
“That chip on my shoulder has always and will always be there. I’ve always kind of thought of myself as blue-collar because of the hard path I took. When I got out of college, Bowerman, NOP, OTC, they were the new Oregon Ducks. You kinda have to be able to believe in yourself on the line.”
On shifting his training toward the 5000:
“A lot of times, I have decent closing speed over the last 150 meters but I haven’t been strong enough to be there to utilize it. So with this more aerobic training, I’d love to take a real crack at the 5k, but I think it’ll help in a fast 15 as well.”
On racing distance races in a speed suit:
“I did it for one race, and I won. Afterward, I was like, ‘Well shoot. I have to wear this again.’ And the next season I did a long [East Coast] indoor trip for 3 weeks and I thought I’d packed my singlet, but I’d only packed my speed suit. So every race that season I raced in the speed suit and since then, I’m the speed suit guy.”
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.