Fresh off a big day on the roads in Manhattan, we briefly chatted with Amanda Vestri of Zap Endurance about her breakthrough outdoor campaign, and her hopes ahead of the Olympic Trials.

After flying largely under the radar of the pro scene since concluding her NCAA career last June for Syracuse, Vestri has been on a tear this spring. In her first race since a third-place showing at the Night of the 10,000m PBs, where she went 31:10.05, Vestri finished fourth overall and top American in last weekend’s Mini 10k. (The race was won in 30:47 by Senberi Tefere for the third consecutive year.) Her time of 31:17 over the rolling hills of Central Park suggests she’s capable of something closer to sub-31 minutes on the track, which could put her in the conversation for a spot on the Olympic team.

The Lap Count: Top American at the Mini 10K and against a pretty strong field. How does it feel?

Amanda Vestri: It feels pretty good. Honestly, a lot of suffering at the end. I mean it was such an exciting race. I’m really pumped right now. 

TLC: With this hot streak you've been on, what’s been clicking in practice right now?

AV: Honestly, just a lot of hard work. Definitely part of it was bumping up mileage. I've had a couple of big mileage weeks – 100+ – so that’s a lot for me. I think it’s been paying off. We’re in a really good training environment and I think I'm just really happy and I think that helps a lot too. I feel like I've been under the radar for a while, so that put a chip on my shoulder, to be honest. I run better like that. I think all of it combined has just made for a good season so far.

TLC: When we look at this field on paper, it was fairly deep. What gave you the confidence to go with the leaders and believe you could be the top American?

AV: I'm more of a gut instinct type of racer, so when the three women ahead of me were going, I was like, “I either need to go with them and suffer a lot at the end or stay with the pack and run a little bit more conservatively.” I just felt like going for it and I was like, “If I die, I die.” But I have to go for it in these types of races. There’s no other way for me to go forward as a pro athlete unless I go for it.

TLC: So Trials are next. Have you made sense of all the rankings and all that stuff for the 10K? I’ve been obsessing over it.

AV: Honestly, never before have I given any thought to the rankings. But we have started looking and unfortunately, in terms of my time, 31:10 on the track is not going to be good enough. But I think with the rankings, if I run close to 31:00 or under at the Trials and get top three, I might make it. I don't know. I'm just going to race hard. Hopefully, someone really fast is in the race and they take it out really hard and get it rolling a bit so it’s not tactical. I think only Weini Kelati has [the standard]. She's head and shoulders above the rest of the field, so we’ll see how it goes. I'm there to try and make the team.

TLC: Good luck, we’ll see you at the Trials!

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