Post-OUA interview with Gabriela Stafford

We caught up with University of Toronto athlete, Gabriela Stafford, after her big win at the OUA cross-country championship this past weekend, hosted by the University of Waterloo.

Stafford ran a strategic race, finishing the 6K with a time of 19:54, a healthy margin over repeat silver medalist Julie-Anne Staehli’s 20:08 and bronze medalist Stefanie Smith, of Queen’s and University of Windsor, respectively.

Canadian Running: Tell us about the race.

Gabriela Stafford: I was feeling pretty good going in. I’d been having good workouts. I knew that Katrina would likely push the pace because she strong over the distance, so my coach and I were planning for me to just hang in there.

Terry [Ranchenko, U of T coaching staff] told me, “You’re the fastest 1500m runner out there, you can afford to leave it ’til the last minute.”

So, for the first portion of the race, I was just telling myself, over and over “patience.” During the last 2.5K loop, there’s a hilly section and I decided to test out how the other girls were feeling. I stayed strong on the hills and tried to gap a bit using the downhills. I was feeling comfortable and then with 1K to go, I put in a surge.

CR: How will you prepare, mentally and physically, leading up to CIS?

GS: It’s not the most exciting answer, but I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. I’ll have a couple more quality workouts and then start to taper. I trust myself on the day of to know what I need to do.

CR: Have you done anything different this cross-country season than in the past?

GS: We’ve bumped up the mileage a little bit, I’d say, but nothing crazy. For example, if last year I had an interval workout that was 6K, it might be 7K this year. Just being a year older, a year stronger and having a bit more experience are the main things that I think have come out in my performance so far this season.

CR: What’s your pre-race routine?

GS: I try to stay away from any superstitious rituals because then you’re thrown off if not everything goes exactly right. I think I learned this after forgetting my lucky stuffed-animal before a race when I was really little. The race ended up going OK, so I was like, “Hey! I don’t need to bring my own luck!”

But, I do really like to have a big bowl of pasta the night before a race. And on the morning of, it’s always oatmeal and a banana. I don’t think that’s really superstition, but just sticking with what works.

CR: Who’s going to win the team titles at CIS?

GS: I don’t know. It always comes down to the day. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say that I think the Guelph women will defend their title. All those girls run close to each other and that’s depth that’s hard to beat.

I was really impressed by the Windsor men’s team’s performance at OUAs. But, with so many more teams in the mix at CIS, it’s impossible to translate those results over.