Gabriela DeBues-Stafford (3:56/14:44) leaves Laura Muir/Andy Young's training group for BTC

Here's the thread where people called it:

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=10089218&page=2#10097646

That's what, 11 or 12 Canadian records between GDS and Mo at one group.

if they add in Prouse they could help get the steeple one and make it more

Really surprised she left the Young team (Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie..)

Anyone know why she is leaving? She did amazing under Andy Young.

This clearly seems to be a win for the BTC and a loss for Laura Muir/Andy Young. Having elite training partners isn't as critical for women as men as one can always find local guys to train with but Shalane has said she really likes training with other women due to the psychological aspect of it.

Likely a good move for training, but a bad time to be moving from Canada to the US.

rojo wrote:

Anyone know why she is leaving? She did amazing under Andy Young.

This clearly seems to be a win for the BTC and a loss for Laura Muir/Andy Young. Having elite training partners isn't as critical for women as men as one can always find local guys to train with but Shalane has said she really likes training with other women due to the psychological aspect of it.

From what I've read, she wanted to be closer to home and make an impact on Canadian running. Definitely wasn't performance or training related.

Also worth noting her old group had Jemma Reekie (1:57.9i and 4:17i) along with Muir, so you could probably argue it was as strong mid-distance wise as Schweizer is the only Bowerman Babe outside of Houlihan in the neighborhood. Bowerman obviously has outstanding Steeple/5000 depth.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Also worth noting her old group had Jemma Reekie (1:57.9i and 4:17i) along with Muir, so you could probably argue it was as strong mid-distance wise as Schweizer is the only Bowerman Babe outside of Houlihan in the neighborhood. Bowerman obviously has outstanding Steeple/5000 depth.

Word I heard is that Reekie/Muir responded best to more speed/low mileage approach to 1500 while GDS thrived on longer stuff. Apparently Young was shifting more to 800/1500 work as it best maximized the two Scots (especially Reekie) than 1500/5000 and that was also a consideration.

Not sure how accurate that is, but someone from TO running community.

Also adding that apparently GDS was only doing 40-45miles on average a week with Young and still ran 14:44 in the 5000m. If that's true then you have to think she has a much higher ceiling if Jerry can build on that effectively.

LawXC wrote:

Likely a good move for training, but a bad time to be moving from Canada to the US.

She would be moving from the UK to the US, no.

not canada wrote:

LawXC wrote:

Likely a good move for training, but a bad time to be moving from Canada to the US.

She would be moving from the UK to the US, no.

She moved home to Canada at the start of the Pandemic when the travel bans were announced. Been in Toronto since March.

some folks going home.... wrote:

Also adding that apparently GDS was only doing 40-45miles on average a week with Young and still ran 14:44 in the 5000m. If that's true then you have to think she has a much higher ceiling if Jerry can build on that effectively.

+1

some folks going home.... wrote:

Also adding that apparently GDS was only doing 40-45miles on average a week with Young and still ran 14:44 in the 5000m. If that's true then you have to think she has a much higher ceiling if Jerry can build on that effectively.

Source? I don't believe that for a second.

As Stafford improved about 7-10 secs. in ther 1500m within about two years under Young, she basically set a new PB in almost every race in 2019, she will probably get to 3:49 with the added mileage and by running only two select races per year with BTC in another couple of years ;)

Jo72 wrote:

As Stafford improved about 7-10 secs. in ther 1500m within about two years under Young, she basically set a new PB in almost every race in 2019, she will probably get to 3:49 with the added mileage and by running only two select races per year with BTC in another couple of years ;)

3:49 in the mile, right?

If this is true I bet she will get injured. They will ramp the mileage up and I don't know, I just really feel she is going to get injured for some reason...

This article she lays it out some:

https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/gabriela-debues-stafford-to-join-bowerman-track-club/

"“The workouts are going well, the mileage is a bit higher in the Bowerman group than I’m used to, but we’re increasing it slowly."

“There’s a lot of success in a range of distances from the 800m through to the marathon. Looking at longevity, I’ll want to play around with longer distances. Jerry’s program is versatile, so I can work with different runners depending on what distance I’m attempting.”

So, what's being theorized here might be correct. Given that she ran just under 2:01 indoors ahead of breaking 4:20, aerobic development and the 5,000 might pose a lot of upside for her. Doesn't seem like she's got exceptional 800 speed.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

some folks going home.... wrote:

Also adding that apparently GDS was only doing 40-45miles on average a week with Young and still ran 14:44 in the 5000m. If that's true then you have to think she has a much higher ceiling if Jerry can build on that effectively.

Source? I don't believe that for a second.

Muir here saying she did 50-60 miles a week.

Possible that at points as she was eased into the Glasgow program her mileage was lower for a bit, more around 45? 40 does seem low.