A few minutes with Maria Bernard

March 26, 2012

By Devin Rajala

Freshman phenom, Maria Bernard, took a few minutes to talk to Devin Rajala about her fall cross country season, trips to Japan and Trinidad as well as her expectations for the upcoming outdoor track season. Maria was recently named Thunderbird Athletes Council athlete of the week for her performance at NACAC’s.

Devin Rajala (DR): So you recently placed sixth at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad and you were the top Canadian on the junior women’s team. Talk a bit about the experience travelling to Trinidad and the opportunity you got to race internationally.

Maria Bernard (MB): The trip was actually really fun, all of the teams, boys, girls, juniors, seniors and coaching staff got along really well. At first when we arrived in Trinidad the heat was almost disconcerting, but I felt like I got better adjusted to it each day. The days leading up to the race were mostly full of staying hydrated and relaxed and loose. I really loved being around so many people so passionate about running, and hearing their stories. I was very excited to race and put on the Canada singlet. I was happy to have the opportunity to be in such a race and to contribute something.

DR: You also got to race in the Chiba International Cross Country event in Japan alongside fellow Thunderbird Jack Williams. Was there a bit of culture shock racing in Japan?

MB: I think the thing that got me was their depth. I remember realizing how many talented runners they have. I thought I knew what to expect, but they have more competitive, really strong runners than I imagined. Also, I don’t understand Japanese and didn’t know when they were saying “on your marks”.

DR: How would you rate your freshman cross country season? Did it exceed your expectations?

MB: I really enjoyed my first cross country season. I was fairly pleased with it too, and definitely very happy with what we did as a team. I don’t know if I really had expectations; I was pretty unsure of what to expect. Experience-wise it was a lot more exciting than the cross country races I was used to!

DR: How is school going? Maybe talk a little bit about the transition moving from Calgary to the West coast?

MB: School is going well! First term was quite difficult and I felt like I needed to make some adjustments to my study habits etc. Now things are good though and I like quite a few of my classes. It’s nice starting out in a new environment and I really like Vancouver. It doesn’t rain nearly as much as I thought it would. It was quite easy to transition but I still miss home sometimes!

DR: How has your training changed since high school? Any huge differences in [UBC head coach] Marek’s program relative to the training you did with [your former coach in Calgary] Terry?

MB: I have found that my training here is a lot more volume than I ever ran in high school. Which is to be expected I guess. I used to do shorter intervals, but with less of a break, or we would jog in between sets. I actually never ran runs longer than 30 minutes in high school, so Sunday long runs seem quite long to me still! Both programs are a little different, but I see benefits to both.

DR: You’re currently working towards NAIA Outdoor Nationals in late May as well as IAAF World Juniors in Barcelona this summer. Have you decided which event you are going to focus on this year and do you have any particular outcome goals?

MB: I think that I have pretty much decided on doing 1500’s for most of the varsity season, and hopefully at NAIA Nationals. As to World Juniors, I think I am just going to have to see on that one. I want to get better at running strategic races. I think my main goal is definitely just to try and PB in all of my events this year. I would be quite happy with that.

DR: Thanks Maria and best of luck this season.