The ElliptiGO, 33 weeks and still going strong!

SEVEN weeks to go, thats it! My due date is quickly approaching and I am feeling just like I did in the lead up to the Olympics. This whole situation is extremely surreal. We are going to have a real baby in our arms in just over a month. It really is true that there is no way to prepare for what is about to happen. You can buy everything you need but I still cannot imagine how life is going to be once she is here other than being GREAT!

I am also excited by the fact that I am still able to racewalk at this point. I am shocked really! I keep thinking "I dont know how much longer ill be able to do this" but at the same time, it feels great and I dont feel limited at all. The only thing that limits me racewalking is.....my bladder! Yes, we all know that pregnant women have to pee a lot and unfortunately you dont get a break from that while training. I am slowly getting slower but I am walking just over 6 minutes per km which is faster than I thought I would be going at this point. The most im racewalking these days is 12km's which I feel is plenty enough.

I have always been fascinated with the ElliptiGO. I have been using the elliptical machine at the gym for a few years now but I wanted try to ElliptiGO so that I wouldnt have to be stuck inside while cross training. I have had the opportunity to borrow a "bike" from ElliptiGO (whose headquarters are in San Diego) for the month. This thing is AWESOME! I was shocked at the muscles I had to engage in while riding it. It is for sure a much better workout than using just the elliptical machine. I was shocked that before I even hit 1km into my ride that my quads were burning. As a racewalker we dont use our quads much so I know that the more I ride the ElliptiGO that it will really help with my weaker muscles. Its been a lot of fun to use and I feel like its been just as good of a workout as running or racewalking. Its been especially good to use while pregnant so that I dont have to do as much pounding but still get a great workout. I highly recommend you check it out! Check out their website here.

Practically everyone I talk to mentions to me how small I am for being so far along in my pregnancy. My "small" belly has definitely had me worried at times. My last doctors appointment was at 31 weeks they measured me and I only measured at being 26 weeks pregnant. Because of the measurement they decided to do an ultrasound to measure the baby and make sure she is growing on schedule. She measured at 30 weeks  which is a tiny bit smaller but nothing to be concerned about. Since I am tall, she must just have a lot more room to spread out in there. I am thankful to be reassured that everything is alright. I think that the reason why I am able to racewalk so easily at this point is because my belly is much smaller than most. Even though I would like to look more pregnant, I wont complain that I am not huge :) 

We are getting closer to having our condo ready to add another resident and we cannot wait for her to get here! 

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Into the Third Trimester Already!

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is going and that I am already into my third trimester. I am now 29 weeks pregnant and life has not changed much since my last post. So far my luck of a smooth and easy pregnancy has continued. Ive managed to still be able to stay very active and be able to either run or racewalk every day. Im doing around 80-90km's per week and feeling good. I even go to the gym up to 3 times a week in the afternoon to go on the elliptical or bike and to do some light weights. Im so thankful to be able to still stay so active, otherwise I think I would go absolutely crazy.

Life being pregnant is very different compared to how I have lived the past few years. Usually everything I for training consumes most of my day and now that I cant train as much as I usually do, I have been kind of bored. Luckily I was able to go back home to Peterborough for a week to visit my family, have a baby shower and be at a friend's wedding. It was so great to be there but im sad that I wont see my sisters again until this summer, a few months after the baby is born. I did a fun interview with PMZ when I was home on "Are You Faster than a Pregnant Olympian?". You can watch the video here: After a great week at home, my sister Renee and I headed to Miami for a cruise to the Bahamas. It was nice to go on a last vacation before I have my baby girl in tow everywhere I go.

Now that I am over 6 months pregnant, my baby bump is finally starting to show and im not just looking like I am pudgy around my waist. Since you are slowly gaining weight every month or week, I really wanted to at least LOOK pregnant. Before I was pregnant, I didnt think I would care about the weight gain but being an athlete, it is very difficult gaining so much weight since usually I am trying to control it. I do, however, put the weight gain into perspective and know that it is necessary for the baby to grow.

This weekend will be my last flight before the baby is born and we are headed to Albuquerque, NM for the USATF Indoor Championships. Now that everyone is starting to race again, I wish I could be out there too but im trying to save all that fire I have to race so that I can make a strong comeback next year. Even though I miss the heavy training and racing, I am trying to enjoy the time off that I have because I know that I will have to work very hard over the next 3 years to get back on the Olympic team in 2016. I am feeling very optimistic that I will be able to come back fairly quickly after giving birth and I can't wait!

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Big Changes in 2013!

Shortly after Tim and I got married on October 31st, 2009, we had decided that we would wait until the 2012 Olympics to try and have kids. At the time, it felt like it was a long way away but once 2012 hit I started to realize that time was coming very quickly. Specifically once we got over to Europe before the Olympics began, we were staying with our good friends Sabine and Bastian and Germany and the topic of kids came up a lot and I was getting very scared about it because I knew that within a few weeks we had planned to start trying. I was very hesitant and feeling like I was not ready for this big life change. I am 26 years old and Tim is 40 which is why we wanted to have kids asap after the Olympics. I decided to just not think about it and just let things happen the way they were supposed to.

After the Olympics, Tim and I headed to Croatia for a week long vacation and it was so nice to not have to worry about training or any other care in the world and just have a good time. Once we got home, I had decided that I wanted to keep training for another month or so and try to do one last race in Europe at the end of September because I knew how good of shape I was in and I didnt want to waste it. Then a few weeks in, I started thinking "what if I got pregnant before the race and I had already booked the ticket, etc". Then pretty soon as these thoughts started to come into my mind, I started feeling kind of strange. I was getting cramps during training on a daily basis, was feeling more tired than usual and my heart rate wasnt going down in training. I thought that something must be off but I took a pregnancy test and even though they say it can detect a positive pregnancy at least a week before your expected period, my test came back negative. I could have sworn I was pregnant, I just felt it! So I kept trying to train like usual but still wasnt feeling great. After a few days of missing my period just over a week later, I decided to take another test. My sister said that I should do it first thing in the morning for the best result so at 4am I woke up having to go to the bathroom and I decided to take the test then. Tim had woken up and was wondering why I was in the bathroom so long and I just told him it was nothing. The test came back POSITIVE this time. OMG, I knew it! Obviously I could not sleep the rest of the night. I decided to not tell Tim so that at least one of us would get a good sleep. I told him as soon as he woke up that morning and he was so excited! 

I immediately decided to take a bit of time off training since I hadnt taken my yearly break yet. After taking only a week off, I decided to start doing some training since at this point I knew that my 2013 season was not going to happen and I might as well just do some light training every day just to stay active. The first few months during the first trimester were pretty tough. I felt pretty exhausted every afternoon and soooo hungry ALL the time! I havent experience fatigue and hunger to this extreme even in my biggest mileage weeks of training. Thankfully once the second trimester hit in mid November I started getting back into my regular eating habits and I had tons of energy again. I have been lucky to have no morning sickness at all but I did have a bout of really bad back pain where I couldnt stand or walk without Tim helping me. It was extremely painful but only lasted about a week. Otherwise I really have nothing to complain about so far in my pregnancy, I have been very lucky!

I am now in my 22nd week and am shocked to still be able to do every normal physical activity that I usually have done but just with no intensity and at a reduced amount of mileage. I thought for sure that I wouldnt be able to racewalk at this point but I have surprised myself and am doing very well. Im just trying to enjoy training to stay fit for the birth and to make it easier to make a comback after the birth. At the most, im doing 100km's per week with all of the activity im doing with racewalking, running, hiking and elliptical. Ive been feeling great! 

Last week we had our major ultrasound for all of the measurements and to be able to find out the gender of the baby. Tim and I were always planning on finding out the gender and in the weeks leading up to the appointment, I was always saying that it was a girl. Well, I was right, we are having a baby girl and we are so excited! The baby is exactly where she should be with her development. All of her limbs and organs are there and look great. 

She was face down so it didnt make for the best picture but she looks great all the same! Here is a recent picture of me, starting to look pregnant finally!

Our due date is May 15th and if you do the math, we got pregnant in Croatia, just a week after I raced at the Olympics! We couldnt have planned it any better! I am so thrilled with the timing as it puts no rush on me getting back to training too quickly and I can just focus on my recovery after the birth and on our little girl. As long as I am back into full training by September I will be happy. In the meantime, I look forward to enjoying my last 4 months pregnant before our lives change forever. 

Keep on walking,

Rachel 

Moving Forward

Not much has happened since I last posted. My time at home in Canada in September was amazing, I had a great time. Especially being apart of the Canadian Olympic Team celebrations in Ottawa and Toronto was amazing. It was such an honor to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper and receiving the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. It was such a fun way to cap off the Olympic year and celebrate with the rest of the Canadian Olympic team and be celebrated by all of our fans in Canada. 

At the end of my time in Canada I was able to hold a free clinic in Peterborough, my hometown, to give back to everyone who supported me and was interested in learning how to racewalk. I had a great turn out considering the on and off rain all morning. It was great to see people improve their technique over the course of the clinic and I hope they continue to racewalk.

Now since I have been back home in San Diego, I have started back training slowly and just trying to get back to enjoying to train and racewalk again. It still has been a struggle to get over my Olympic performance. I am learning to "forgive" myself for what happened. I saw a quote one day that really hit home with me and helped me realize how to move on from the Olympics. It was:

"Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future." - Lewis B. Smedes

This quote has helped me a lot and now I am able to not think about my race at the Olympics as often and to move forward with the exciting long career I have ahead of me. 

Now we only have a few other racewalkers here to train with. I have Miranda Melville (2nd place at USA Olympic Trials) and Tim has Andreas Gustafsson (3:50 50km racewalker from Sweden). The group has definitely gotten smaller but its been fun to be with such a committed group. 

Tim and I will be heading to Las Vegas, NV in 2 weeks to do the Rock N' Roll half marathon there for fun and training. We have had the opportunity to do this race two times before and its so much fun to walk on the streets along the Vegas strip. I would highly recommend this race to anyone and everyone! 

Tim and I now have 3.5 weeks until we start our Christmas trip where we will be in Long Island, NY, Tim's hometown, for 5 days, my hometown of Peterborough, Canada for a week and then a week in Pharr, Texas again for our annual Junior racewalk camp where we have almost 40 kids coming from around the country. Lots of exciting events coming up! 

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Racewalk Clinic in Peterborough on September 22nd

I am heading back to Peterborough, Ontario on Monday for a visit with my family and for the COC Olympic Celebration. I wanted to do something to thank everyone that supported me before and during the Olympics and so I will be putting on a free racewalking clinic. Here is the information that you will need to know!

When: Saturday, September 22nd at 9am (roughly 2 hours long)

Where: Trent University Track

Who: Everyone and anyone is invited to come, no racewalking experience necessary

Cost: FREE

What to Wear: Athletics Clothes and Athletic Footwear

What to Expect: I will give an overview of what racewalking is and what the rules are. We will go through the basic technique involved in racewalking, proper warm up and stretching. Ill talk about my Olympic experience and have a question and answer time.

 Clinicians:

Myself, 2012 Olympian, 6 time Canadian Champion, Canadian Record Holder and proud Peterborough native!

Richard Borek, Coach of the Peterborough Legion Track Club and Trent University Cross Country. Also, the coach that taught me how to racewalk and my coach for 5 years!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at seaman.rachel@hotmail.com

I look forward to seeing you there!

Keep on walking,

Rachel

London Olympics Race Recap

Well I hate that I am here yet again to write about another disappointing big race. This one however tops the cake. Ive been writing on here, facebook and twitter the last few months about how strong I was feeling and how good of shape we knew I was in. This is/was all true leading up to my race at the Olympics. I felt like I was in the best shape of my life and that I was really going to put down a great time. I feel like I had done everything right this time and that nothing could go wrong. 

The day of the race I thought I did everything right. I was feeling really good when I got to the race course and still no thoughts of doubt came into my mind. When the gun went off, my plan was to go with the girls I knew that I could walk with, girls with similar PBs or even a bit faster. I did this and the pace was feeling really easy and good. Went through 5k in around 23:05 which was a good pace for me. The next few km's were fine and then I started to feel an increasing heaviness to my body, not like a normal racing heaviness but one that I couldnt just push through. As the race continued, each km got slower and slower and I think at one point, I knew that it wasnt going to be my dream race. My left hamstring/glute was also getting increasingly tight as the race went on and this has been a problem for me all year but usually I can handle it. I finished the race in a disappointing 52nd place in a time of 1:37:36, far from my PB or my goal time. 

I heard from a lot of friends and family that they were happy to see me "smiling" the whole race. I wish that was the case but it was a grimace for both the agony and disappointment I was feeling. I know that a lot of people are saying or thinking that I can never perform at the big championships and I know it seems that way. I believe that a lot of my championships, there have been a legitimate reason for not doing well but this time I cannot say the same thing. As I said above, I thought I was in the best shape of my life and that I did everything right and so this time, I cant explain what happened. Now that it has been a week and a half since the race, Tim and I have had a lot of time to reflect on what happened. The only thing I can come up with is that I may not have eaten enough during the day. I ate my main meal at 11am that day and didnt really eat much after that. This may explain why I ran out of "fuel" by halfway through the race and couldnt push through it. The other "reason" may be that I was in my monthly cycle and that this may have caused my body to react the way it did. These are the only real things I can come up with. 

No matter what it was, it doesnt change that I am extremely heart broken by my result. I know a lot of other people are disappointed in me too but no one is more upset than I am. I am the one who has to live with this the rest of my life. This is not what I had planned for my Olympic debut. My mind has already been torchuring itself enough since the race. I am reminded of this every minute of the day it seems. It is going to be really hard to get over but I know I will get over it in time. 

I appreciate all the support and kind messages before the Games and after. I know how proud all of my true friends and family are of me and I really appreciate it. I am now trying to figure out plans to do another race before I finish the season off so that I dont waste my fitness. I wish I didnt have something to bounce back from but this is sport and it has its ups and big downs. Ill keep you posted on what I decide to do. 

It was so great to have my family in London with me. The day after the race we all went sightseeing and it was nice to spend time with  them. My experience at the Olympics other than the race was great. I wish that I would have been able to experience more than I did but the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were amazing and I will never forget the feeling of walking into the Olympic stadium. I look forward to the journey over the next 4 years leading up to the 2016 Olympics. 


Keep on walking,

Rachel

Life in London......and Germany!

 After a busy few weeks in Europe, I am finally able to post an update! Here is a recount of what I have been up to.

After getting on and off planes, cancelled flight, changed flights and 10 hours in the San Diego airport, we finally go on a new flight, direct flight to London. It was a hectic trip which is even more a reason why we decided to go a bit earlier than planned. You just never know when stuff like tis will happen. We finally arrived in Germany about 3 hours later than originally scheduled so not bad considering all the problems! We were staying with Sabine and Bastian again for 6 days before I was heading to London for the opening ceremonies. I always love going there. It's so nice to have a home away from home where I am familiar with the training locations, I'm comfortable where I am living and have good company. It's been so great to have Tim here with me! I've gotten so used to being here without him that it sort of feels like vacation having him here. 

I had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the time change but training was going very well. It was nice to have my tough nights of sleep there before I headed to London. I left for London a few days before the Opening Ceremonies so that I had a chance to get familiar with the village, go get all my Hudson Bay Company (HBC) clothing, etc. The village is nice, not too big which is comforting. This is my 3rd time staying in a village setting and I'm glad I've had the experience before because some people are finding it overwhelming and I feel very comfortable with the whole experience. The volunteers have been amazing and the whole organization of the Games have been impressive. I am it thrilled to be competing in an English speaking country, it makes it so much easier. 

I trained in Victoria Park which you can access through the village and I had to train around the Olympic Park one day too. Even though being in London is great, I started to feel grateful that I was going to be heading back to Germany for training since its definitely not ideal for training to be there and that is the point of the Olympics, to do everything in the best interest of your competition. 

The buildup for the Opening Ceremonies was so exciting. The Canadian team had a pep rally before walking over to the stadium and everyone was really excited. I was a 1-2km walk from the village to the stadium and it was lined with kids cheering us on. The anticipation as we got closer and closer to the stadium kept building and just before we went into the tunnel to the stadium, we started singing O Canada. Everyone was so proud to be walking behind the Canadian flag and you could feel it. It was amazing walking into the stadium, one of the best feelings of my life. The crowd was roaring for us and I was just hoping to get on camera do that my family and friends could see me and they did! Soooo cool! Once we were done walking in, we went off to the side and watched all the other Countries have their moment. It was so neat to watch everyone elses expressions. This is what the Olympic Games are about! London put on a great show and I look forward to watching the whole show when I get home. 

Only 3 hours after the ceremonies ended, myself and 2 other athletes were off in a car to the airport to head to Kamen, Germany for the Athletics Canada pre-Olympic training camp. We met up with the rest of the track and field team here and our final preparation for the Games. This is a great facility! I was here in 2009 before the World Championships in Berlin and it was nice to come back to somewhere familiar. It's also only a 20 minutes train ride from where Tim is staying (with Sabine and Bastian) so he was able to come here for my hard workout on Tuesday and then I went back with him to stay the night and get my last long walk in. My 6 x 2k workout on Tuesday went great! I couldn't ask for anything better just 11 days before the biggest race of my life! It was one of the best I've ever done this workout and I finished in 8:56, with a low Heart rate for me. My confidence for the race is building every day and I know that I am ready for the best race of my life.

The start lists came out yesterday and I am ranked 40th out of 61. I know that I am capable of improving on that ranking and my goal is top 30 for sure! And of course break my own Canadian record. 

I will be in Kamen for another 6 days and then I head back to London for my race. First, we have Trevor and Inaki competing on Saturday in the men's 20km race and it'll be nice to get a preview of the course, etc from them. Till then ill be training and resting in anticipation of the big day. I'll try and blog one more time before then! 

Thanks for the support. Remember to follow me on twitter at @Rachel_Seaman 

Keep on walking,

Rachel