CANADIAN RECORD!!!!

Well...Its been awhile since I last posted and a lot has happened. I went to Florida and raced at the USA Pan American Racewalk Cup Trials and had a disaster race, a real disaster race walking 1:40:03. The reason for the disaster race was definitely too much travelling the 15 days before the race (I flew almost 10,000 miles in those 2 weeks) and I think I had too much stress in the week that I was in Florida and so all of that led to a big failed race. I was so extremely disappointed after that race that I really questioned why I was putting so much effort into all my training.

I went home from that race with a choice to either put that race behind me or rethink all my goals. Obviously I decided to move on from that race and make it fire me up and train with even more focus. Training from that point on has been going extremely well. I have been feeling great.

Exactly a month after the race in Florida, I had a completely different experience. We had some of our TEAMmates come to California for a race in Huntington Beach to try and get a 20km race in before going to Nationals in June. I decided that I would jump into the race as a hard effort and see how I would feel after not resting at all for it. I did 2 weeks at 140km's before the race and a hard workout (10 x 1km/500m fartlek) the Tuesday before and so I definitely wasnt planning on this being a peak race. I also had no pressure going into this race since no one knew I was racing and I wasnt thinking of this as being an important race at all.

The weather was perfect, no wind and 51 degrees. The course was perfect also, measuring at 1.051km's around, it was a circle with no turn arounds. We couldnt have asked for a more perfect situation. Chris Tegtmeier and I were planning on going 5:02 a lap which would give us 4:47 per km. My main goal was to feel as comfortable as I could to walk between 47:30-48mins for 10km's as possible so that when I did get in a "real" race that I would be confident that I could double that when I was more rested. I did not know that the day was today.

We just started clicking laps below 5:00 and Chris kept looking at me each lap asking me "Is that ok? Or should we slow down?" and I just said "Ya, I guess, I feel great, lets just keep going". So we just went with the flow and I felt amazing from the first step to the last. To show how good I felt, here were my 5km splits: 23:49, 23:43 (47:32), 23:34 (1:11:06), 23:16 (1:34:22), WOW! I am so proud of how I raced, it couldnt have gone better. Oh and by the way, I broke the CANADIAN RECORD!!!!! This was just so unexpected! Its amazing! This record was always a goal for me but I didnt think it would happen this year but im so glad it did.

This race has now change my whole outlook on my upcoming training and races. I used to think that I could achieve the Olympic 'A' standard but now I know that I am capable of it. I am now only 52 seconds off of the standard and I have 500 days exactly from today till the 2012 Olympic Games and I believe I can get there. I am so excited for what is to come!

Thank you all for your support! It makes the world of difference to have people in my life that push me to do my best.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Article in Hometown Newspaper

Today a newspaper article came out in one of my local newspapers in Peterborough, Canada on me and the race in New York City. You can view the article here.

Local race walker is in the groove

- Seaman is now a member of the New York Athletic Club which will sponsor some of her travel for races.

- Other personal race walk times include 46:25 in the 10km and 22:30.4 in the 5km.

- She finished 35th in the 20km at the 2009 World Championships in 1:45:45�. Seaman is a former member of the Peterborough Legion Track and Field Club.

Rachel Seaman is back in the New York groove.

The reigning Canadian race walking champion from Peterborough continues to take a bite out of the Big Apple as she captured her third-straight Millrose Games one-mile title on Saturday at Madison Square Gardens in New York City, the 104th edition of the event.

The annual meet is one of the largest indoor track and field events in the U.S.

"I usually don't get nervous for races but for some reason I always do for this one," Seaman said on Monday from her home in San Diego, Calif. "My base training keeps me strong and I start each year strong. This race is based on speed and my training helps on a stage like this."

Seaman, daughter of Nil and Christine Lavallée of Peterborough, not only topped 13 other competitors, she also smashed the course record she set in 2009. Her time of six minutes, 41.32 seconds was a six-second improvement.

She is currently the only Canadian to hold a record at the Games.

"The past two years I had (longtime U.S. champ) Teresa Vaill to hang off but this year the target was on my back," said Seaman, 25. "Everyone was kind of expecting me to win and prior to the race they were even asking me how much I was going to win by.

"It was a weaker field than in previous years with some high school competitors but all of that just gets me fired up to perform well."

The victory is a positive step for the 20-kilometre race walk expert who looks to bounce back from a roller-coaster 2010. The season included battling illness in the spring, missing out on qualifying for the Commonwealth Games and enduring a car crash in Toronto just prior to the Canadian track and field championships.

"It was a tough year," said Seaman. "I was in good shape but my mental state just wasn't there. The car accident shook me up a lot, too. I've changed my outlook and am feeling strong."

Evidence of that came a week before the Millrose Games when she won a 20km race walk at the USA 50KM Championships in a time of 1:37:18 - a new personal best, topping her 2009 World University Games mark by four seconds. Â

Seaman says she expects she'll need to reach the Athletics Canada's A-standard of 1:33:30 to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

"My goal this year is to get as close as possible to the qualifying time for the Olympics," she said. "My main goal is to drop as much time as possible."

And her training is taking a step in the right direction with higher mileage.

"Last year, I managed only eight weeks total of 130 kilometres of more and already I've done six weeks of 130k or more."

Seaman is set for the U.S. Pan-Am trials next week in Florida, along with several races in Europe in April. She then plans on several months of extensive training alongside her husband and coach Tim Seaman (a two-time Olympian and former U.S. champ) prior to returning to Canada for the nationals.

"I'm feeling a lot stronger and I'm also back on the weights which I haven't done since I was in Peterborough and training under Richard Borek.

"I've got more confidence going into this race season," she added. "I know each race is going to get better and better."

Keep on walking,

Rachel

3-Time Millrose Games CHAMPION!!!

Yesterday I was just a bottle of nerves all day. For whatever reason I tend to get extremely nervous for the Millrose Games. I dont know if its because of the track being so small, the fact that I have to go practically 100% effort right from the beginning or what but I have been getting really nervous about this race the past few years.

I knew that the target was on my back since I was the 2 time defending champion and meet record holder. This year I didnt have Teresa Vail as my guide so it was up to me to go out in the lead. This however didnt happen until 2 laps into the race. Nirvana Zalba from Mexico blasted out of the start line and sprinted the first few laps and it brought us through the first 400m's in 1:33!!!! Wow, that was too fast. I knew that there was a potential of her doing that and once she did I was sort of afraid to let her go and get too far ahead of me. She ended up crashing pretty quickly and from then on I was in the lead the rest of the race. I was just trying to push as hard as I could the whole way and get as big of a lead as I could. I ended up getting a few paddles (lifting and bent knee) so with a few laps to go I couldnt tell if I had any red cards or how many so I didnt want to push over my limit the last few laps (I only ended up having 1 red card). I ended up finishing in a time of 6:41.32 which is a new meet record by 6 seconds from my win in 2009.

I am thrilled with my time and thankful that this race is over for another year. I just hate how nervous I get especially since I dont get half as nervous for races that are 100% more important than this one. Oh well! It was my first time wearing the NYAC letters on my singlet and it was so great to wear it in NYC. We had such great support from them at the race.

My dad and I spent the rest of the weekend in NYC and had a great time. We were able to work out in Central Park and catch a broadway show and bus tours. Now im looking forward to going back home to San Diego tomorrow and get one week of good training in before my next race in Coconut Creek, Florida on February 13th.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Feeling Goooood

Last weekend was a great way to open up my real racing season. It was nice to be back on the roads racing 20km's. I had only done one 20km race on the roads last year and racing 50 laps on the track just isnt as fun :)

We woke up to great temperatures on race morning but the winds.....the winds were unreal! At the start of the race it was around 30mph winds. I have never raced in this bad of winds before and whenever I have trained in that wind, it has been miserable. I didnt let it bother me because being the first race of the season, time doesnt matter as much, its just about getting a good effort in. I attacked the race with Tyler Sorensen and the first lap was definitely too slow but it was really hard to tell the pace we were going with the wind and there was no km split (the laps were 1.6667km's). After the first lap (of 12) we got right onto pace of 8mins a lap. I was feeling really good and then with 4 laps to go Tyler took off from me (to chase the Olympic Trials standard of 1:36) and I tried to keep my pace from there but I started to tighten up and my last 3 laps werent so good. I lost a lot of time in those laps and my hopes of finishing in 1:36:xx wasnt going to happen. I ended up finishing in 1:37:18 which was good enough for a 4 second PB.

I am still very happy with this small personal best time because I am just glad to be back to where I was in 2009. This is still extremely early and I have barely done any workouts faster than zone #1 pace (easy pace) so I know that each race will get better and better.

Tim raced his first 50km in 4 years and it was definitely a tough day for him. Not only did he have the winds to worry about in his early stages of the race but once that died down the heat came out. By the time he was done it was 77F so thats pretty warm. He felt good through 30-35k and then Ben Shorey put a surge on and he couldnt respond and thats where Ben won the race. Tim really struggled after that and finished 2nd in a time of 4:25. After he started struggling he just needed to make sure he finished so thats what he did.

I am now in New York City getting ready to race at the Millrose Games tomorrow afternoon. I am looking to win my 3rd straight title. You can view the results after my 4:35pm race here. Wish me luck!!!

Keep on walking,

Rachel

First Race, New Team

This weekend is my first official race at the USA 50km RW Championships where I will race over 20k. This is not super important but I still would like to do well for an early effort. I have done very little workouts faster than zone #1 pace (easy distance). I feel very strong though and feel like I can walk a good time. I will be walking with Tyler Sorensen and Bruno Carriere (Canadian Junior Champion) with Tyler walking the whole 20k and Bruno walking 10k. I am most looking forward to Tim walking the 50k though. It is his first time racing th 50k in 4 years. He is in great shape and ready to go and see what he can do. The race is on Sunday in Tustin, CA. You can view the results here when they become available.

I hadnt been planning on going to the Millrose Games this year, especially since it is only 5 days after my 20k this weekend however I got an offer I couldnt refuse. We got a call from the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) asking me to join their team. Tim has been on their team for over a decade now and they have been so good to him. I thought it was a great opportunity and its nice to be apart of the same team as Tim. Because of this, I am now going to the Millrose Games to try and defend my title. My dad is making the trip from Canada to be with me at the race and spend the weekend in NYC. Im really looking forward to it.

Wish me luck :)

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Starting 2011 Right

First of all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I know im a little late on both of those and I did have plans to blog while we were in Canada for Christmas but it just got too busy. We had a GREAT Christmas though. It was so nice to see my family again, especially my niece Anna :) Unfortunately I only got to see my sister Ruthy for 2 days since she lives and works in Toronto but it was nice to see her nonetheless.

We got so lucky with the weather while we were in Peterborough (my hometown). It didnt snow once, it didnt get colder than -10c when we were training (which may seem super cold to some people but I was happy with that!) and we were able to train OUTSIDE every day!!!! It was great. Last year for the week of Christmas we only got in 92km's for the week and this year we got in 120km's which is pretty good for being so busy and having many family engagements. We were very lucky to have my parents running with us almost every day so that helped us get the mileage in for sure.

Next up was the USA Junior Racewalk Camp which Tim and I do every year (Tim has been there for the past 10 years and I have been there for 6). This year we had 20 boys and girls and that included 6 college girls. It was a very successful camp, we had many talented racewalkers there and we look forward to seeing some great times from them this year. I was able to get some really good training in. It was nice to be back in some warm weather and this year was 100% better than last year. Last year at the camp we had lots of cold and rainy days, it seemed as though the sun never came out. This year was quite the contrary, it was sunny every day and it go up to the high 80F's for a couple days. I managed to get 144km's (my 3rd week this fall/winter over 140km's) and felt great throughout the whole thing. I was able to train with a local boy, Alex Chavez and a girl from Mexico, Nirvana Zalba, it was nice to have training partners every day.

We had 2 races like usual during the camp. On New Year's Eve we had the 1 mile race on the track and on New Year's Day we had the 5km race on the road. For the 1 mile race we decided to have 2 separate races as usual since there were so many people racing. In my race (the 1st race of the day) there was Tim, Alex Chavez, Ricardo Vergara, Vince Peters and I. Tim and Vince were doing 3k and Alex, Ricardo and I were doing the mile. Alex went on to help pace Tim through his 3k and Ricardo and I helped eachother to a fast mile time. I ended up walking 6:50 which is a great time for this time of year with little to no speed work (nothing under a km). This is a personal best (PB) time on the outdoor track and only 3 seconds off my best time ever over the mile. I was very happy with it and how even my lap splits were. The 5k went equally well. The plan was for Tim to try and help Alex walk a PB and I wanted to see how long I could hold onto them. The gun went off and we went through the first km in 4:37. The guys dropped the hammer right after that and I decided that it probably wasnt smart to try and go with them. I then proceeded to walk my next 4 km splits in 4:33, 4:31, 4:36 and 4:30. I really needed someone to walk with during the 4th km to pull me along but I was really happy with my time of 22:48. This is also a great time for this time of year, I walked 50 seconds faster than last year at this race so thats a big improvement. The picture above is from the 5k race. It was a great way to end a very successful training camp.

Training has just been going so well. I really havent changed much about my training this year so far compared to last year except that I am doing much higher mileage. Last year I did only 8 weeks total of 130m's or more and this year so far I have done 6 weeks of 130km's or more. I am feeling very good and very strong. It all just keeps getting better. I have now been walking the same times but with a much lower heart rate so that shows how well my training is going. Up next for me is the 20km race at the USA 50km RW Championships in Irvine, California. I am really looking forward to that race, my first real race of 2011.

Right now we have fellow TEAM members Bruno Carriere from Canada and Trevor Barron from Pittsburg, PA visiting us. Its nice to have some other athletes around and different people to train with.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

On a Roll

First I need to apologize for not posting in a long time. It seems as though I got out of my routine when my sister and niece came to visit and lost it from then on. Here is a recap of what ive been up to the last month and a half :)

When my sister and niece came to visit we had another person arrive in San Diego. Our close friend and training partner Lauren Forgues had decided to move here to give herself the best chance to improve and give her athletic career her all. It has been amazing having her here. Its great to have another girl here since the only other people we train with here is John Nunn, Andreas Gustafsson and of course my husband/coach Tim. She has really excelled in the short time she has been here. This is going to be her year and she is going to surprise everyone, I am so excited for her!

My training has been going really well. Ive been really focused this fall, way more than ever before. I have done a couple workouts that I did last year at this time and this year I can really tell that I am way ahead of where I was last year. I have been able to get much more mileage in this year, especially since we didnt "loose" training because of a wedding/honeymoon like we did last year. Last year I only had one month over 500km's and so far this fall I have had two and this month it seems like it will be my third. I have been on a roll and feeling great.

On the weekend on December 5th we went to Las Vegas to participate in the Rock n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon/Half Marathon courtesy of the Competitor Group. We did this event last year and we had a great time. This year Tim decided to do the full marathon since he is in training for the USA 50km RW Championships and I did the half marathon again. We decided that I would walk the first 15km's with Tim as a tempo walk for me. The gun went off and things were looking good but Tim started to have stomach problems and he ended up having to stop 3 times when I was with him. Having to start and stop a few times made me tighten up a bit but I still felt good. We were walking between 5:00-5:05/km and it felt so comfortable. I was able to talk very easily with Tim and my heart rate stayed very low which we were both surprised about. When it came to the 15km mark I decided to keep walking with Tim till 20km's when the half and the full marathon course split up. I was feeling good and thought that Tim would like the company for as long as he could have it. I went through 20km's in 1:41:25 and 1:47:09 for the half marathon (21.1km's). I was thrilled with this especially since I had just done 120km's that week before that day so I wasnt resting at all for this "race"/workout.

So far it has been an almost ideal fall base training period and its looking good as I look towards the winter/spring racing. This weekend we will head to Canada to spend Christmas with my family for the week and then the day after Christmas we will fly to South Texas for the USATF Junior Racewalk Training Camp for a week then finally we will come back home to San Diego.

Our first race of the season will be on January 23rd in Irvine, CA at the USA 50km RW Championships where Tim will look to win his first 50km Championship and I will walk a low key 20km with Tyler Sorensen for his debut 20km. We are really looking forward to the event.

Happy holidays to everyone and dont forget to keep on walking,

Rachel