Seaman aiming for Tokyo
After birth of second daughter and the disappointment of missing Rio Olympics with injury, racewalker resumes training
Rachel Seaman’s career was rejuvenated by the birth of her first child and she’s hoping for similar fortune with her second child.
It’s been 14 months since Canada’s racewalking Queen, who grew up in Peterborough, withdrew from the 2016 Rio Olympics because of two torn hamstrings. It’s been more than 17 months since she last trained at full capacity or competed.
Following her announcement to withdraw she decided to take as much time off as was necessary to insure the hamstrings fully healed. In the meantime, Seaman got pregnant and in May delivered a second daughter, Blaise. She and her husband Tim Seaman, a U.S. track and field coach, who live in San Diego, Cal., and also have a four-year-old daughter Isabella.
Seaman said she began light training a month ago but doesn’t expect to compete until the winter indoor season in January.
Rio would have been her second Olympic Games after the 2012 London Olympics. She finished 52nd in the 20-kilometre racewalk in London but was aiming for a Top 10 in Rio after a 13th place finish at the 2015 IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Beijing, China.
Seaman, 31, says if she’d competed in Rio and done well it’s possible she might have retired but she doesn’t want her competitive career to end with the disappointment of 2016, a season almost entirely wiped out by injury, the first serious injury of her career. It came after her most successful year to date in 2015.
“It was such an incredible difference when I came back (after Isabella’s birth),” Seaman said. “Not many athletes get the opportunity to take a year off unless you are injured. It was a good way to get the fire back to compete again. Hopefully, it happens this time, too.”
She’s slowly working her way back into training and is now doing 75km a week in four sessions.
“I want to get my regular fitness back and lose the baby weight and then I’ll have three years to push to get ready for Tokyo,” she said. “It’s a little less pressure now and then in September I’ll get going with the training. I’ll do some indoor races but the first major competition of the year won’t be until the spring. It gives me a lot of time to get ready.”
So far, so good as far as her hamstrings go.
“I haven’t had any issues while I was working out when I was pregnant and now since I’ve been back I’m feeling good. I’m more intrigued to see once I start pushing the training and doing more mileage again what they’re going to feel like.”
Last year was so disappointing, Seaman says a mental break from the sport was also helpful.
“It was really hard for me not competing last year and it’s kept the fire going. If I didn’t feel I could still do better and place better and walk faster, I don’t think I would bother coming back,” she said. “I really believe I can still improve so much and my age and experience helps with that, too.”
She’s aware that having two children now will increase the challenge as far as time commitment.
“I have really good support,” she said. “Having your coach be your husband really helps. He understands my life and what I do on a daily basis in taking care of them and keeping busy with them so I think we can manage my training really well.
“I did well after having Isabella because my life was more structured so there is no reason why it can’t continue the same way.”
Distance athletes often don’t hit their peak until their midthirties.
“If I can make it to this next Olympics and potentially another after that I’ll be 34 and 38. We have a really good friend who won her last medal at 36 in Beijing so there is still a really good possibility I can get up there. It’s a matter of working hard and, hopefully, staying injury free and balancing my life. I do think my best years can be ahead of me.”