Rachel Tomajczyk — pregnancy isn’t the end.
Read time:
5 minutes read
Interview by Kristen Vasilev
Photographs by Aisha McAdams
Photographs by Aisha McAdams
For a long time, pregnancy has been treated as the end of a career in professional sport for women. Not officially. Not in writing. But in practice — a contract not getting renewed or sponsors quietly making their exit. And with a lack of data to turn to, the reality of physiology spurs questions for pregnant athletes — the uncertainty of how training and racing pregnant will feel, how far one can push the body, and when safety comes into the picture. Professional trail runner Rachel Tomajczyk — currently 30 weeks pregnant — is proof that the story is changing. And that it still has a long way to go.
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Rachel Tomajczyk knew immediately that she didn’t want to put a pause on running when she found out she was pregnant — earning two podium wins at both 16 and 21 weeks. “I think it's just fun to be able to kind of explore your limits no matter what stage of life you're in.” Working with a doctor and an obstetrician-gynecologist versed in running, she was given the clear to train and race after enduring a complicated first trimester.
Between having a subchorionic hematoma — when blood pools between the amniotic sac protecting the fetus and the wall of the uterus — and major fatigue, Rachel’s training volume in the first three months had to be halved. “There were definitely runs early on where it just felt like my breathing was very, very labored and it was hard to run for a couple miles. My endurance was really low for probably the first time in my life.” On top of that, her hunger skyrocketed despite running so little — requiring fueling more than she was used to, with heavy carb cravings outside of training like sandwiches and pizza.
As things eased going into the second trimester and higher mileage resumed, there was still the constant nagging of her bladder and the need to exercise caution to not damage her pelvic floor.
“Maybe after a longer run or if I did a race that was really fast and tense, then I would feel a little bit sore the next day around my pelvic floor. I just had to be really careful and maybe take a few days off of running to make sure that it felt really good before training a little harder again.”
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The question for female athletes isn’t if — but when — the time will come to hit the pause button when training and racing pregnant. Whether that moment is right before giving birth or long before. And on top of that, the mental load of keeping expectations tempered — preparing yourself that any day, something can change. At 24 weeks pregnant, Rachel flew to France to compete in Skyrace des Matheysins. The week before, training had gone off without a hitch — she had run her highest mileage of the pregnancy. “But then I got into the race and I was breathing really, really hard for the pace that I was running. And it wasn't that steep at the beginning. Probably 10 minutes in, I started cramping a lot. I was like, I think I need to stop because it wasn't a normal side stitch. It was really low in my pelvis where I was cramping.”
Rachel dropped from the race to seek help at the medical tent, where the cramps worsened and bleeding started. Immediately transported to the hospital, it appeared she was having preterm contractions — essentially, she was in labor at 24 weeks. “If something was wrong with [the baby], or the placenta, then they were going to do an emergency C-section or try to let labor keep going and have me give birth to her there. They were telling me that right away and I was like, whoa, okay. I might actually give birth today.”
“They gave me medicine to stop the contractions. I was there for a few days and now I'm okay. Baby's okay. Now I can't run for the rest of pregnancy. I think that's been a little bit hard, but I definitely knew when I needed to stop.”
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Running during pregnancy isn’t well documented. There was no clear answer from the doctor as to why Rachel had brought on labor-like contractions. Dehydration, stress from travel, or the pounding from running were all put out there as possibilities. Most research available highlights information around staying active, strength training, or the general benefits of movement. But the specifics — the detailed picture of what high-mileage endurance does to the pregnant body — is missing.
“I've had a couple other friends that are professional runners tell me something similar happened to them. They asked their doctors about it and their doctor said, oh yeah, those were real contractions. So I think that this situation has happened a couple of times with runners where it would be great to study or just to know what are the warning signs when I may need to pull back or stop.”
With no definitive answers and the fear that early-onset labor could recur, the final decision was made — there will be no racing Broken Arrow this year. “I am a little sad to miss out because it is a really fun atmosphere. But I also think those things happen every year. So it's always something that I can go back to. I tried to go into pregnancy without having expectations and wanting to be able to run for the whole pregnancy but knowing that maybe that wouldn't be possible.”
Pulling out of a race is one thing — questions around the future of her running career are another. Contracts with several of Rachel’s sponsors come up for renewal this year — a fact she was aware of when she found out she was pregnant. Initially fearful of how things might go, she has been fortunate to have supportive brands behind her. But she knows that isn't guaranteed, having seen things go differently for other athletes.
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“When I was growing up, I saw a lot of professional runners get pregnant and then either get dropped or pregnancy was like the sign that you were retiring from running. I think that things have changed a lot and it's really cool seeing a lot of women pregnant and then coming back even stronger and making Olympic teams or running PRs. That has been really, really fun to see companies and brands supporting the athletes that are pregnant. So I think it's changing a lot, but I've still seen a few things this year where maybe athletes have gotten dropped in contracts due to pregnancy. So maybe still something to work on.”
But Rachel didn’t want uncertainty to dictate her decision around starting a family. “I don't want to live a life with fear or thinking ‘I don't want to have a baby because I could get dropped when it's something that my husband and I really want in our life’. Hopefully we're supported through it. If not, then we'll find a different way.”
Stepping back from racing — for now — doesn't mean stepping back from the sport entirely. Rachel is currently taking part in testing with Maurten to explore the nutritional needs in pregnant elite athletes — measuring metabolic demands and caloric expenditure during both late pregnancy and follow-up testing postpartum. “I have heard of a good amount of women who have come back and maybe it's that they're coming back too quickly from pregnancy, but maybe it's that they're not fueling well enough and they're getting injured or getting stress fractures. I'm hoping to prevent things like that — and I think that fueling is going to be key.”
This dataset barely exists. Rachel is hoping to change that — so the next generation of female athletes have less fear and more reason to believe that pregnancy doesn’t have to mean the end.
Interview by Kristen Vasilev
Photographs by Aisha McAdams
Photographs by Aisha McAdams
Rachel Tomajczyk — pregnancy isn’t the end.
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Photographs by Aisha McAdams
