I’ve been working with Joseph Pitchford for over four years now.
In December 2019, Joseph contacted me about a month before the Dallas SWEAT indoor Rowing competition. Joseph had rowed before college and was looking for a training program to help him out in a decent 2K at the competition. He was relatively fit but not necessarily indoor rowing fit, and he wanted to perform well at the competition and avoid being embarrassed by a poor time.
Joseph is a busy professional in the real estate business. I have served as his rowing coach over the last four and a half years and is committed to performing well in his age group’s lightweight 60-64 category.
During the years I have worked with him, he has won many different medals and recorded personal best times in the 2K and 5K indoor rowing tests on the Concept 2.
As his coach, I had to create a training plan that fit around his career and family and attained the goals that Joseph was looking for.
Making a Run At The World Rowing Indoor Championships
This past Winter, Joseph set his sights on competing in the 500m race at the World Rowing Indoor Championship and also at the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints (1000m)
The first challenge of the season was the USRA in Alexandra. Joseph recorded a time of 1:34.1, which was fast enough to win his group, composed of heavyweight athletes.
This was a good start, but we both knew we needed to take off another three seconds to reach the podium at World Rowing Indoor Championship in a few weeks.
As luck would have it, one of Joseph’s college roommates took footage of the 500-meter row at the competition and it was sent over to me.
Rowing Video Biomechanical Analysis
I analyzed the video and identified various aspects of Joseph’s technique that appeared to be low-hanging fruit for improving speed.
We then scheduled an hour-long Zoom call.
During the call, we used my real-time app Coach Bergenroth to transmit PM5 data remotely and work on the technical aspects that needed improvement, which would give us the performance improvements we sought. We made several breakthroughs during our time together. We knew it would be tight to medal at the World Rowing Indoor Championship, so we intentionally laid the groundwork for success during that session.
I then designed a program with the proper sprint and aerobic training balance to maximize performance for the 500m piece at Worlds. Over the next couple of weeks, Joseph diligently worked on the technical points we had discussed, which resulted in an improved connection at the beginning of the stroke.
More Success At The Shocker Sprints
A week out from the World Rowing Indoor Championship, Joseph competed next at the Shocker Sprints in Wichita, KS, and recorded a 1:33. This time, Joseph finished third out of 15 lightweight athletes with no age categories and no handicapping.
This was a great result!
The training plan and technical adjustments worked, building positive confidence in our preparations.
The World Indoor Rowing Championships Arrive!
We were ready for a run at the World Rowing Indoor Championship podium. After a carefully planned taper, which allowed for a reduction in volume and the right amount of intensity to stay sharp, the day of the race arrived.
Joseph had to race early in the morning as he was competing several time zones behind the event being held in the Czech Republic.
The final result was a third-place finish at the World Rowing Indoor Championship!
Joseph had rowed a personal best time of 1:31.5. As predicted, we had improved performance by a fairly substantial margin for this distance. All the individualized coaching program threads had come together for the result we knew was attainable.
World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints
The next event was the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints, a 1000m event in the 60-60 lightweight men’s category.
Based on Joseph’s individualized power model, we could see that a time in 3:20/3:21 was attainable. My training programs are data-driven so my clients can see their attainable physiological goals based on tracking and comparing training performance.
I laid out the program for the next two weeks, which had a slightly different emphasis because the distance we were training for was doubled.
The World Indoor Challenge came into view. Improvements in training sessions, such as the 6 x 500m, demonstrated we were still picking up speed.
True to the training performance we had accomplished during this season, Joseph recorded another personal best time at this asynchronous event.
Reflecting On The Journey
It’s been an incredible journey over the past few years with Joseph. This season has been arguably our best yet. We are planning to climb the rankings even higher next year.
I thank Joseph for the opportunity to coach him over the last few years. Experiences such as these during my lifetime in rowing have enabled me to gain more wisdom and make connections to apply my coaching expertise.
As a professional online rowing coach, I am committed to helping my clients reach the levels they wish to see success in, especially events like the World Rowing Indoor Championship. Because you can’t always receive personalized and private training sessions from your available coaches, I offer tailored-to-you training to ensure you grow and perform at your full potential.
