How To Improve Rowing Performance - Rowing Steady State Too Fast
I first met Anne on social media (Instagram). I had left a comment on one of her pictures showing her PM5 monitor at the completion of a 4 x 15 minute steady state. What had prompted me to leave a comment was the fact that her heart rate was in the red zone for a training session that was supposed to be in a steady state, it was very high for this type of training and not optimized for improving rowing performance. I had encouraged her to open her mind to slowing down on her steady state to make it more effective and sustainable. It’s a common mistake that athletes make because sometimes the ego gets in the way and the athlete starts to chase splits rather than stay focussed on what the training session is trying to achieve, in this case a more efficient physiological system to clear lactate at low levels of intensity.
In May of 2021, Anne contacted me to ask if I was interested in supporting her in a coaching capacity on the road to the World Rowing Indoor Championships (WRICH) in 2023. Given that Anne is Canadian and the event was going to be held in Toronto, it was possible for her to compete in person.. Anne had set her sights on a dream of winning a medal at this event. The problem that I needed to help Anne solve was to make her training sustainable, keep her injury free, and also make all of the hard work we had to do fun and productive.
I accepted the challenge immediately. What a great opportunity! The immediate challenge was to balance Anne’s training program so that 80% of the work that we did was steady state rowing below her anaerobic threshold. The remaining part of the workload was designed to work in the anaerobic threshold, VO2 max improvement zone, and anaerobic systems.The above work was structured mostly on the rower, however cycling was also regularly included. In addition, two strength training sessions were carefully integrated each week with respect to the objectives of the training block. This was the approach we took in terms of how to improve rowing performance.
It took some time to achieve this, sometimes the balance was 70% steady state and 30% AT and above. It’s challenging to get things perfect, however aiming for this ideal is a good way to make training mentally and physically sustainable and most importantly effective.
We got to work in June of 2021, and spent time for the first few months of the training plan building aerobic capacity and general strengthening. The sessions consisted of two strength sessions each week, one tempo/lactate threshold and the rest of the sessions were steady state sessions. Upon review of training sessions, these were around Anne’s critical power (a metric that I now use) and steadily improved over the two years that we trained together.
Below is a photo of these sessions and how they have improved over time.
Rowing Performance: Personal Bests On The Indoor Rowing Machine
As we navigated the Fall of 2021, Anne’s first real test was a 5K race at the Ghostriders Revenge event. Anne rowed the 5K in 20:19 minutes, which was a 12.3 second personal best. Anne remarked that the best part about the row was that she felt in control and did not panic during the piece. The results of our work together was paying off dividends not just in terms of performance, but also mental approach (a big win!).
As we neared the Holiday period, Anne remained focused. We continued to work on aerobic development four days a week with two days a week on threshold training sessions such as 3 x 4km and.or 3 x 2k at different intensities.
At the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in 2022, Anne was ready to go, and rowed her 2K in a time of 7:36.4 which was a 6.3 second improvement over her previous best. However, the following month at the CRASH B’s, while better than her previous personal best, a 7:39 came as a disappointment and so gave both of us time to reflect on the season.
During our second year of training over the summer the focus was once more on general aerobic development. Things seemed to be progressing well because Anne’s power outputs compared to the year before we’re at higher levels. As a result, we could tell that adaptation had occurred.
Unlocking The Puzzle of Improving Rowing Performance
By the Fall of 2022, something wasn’t quite right. Anne began to become inconsistent in her performance. By December, after completing a 2k erg test in a time of 7:50 we knew that something was definitely off. Anne suggested that we look into approaches for female athletes who were perimenopausal.
I started to research this, as this was the first time that I had experienced this particular challenge with a client. Luckily, after some research, I found this very helpful video produced by the Science of Rowing team. The video consists of a video featuring Marlene Royle. I link to the video in case it is a helpful resource for you. Coach Royle has also taken a course run by Dr. Stacey Sims who specializes in helping women navigate training adaptations as they age.
The take away from the video was to ensure that the weightlifting we were doing was heavier weights and low reps. Additionally, other advice indicated that we should start to perform a high intensity training session once a week (Such as 20 seconds sprinting, 40 seconds light paddle rowing x 20).
The Turning Point
Anne and I decided to have a conversation on Zoom which lasted a couple of hours. Upon reflection, this conversation was a turning point in our journey toward better rowing performance as we worked together to chart a suitable course for the final two months of training before the WRICH in February 2023. As we continued to talk we discussed the various aspects of the puzzle and started to see solutions and various options we could try to improve rowing performance.
We also made sure we continued doing a tempo training session each week, which was typically a volume of 10K at around critical power. As a result, performance started to improve and we were on the road to efficiently managing the remaining training time.
Communication and Support Is Key
I would describe Anne as exceptionally hard working who can be self-critical at times when she is not happy with a training session. My social coaching approach was mainly to provide perspective when these situations occur. When training doesn’t go well, there is always a positive side to failure. Knowing the right thing to say at the right time is just as important as optimizing a rowing training plan aimed at maximizing rowing performance.
In Anne’s words “Neil has a knack for saying the right thing at the right moment. Before races, he would send encouraging messages that reduced anxiety and improved confidence in those critical moments. Even when I was struggling with difficult sessions or tests, Neil was calm, positive, and continuously sought feedback to troubleshoot.”
It has been my experience with individualized training plans that there be a feedback loop between the athlete and coach. Each step along the journey is a data point and sometimes small pivots are required to optimize the training.
Go Time!
The week of the WorldRowing Indoor Championships arrived. As Anne did her last few training sessions we communicated about ideal warm ups or alternate nostril breathing to help settle her mind to manage nerves.
The day of the 2023 World Rowing Indoor Championships arrived. We were ready.
I remember watching the race on the World Rowing YouTube channel. Anne had made a good start and paced the first 1000m of the 2K well. I remember pacing around my office as the race progressed. As the race got to the last 500m it became clear that a 1:52 500m was what we needed to reach the medal podium, the question was, had we done enough of the right training to achieve this?
My heart rate was elevated, as it often gets when one of my crews or athletes is coming down the race course.
I could see that Anne was winding up the rate in the last few hundred meters of the race. Her split dropped to the 1:48-1:50 range. Wow I thought Anne is dropping the hammer!
When the final results were in, Anne had earned the Bronze medal in her category! Her dream had come true – a medal at the World Rowing Indoor Championships!
This was the first time an athlete I had coached had won a medal at this prestigious event. At the critical time of performance everything had come together!
Conclusion
As with any worthwhile journey there were ups and downs. We had both evolved over the course of our two year coach/athlete relationship. I have developed more knowledge and skills when it comes to coaching athletes. This aligns with my experience of learning something new from every client or student that I have worked with. Anne had started an intentional plan with a two year runway in order to achieve her dream of reaching the podium at the World Rowing Indoor Championships. In doing so, Anne learned to trust the process and be less self-critical.
We had navigated the road without any serious injuries interrupting training, and done this through a methodology of smart training, planning and clear communication when we hit roadblocks.
I want to thank Anne for the opportunity to coach her, it is an experience that I will treasure as I move forward to my next evolution as an online rowing coach.
