M ATT P EARCE. Attain fastest speed possible for your final race of the season Improve consistency and reduce the valleys by building a solid foundation.

MATT PEARCE

Attain fastest speed possible for your final race of the season

Improve consistency and reduce the “valleys” by building a solid foundation “On a good day, we can win, on a bad day we can win a medal”

Have the individual be the best they can be

Build a very large aerobic foundation (80%) to support a tall peak

Once they get to Final Preparation change gears and let them race

10” 1’ 2K 6K 30’

WATTS

TRAINING GRAPH

Build from the bottom up. Push from below for most of the year

You want to provide just enough stimuli to elicit a response and see improvement. NB IF IT DEVELOPS QUICKLY IT CAN DISSAPPEAR QUICKLY

Stay in touch with all training zones all year. Evaluate 2-3 zones every test period

Need to be confident and patient- realise you won’t be fast all year

Every athlete may not be an Olympic champion, but every athlete can be much, much better than they are. Build the athlete, don’t simply select athletes

Periodisation is breaking the rowing year in blocks that have specific training goals and complement each other

Main elements for designing a programme are VOLUME, INTENSITY and SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Steady State/UT3-2

HR 140-156, 1-2mmols, R16-20

Hard Steady/UT1 Most training in these

HR 160-172, 2-3mmols, R19-24 zones.

Anaerobic Threshold/Lactate Threshold

HR 176-190, 3-6mmols, R24-32

Race Intensity +/-

HR 180+, 6+mmols, R32-40

Max Speed

HR???, ???mmols, R40-44

NB: COMBINATION OF SR, HR, SPEED DETERMINE YOUR TRAINING BANDS

UT2 WILL NOT BE FULL PRESSURE EARLY ON IN THE SEASON BUT WILL DEVELOP INTO IT

Rowing Specific- (UT3-1, AT, VO2 Max, AN)

Power- 1/2-Whole boat, Bungee, 3’/1’, 250-750str (R14-28)

Weights- Strength 3-15 reps, Endurance 20-60 reps Not rowing training Optimal to do a aerobic session after weights training 3 sessions are a lot unless they are varied in training

Cross-Training Anything that is not rowing on the water should be

considered cross-training because it does not have a direct link to the speed of the boat

Most of the cross-training is done on the CII ergo Unless developing fitness, biking, running, swimming

are a waste of time for TRAINING benefits for rowing

Time is the easiest way to assess stress on the bodies (not KM’s)

Determine when in the year do you have the MOST time. Assess how much time you have in “peak” time

Determine when in the year you have the least time Assess how much time you have in “valley” time

Determine when you need to be fastest in the season Estimate the amount of time you have 2-3 weeks

before your final/primary race (stress needs to be greater than what they have done in the previous 2-3 week period)

Establish what testing you will use to determine progress

Gradually increase the volume over time through early season

Plateau volume or slightly decrease and increase length of intensityLargest volume is at 7-5 weeks before

major competition6 weeks out mini season of UT2/UT3

training 2 weeks from major competition decrease

volume and increase short, intensive pieces

The year can be broken up in 3 training periods:

Preparatory Phase Precompetitive Phase Competitive Phase

GENERAL PREPARATION SPECIFIC PREPARATION

12-16 weeks Emphasises strength

training, flexibility and aerobic conditioning

60% of aerobic training is at or below the aerobic threshold in long, steady-state workouts of 60’ or more

Use cross training to alleviate boredom and prevent overuse injuries

Technically it is ideal to work on specific skill development in the stroke

8-16 weeks Emphasises rowing-

specific aerobic, anaerobic and power work

Training volume increases Rowers do more work near

the Anaerobic Threshold Cross training decreases

to 10% of training Strength maintenance

sessions 1-2 times per week in gym

Technically it is ideal to work on overall skill of the rowing stroke

4-8 weeks Training volume peaks during the precompetitive

phase and intensity continues to build Low-intensity aerobic threshold workouts continue

to account for 60% of training time, but it includes intervals done just above and just below anaerobic threshold, with about 1 ¼ hours per week dedicated to race-pace intervals.

Strength training in the weights room features full body maintenance sessions

Generally strength training focuses more on water work and anaerobic sprint training

Generally precompetitive camps would be held in this period

6-8 weeks (but could be longer) Design this phase first in the training programme

as the lengths of the others depend on this one The goal of the competitive phase is to develop

boat speed and rowing specific power About 31% of volume is dedicated to race-pace

intervals, some of which can be done with minor races

Race Pace is not meant to feel comfortable ever- You shouldn’t train at race pace too much

If you don’t have the physiology for race pace, training on it for race prep won’t do too much

6 weeks prior to major competition- ‘A season within a season’ to avoid peaking too early

G.P. WEEKLY TOTALS

MODE KM UT3-UT2 UT1 ATVO2 MAX AN POW W RUN

1X 136 370' 84' 54' 0' 1' 4' 120' 120'

%'S   78% 13% 8%   ≤1% ≤1% 16% 19%

TOTAL TIME

750'

TOTAL AEROBIC

630'            

T10” no change or slight decrease

T1’ improvement or the same

T6K improvement

T2K improvement by 1-2% (4-6” over 2K)

Conclusion: On the right track for this time of the year

T10” improvement

T1’ improvement

T6K no change

T2k close to PB or same

Conclusion: Too easy too often, check speeds and heart rates. R/R?

Evaluating General Preparation

S.P. WEEKLY TOTALS

MODE KM UT3-UT2 UT1 ATVO2 MAX AN POW W RUN

2-/2x 174 610' 120' 90' 6' 3' 10' 120' 120'

%'S   72% 14% 10% 1% ≤1% 1% 12% ????

TOTAL TIME

1000'

TOTAL AEROBIC

850'            

T10” no change or slight decrease

T1’ improvement or same

T6K improvement

T2K improvement by 1-2% (4-6” over 2K)

Conclusion: On the right track for this time of year

T10” improvement

T1’ improvement

T6K no change

T2K close to PB or same

Conclusion: Too easy too often, check speeds and heart rates. R/R’s?

Evaluating Specific Preparation

C.P. WEEKLY TOTALS

MODE KM UT3-UT2 UT1 ATVO2 MAX AN POW W RUN

4x/4- 204 620' 50' 63' 22' 3' 3' 90 120'

%'S   80% 7% 8% 3% ≤1% ≤1% 10% ????

TOTAL TIME

870'

TOTAL AEROBIC

770'            

T10” no change

T1’ no change

T2K improvement by 1% (1-2” over 2K)

Conclusion: On the right track for this time of year. No CII training…

T10” improvement

T1’ improvement

T2K decrease

Conclusion: Too easy too often, more side by side racing, R/R?

Evaluating Competition Preparation

Always Be Building Increase volume, then intensity Beware of camps. You can end up with nowhere

to go Beware of holidays. Stress individual

commitment Think long term if possible. 2-4 year cycles Human element to coaching. Don’t let the

training programme dictate the training all the time

Build in variety Test regularly, when it fits in the programme A rapid increase in volume and intensity though

could lead to overtraining and injuries. Gradual path progression over time is therefore needed