How to Structure Your Rowing Training
Listen to the conversation: #64 The Science of Training - Dr Paul Laursen
#71 Intelligent Training - Dr Paul Laursen and Martino Goretti
A useful rowing programme gives each session a purpose and makes the sessions work together. It develops fitness while preserving the ability to practise technique, recover and perform when it matters.
Paul Laursen and Martino Goretti approach that problem from different directions. Paul brings training science; Martino brings experience as an athlete and coach. Their conversations challenge the idea that a harder week is necessarily a better week.
Begin with the week you can sustain
Paul repeatedly returns to consistency. Training has to be repeated for adaptation to develop, which makes the athlete's response to the programme central to planning.
Start by identifying the time genuinely available. Include work, travel and other commitments rather than designing an ideal week that will be missed regularly. Then decide which rowing sessions deserve priority.
A plan with a clear main objective is easier to adjust. If a key session becomes impossible, the coach can preserve its purpose elsewhere rather than simply adding more work to an already full day.
Use different intensities deliberately
Paul discusses easy aerobic work, moderate sessions and high-intensity training. He does not dismiss every moderate session as wasted effort. His concern is that athletes can drift into the same moderately hard effort almost every day.
The practical question is why a particular intensity has been chosen. An easy session, a demanding interval session and race preparation should not all become indistinguishable once the rower sees a split.
Listen to Paul's discussion of training intensity. He explains the thinking behind different approaches rather than presenting one fixed percentage split as a rule for every athlete.
Practise the skill at the speed you need
Martino describes questioning a programme that made him very fit without making a 2,000-metre race feel equally well prepared. In his discussion with Paul, the target of a session determines the work.
That is a useful reminder for rowers who do most of their technical practice at low rates. Racing requires the skill to hold together at greater speed and under pressure.
Progress towards that with your coach. The aim is not to turn every outing into a race, but to make sure the programme includes opportunities to practise the demands of the event.
Review the response, not just completion
A completed session is only part of the information. How did the athlete move? Was the intended effort achievable? What happened to the following session?
Record a short note alongside the numbers. Repeated fatigue, deteriorating technique or difficulty completing normally manageable work should prompt a conversation about the plan.
Athletes in one crew may respond differently to the same workload. That makes communication useful even when the squad shares a programme.
Bring the parts together
A practical planning discussion can cover four questions:
What is the main goal of this training period?
Which sessions develop it most directly?
Where do technique, aerobic work and strength fit?
How will we adjust if recovery or availability changes?
The answers will vary through the season and between athletes. The value lies in knowing why the week looks the way it does.
The conversation with Paul and Martino is a useful companion when reviewing a programme: it connects training ideas with the problem of applying them in a moving boat.
