We are a small ocean rowing club in Ireland with poor resources we do circuit training one night a week and row in the water 3 nights but in recent regattas we are failing to improve our results. How can we improve?
Ocean Rowing boats [Image Credit original.worldrowing.com]
Great question
The best thing to do when you’ve identified one area that needs improvement is to practice it ALL the time.
So if you fail to pick up speed towards the finish line, I suggest that for the last 500 meters of every practice (3 times per week) your crew races flat out, top speed towards the shore.
The Searle Brothers (Olympic Gold 1992) did this with their coach Steve Gunn at Hampton School. Every outing finished with a top speed sprint for 50 plus strokes. They learnt how to work hard and go faster even when tired.
Then in the Olympic final when they needed it, they were able to deliver.
Do you think you can practice this with your crew?
