David Finniff is a former middle distance runner, who was trained by Lydiard, now a masters rower.
Endurance training in rowing is often discussed in terms of heart rates, watts, and lactate, but the principles that matter most were established long before any of those tools existed.
This article grew out of a conversation with Rebecca Caroe, when I mentioned that I was coached for six years beginning in 1971 by the legendary Auckland-based track coach Arthur Lydiard. Rebecca asked three simple but important questions: What did Lydiard teach? Why was it innovative? And where do we see parallels in rowing today?
Arthur Lydiard was a relatively unknown running coach until the 1960 Rome Olympics, where athletes he coached delivered extraordinary results. Peter Snell won gold in the 800 meters, Murray Halberg won gold in the 5,000 meters, and Barry Magee earned bronze in the marathon. Four years later, at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Snell won gold in both the 800 and 1,500 meters, while another Lydiard athlete, John Davies, captured bronze in the 1,500.
These performances sparked global interest in Lydiard’s training philosophy. He published Run to the Top in 1961, outlining the program behind those Olympic medals. After 1964, Lydiard worked widely with coaches and athletes. I first met him during his U.S. lecture tour in 1970, after which he coached me primarily through correspondence, with occasional inperson meetings during later tours.
Lydiard’s training system was built around two primary goals: developing sufficient endurance to maintain race-winning speed over the full distance and structuring training so that peak fitness is reached at precisely the right time for a major championship or Olympic race.
To achieve this, he developed a periodized system based on a deliberate balance between aerobic and anaerobic work. His approach consisted of three clearly defined phases: Marathon Conditioning, Hill Training, and Race Conditioning guided by his enduring motto: “Train, Don’t Strain”.
Through years of self-experimentation, Lydiard concluded that running approximately 100 miles per week for ten weeks, plus any supplementary mileage, was ideal for developing cardiac efficiency and improving oxygen intake, transport, and utilization. This work followed a hard/easy structure, with three long runs and four medium runs per week.
A hallmark of this phase was the extra-long Sunday run, famously conducted on the 22 mile Waiatarua circuit near Auckland. These runs were performed at a brisk but conversational pace, a level we now recognize as Zone 2 or UT2 training.
What follows is the marathon-conditioning program Lydiard prescribed to Halberg, Snell, and Magee in the build-up to the 1960 Rome Olympics:
Athletes new to the program began at a modest mileages and increased volume over time. Some adapted quickly, others required years, and some never reached the 100-mile weeks. Lydiard coached them with equal care, whether they became Olympic champions or lifelong club runners, working to help each runner reach their own potential.
Another major innovation in Lydiard’s system addressed how athletes controlled training intensity. Without heart-rate monitors, he defined training intensity by perceived effort and breathing patterns. These effort levels align closely with modern rowing training zones:
Athletes were encouraged to listen closely to their bodies and adjust distances, repetitions, or effort levels as needed. Breathing served and still serves as a reliable proxy for training intensity.
Lydiard did not believe in traditional weight training. Instead, he used hill running to develop leg strength, ankle flexibility, and efficient running mechanics. In rowing terms, this phase is comparable to power strokes, technical drills, and workouts using multiple stroke rates. While modern rowing programs frequently include weight training to improve leg strength and maximal power, Lydiard achieved similar adaptations through terrain-based resistance.
His hill circuit consisted of a steep half-mile climb with a flat quarter-mile section at both the top and bottom. After a two-mile warmup, athletes sprinted uphill with exaggerated knee lift and powerful toe push-off. At the top, they jogged for recovery, then ran downhill fast but relaxed and under control. At the bottom, the half-mile flat was used for short, sharp sprints such as alternating 50- and 220-yard efforts.
Originally, the workout session consisted of four repeats of the hill loop. Monday through Saturday, followed by the 22mile Waiatarua run on Sunday, for a total of six weeks. In later years, Lydiard reduced the number of hill sessions to three per week. For the other three days, he introduced a new workout which he called the leg speed workout.
The final phase, Race Conditioning, was divided into two five-week blocks. The first emphasized repetition work, sprint training, and steady runs. The second replaced repetitions with sharpening sprints and time trials. The goal was to progressively blend speed and endurance while sharpening race-specific skills and timing. Together, these two blocks were designed to progressively blend speed and endurance while sharpening race‑specific skills and timing.
To make sense of the race‑conditioning schedules, it helps to understand how Lydiard defined the key workouts used during this phase.
Key workout concepts included:
The schedule below illustrates how this phase was structured:
| First Five Weeks: | Second Five Weeks: | |
| Monday | 2 miles | 3 miles of fifty-yard dashes |
| Tuesday | Twenty 220s at Âľ effort | Fartlek 1 hour |
| Wednesday | Sprint training and race 100/200 yards | Time trial ½ race distance |
| Thursday | Three miles at ½ effort | Sprint training |
| Friday | Sprint training and starting practice | Leg speed workout |
| Saturday | Twenty 440s at ÂĽ effort | Time trial or development Race |
| Sunday | 2 hours easy | 1 hour easy |
Taken together, Lydiard’s ideas predate heartrate monitors, power meters, and lactate testing, yet they map remarkably well onto how we now understand endurance training in rowing. His system explains why high-volume aerobic work matters, when strength and speed should be added, and how to peak without burning out, problems that masters’ rowers wrestle with constantly.
More than six decades later, the principles behind Lydiard’s success, patience, aerobic mastery, and precise timing, remain deeply relevant to rowing performance at every level.
David Finniff
I wrote to David to ask what the Fartlek sessions he mentioned entailed.
The fartlek sessions were not structured. Here is some background. Major high school, college and the AAU cross country races in Pittsburgh were run on trails in a very hilly city park called Schenley Park. There were 3 major courses: a 2 mile. a 3 mile and a 6 mile course. In the late 70's the courses were converted to metric distances: 3K, 5K and 10K. My understanding now is the city in the last 15 years or so has made major changes the park and the courses I ran on have been re-routed within the park. I probably would not recognize the park today as I have been living in Colorado for almost 30 years now and have gone back to Pittsburgh only about 4 times.
For my fartlek sessions I ran 2 laps of the 6 mile or 10K courses. I would run the first 2 miles for warmup. My standard warmup procedure whether on the track or the cross country course was to start out at a jog ( about 8 min/mile) and gradually build the pace so that at the end of the 2 miles I was running sub-five minute per mile pace. As for the fartlek sessions. I would randomly run parts of the trail at different speeds for different durations and then run at a comparable zone 2 or UT2 pace until I recovered. Some of the hills I would sprint hard up them and recover on others. It was the same for the downhills and the flat stretches. Running the shorter hills was comparable to Sam's 30 sec max intervals while the downhill sprints were comparable to the 60 sec max intensity intervals. Longer intervals were similar to TR pace intervals.
I hope this helps clarify the fartlek sessions. Let me know if there are any other training methods that might need further explanation.
Tapering is reducing volume while maintaining intensity. Deloading is drop volume and intensity. Remember form = fitness minus fatigue.
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Three ideas for your race preparation
When you ease off training do you feel flat and slow in the boat? A taper is pre-competition where you reduce volume but increase the intensity of your workouts. The conclusion is to arrive at the race feeling fresh and you haven't lost your sharpness. A deload is a recovery strategy where you reduce both volume and intensity. This lets your body get more rest during a hard training block. They feel similar but the effect is different.
Fitness rises lowly and fades slowly - notice this if you have time off. You can come back to the level of fitness you had before the break quickly.
Fatigue is the acute training load which is on top of your fitness.
Form is what's left when we clear out the fatigue - the fitness available to you on race day.
As masters our fatigue can be amplified as it takes us longer to recover. A taper keeps your fitness steady and rapidly drops your fatigue - think of your fitness as a glass of water and the fatigue is a layer of mud sitting on the top surface of the water. Clear away the mud and you can access your fitness reserves.
All Faster Masters Rowing training programs include tapers for the major masters rowing races and months of the year. Most masters only peak with a taper twice a year - a long distance race and a sprint 1k race. In the taper we cut volume by 40-50% across the taper period. Shorter sessions but nearly every session has elements at or above race pace e.g. racing starts practice.
Do not add in anything new in a taper week - no new equipment, drills or nutrition changes. The urge to train more during the taper because you feel flat during the mid-taper. This urge is nearly always wrong and you'll feel flat in days 2-4 as your fatigue is clearing. Remember you aren't losing fitness.
For multi-day regattas start the taper one week before your first race. Review your race week training and plan how you are going to manage your fatigue. Your taper is a way on collecting on what you've already earned in your training.
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Dr Malcolm Howard, Canadian eight Beijing 2008 “People say it was always so easy for you, so straightforward. But it’s always been about the work. Rowing, by its nature, is a beautiful sport because you get out of it exactly what you put in. The harder I worked at rowing the more success I had.”
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00:45 Why your brain is working against you
Many masters rowers are putting in less than they think believing in a ceiling which is not real. And limited by a brain that pulls the 'alarm cord' long before you've reached your limit.
Are you paying what rowing actually costs? This is a way of measuring work and exposes pretend work. If you train by feel (Rate of Perceived Effort RPE) but feel and reality diverge with age. RPE rises as recovery slows. When you bring tiredness into training sessions your RPE can be higher even if your work output is lower.
The three columns - What you planned to do this workout, what you actually did, honest quality rating (1-5 range). Average the scores at the end of each week. Map the gap between what you intended and your execution. Write it down and bring honesty to your training.
Some masters may be leaving more on the table than you think. A limiting belief is that your effort is limited by age. This kicks in before your actual physical limit occurs - mind working separately from the body. Test yourself by picking one thing on your training plan that you dislike and so avoid doing. Am I avoiding this because my body can't do it or because I don't want to find out what it reveals about me? Masters have more choice and may take more recovery between workouts than pro athletes. Do that one session which you've been avoiding next week and notice if the ceiling is your body or your mind.
The science behind your brain limiting you in an effort to protect you. Your brain lies in order to protect you - so renegotiate with your brain. Brains are survival machines and send a STOP signal before you reach your actual limit. It's conserving resources and energy reserves in case you need it. The Central Governor Theory by Tim Noakes - brain limiting your output based on predicted cost not actual capacity. When you expose your body once to a hard effort - your brain re-anchors what hard feels like. Next time you do it the alarm goes off later. Perceived difficulty and the urge to stop reduces on the second exposure to the same stimulus. The brain's prediction model adapts. This is the physiological underpinning of Malcolm Howard's quote. The work doesn't just build the engine, it teaches the brain what your engine can do. Faster Masters Rowing training programs include workout repeats in order to help you use the repeated bout effect in your training.
The ledger shows what you're actually putting in; the ceiling test shows what's still available; the repeated bout effect shows why doing it once is enough to retrain your brain.
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Why do so many masters rowers struggle with catch timing despite endless practice? Al Morrow's counterintuitive principle. The causes and cures of rigidity in your body and the amazing catch timing waiting for you (when you cure it).
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Al Morrow's remark when talking about Good Rowing is Horizontal - the issue that rigidity kills how you approach the catch. "The more rigid you are, the lower the probability you will have a good catch." Al Morrow Feeling you are in control in rowing can lead to tension, particularly in your hands. There's a balance between having control and being so tight that you do not have good control. Controlled, accurate movements are your goal. Test this for yourself by gripping your handle tighter than usual and note how your catch timing and depth is or your feather/square movement. Poise is a balance between the right amount of control and tension to facilitate the rowing movement, Enough tension to get into the right positions but not so much that you are rigid and hamper your strength, movement and oar control. Rigidity kills your strength. 90% of your power in rowing is below your arm pits. When rigid it's hard to respond in real time to a gust of wind, balance issues or wake. When relaxed, the boat absorbs the energy from the wind or waves and you don't react to the disruption.
This is a catch drill - put the oar in the water fast so it arrives at the perfect depth under the surface. From the catch position, push down on the handles so the oar spoon is high above the water. Let go of the handles quickly and listen to the sound the oar makes as it enters the water. An oar arriving in the water under zero tension - you will see it arrive at the perfect depth. The perfect depth happens when you are relaxed and do not interrupt gravity. Progress the drill by gradually holding the handle without tension - fingers extended. Make the same sound. Move to holding a normal grip while keeping the same blade entry sound. Then take one stroke. Stop rowing and try it again. Move towards making the perfect catch sound but starting at the finish - roll up the recovery and unweight the handle to place the oar in the water. Work on the timing of unweighting your hands and the slide change of direction. The hand action has to precede the slide stopping. Remove rigidity from your neck shoulders, arms and hands at the catch using this drill.
The best possible catch at higher stroke rates comes from being proactive placing the catch - that can negate the lack of rigidity you've been working on.
Build trust that you won't flip when unweighting the handle. Move the moment when you release the tension to being earlier in the recovery. Listen to the sound of the blade entry.
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The risks of abrupt changes of your training and surprising outcomes from practice lineups, rigging, and winter to summer transitions with guest Marlene Royle.
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Marlene sees these as a red flag for masters rowers. Her experience as a coach when racing season comes around was a trend from mid-summer on where their season got derailed. All were caused by quick changes, unfamiliar boats and doing a training session from another coach on top of their normal training. These are all avoidable.
Let your muscles and tendons adapt to different stresses like moving from an indoor rower to a boat. The difference between a sculling erg and a sweep boat is clear in movement patterns. All these abrupt changes resulted in injury to tendons or muscle strain. Rule of thumb for moving onto the water is to start at 50% volume in week one and build up to full training in the new mode over 4 weeks. You won't get as fit on the water initially as you did on the rowing machine so use this time for technique.
The temptation is to stop rowing your normal pattern and instead to "flex" and go with what you feel in the boat. This is an abrupt change in technique and not conducive to protecting your body. If you have a sensitive low back, then an unstable boat can cause a flare up. Common sense - think before you do. Common sense is not very common. For equipment make gradual changes.
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Hire a coach if: you're serious about competitive improvement, you struggle with self-programming or accountability, your technique needs professional assessment, or you have plateaued despite consistent training. The ROI is highest when you're willing to implement feedback and train 4+ times weekly. Expect to invest $150-400/month for quality masters-specific coaching.
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Ways to adjust your stroke to match the boat hull speed. Ways to move so efficiently that your body mass moves with the boat speed and improves your maximum boat velocity in rowing and sculling
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00:45 The boat velocity changes through the rowing stroke cycle and you can feel these changes as you row.
This is a measure of the difference between a skilful crew and less experienced athletes. When watching crews in a race you can see some crews just inch ahead of the others. Efficiency is a key to why the best crews do well - they use their power efficiently; they help the boat hull to move through the water with greater efficiency - how do they do this? They manage their body mass well.
Body mass is resistance to changes in velocity.
This matters because the entire boat is moving forwards all the time (even though you may think you go backwards and forwards on the slide). Because of the sliding seat, the boat hull doesn't travel level, the bow moves up and down through the stroke cycle.
Diagram of boat speed through the water
Maximum boat speed DOES NOT happen in the power phase. The point of maximum velocity is after the oars have come out of the water. [NOTE: not maximum acceleration as said in the video.] At this point you are transitioning onto the recovery (arms away / body rock forwards).
On a video filmed square off 90 degrees to the rowing boat - when the bow ball is at its highest point is when the athletes have moved closest to the stern (on the recovery) and the point of maximum acceleration is when the bow ball is lower and when the athlete is transitioning from the power phase onto the recovery phase.
The diagram shows the boat at low and high rates (right hand side). At higher rates the point of maximum acceleration is nearer to the catch on the recovery. The boat moves differently at high stroke rates from low stroke rates. Understanding and noticing the boat acceleration feeling and how your body moves are two things you can control. If you can learn how to feel the boat movements you can make refined adjustments to how you are rowing at race pace compared to steady lower rates.
We get good at efficiency at low rates because rowers do a lot of endurance training. Yet athletes who race want the effect of efficiency at race rates. Can we improve our agility and how we are moving with the hull and practice in training?
Periodised training plans do not include a lot of high rate work. What we can do to keep the boat skills of handling the oars and body mass at low and high rates?
These are key to learning the skills. Ways to move quickly and keep the handle speed in time with the boat. These can be spliced into endurance rows for short periods of time. This doesn't upset the physiological training effect. Try doing agility drills for 1 minute in every 10 minutes low rate rowing.
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Lower back pain in rowing typically stems from two technical errors: excessive lumbar flexion (rounding) at the catch, and early back engagement during the drive. Both create compressive and shear forces on your lower spine. The fix requires specific technical adjustments and targeted strengthening, definitely not just "rowing through it" or stopping entirely.
What's happening: You're reaching forward with a rounded lower back instead of maintaining a neutral spine. Every stroke creates hundreds of pounds of compressive force through your lumbar discs.
Why it hurts more after 40: Your spinal discs have less water content and reduced shock absorption capacity. The same position that you "got away with" at 25 now creates pain and potential injury later in life.
Visual check: Have someone video you from the side. At the catch, if your lower back is rounded (shoulders hunched toward knees), you've found your problem.
What's happening: Your back opens before your legs finish driving. You're essentially trying to "lift" the load with your lumbar spine instead of transferring power from your legs.
The force problem: This creates massive shear forces on L4-L5. Multiply by 10,000 strokes per week, and you have chronic low back pain.
Feel check: If your lower back fatigues before your legs during a hard piece, your sequencing is wrong. If your lower ribs touch your thighs when you are at the catch and they stop touching early, chances are you lifted your shoulders to start the power phase.
What's happening: Your superficial abs (six-pack muscles) work fine, but your deep stabilisers (transverse abdominis, multifidus) are weak. These muscles should stabilise your spine during the rowing stroke.
Why this matters: Without deep core stability, your spine moves too much during the stroke, creating irritation and inflammation.
What's happening: Tight hip flexors prevent full hip flexion at the catch, or tight hamstrings prevent pelvic rotation so you compensate by rounding your lower back to achieve compression.
The compensation: Your body finds range of motion somewhere. If your hips can't flex enough, your spine flexes instead, and that hurts.
Setup position:
Key cue: Your forward reach comes from hip flexion (folding at the hips), not spinal flexion (rounding your back).
Trade-off: You may lose 1-2cm of reach. You'll gain 10+ years of healthy rowing.
Practice drill:
Correct sequence: Legs → Back → Arms
Not: Everything opens at once, or back-before-legs (shoulder lifting)
Practice progression:
Mental cue: "Push then swing" not "lift and pull."
Feel check: Your hamstrings and glutes should fatigue before your lower back. If your back is screaming and your legs feel fresh, you're still sequencing wrong.
Why this matters: A rushed, uncontrolled recovery forces you into poor catch position, which creates the back pain downstream.
Recovery principles:
Ratio: Recovery should be 2-3x longer than the drive at low rates If your drive is 1 second, recovery should be 2-3 seconds.
Dead bug progressions:
Bird dog:
Plank variations:
Key principle: Quality over quantity. Perfect position for 20 seconds beats sloppy form for 2 minutes.
Kneeling hip flexor stretch:
Couch stretch:
Goal: Improve hip flexion range so you don't compensate with lumbar flexion.
Deadlifts or Romanian deadlifts:
Single-leg deadlifts:
Glute bridges:
Go and see a medical professional who is sports-trained. A family doctor or general practitioner is not suitable for sports injuries. Be proactive - seek a physical therapist who understands rowing. Physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic and sports massage experts may all be suitable for you. Find one who helps your condition - do ask other rowers who they use.
It's important to get injuries seen quickly - do not wait two weeks and hope the pain subsides using pain medication.
Training recovery protocol
Week 1-2: Reduce volume by 50%, focus on technique at low intensity Week 3-4: Gradually increase volume if pain is resolving Ongoing: Maintain technical precision even when fatigued
Warning signs to stop:
Immediately after rowing:
Ongoing support:
Check your settings: Lower your feet - the measurement of shoe heel cup to seat top is what you need to know. And/or use a seat pad to raise your seat further. This effectively improves your compression by making it easier to tilt the pelvis. This can eliminate the need to over-reach into problematic positions.
Heel position: If your heels are popping up early in the drive, your stretcher may be too high, forcing you into excessive forward lean.
Monthly video analysis: Have someone film your stroke from the side. Watch specifically for:
Maintenance work: Even when pain-free, continue daily core stability and hip mobility work. Prevention is easier than cure.
Lower back pain is almost always fixable with proper technique and strengthening. Our Technical Masterclass include:
Don't row hurt. Fix the mechanics.
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Hear Becky Wilson for an in-depth review of the considerations for the masters athlete in terms of cardiac health.
In this episode you will learn
The questions answered during the presentation
Improve your rowing ratio while lifting in the gym.
Timestamps
Lifting heavy has lots of benefits - today we'll talk about ratio. The contrast between the power phase and recovery phase. How to use this concept of ratio in strength training.
As we age we find our muscles and tendons don't have the same range and so our stride gets shorter. Strength training can help improve or maintain RoM. Weight lifting works in two planes - when you lift the weight and when you return it to the start point. Concentric muscle movements are shortening the muscle (as you lift). Eccentric muscle movements are lengthening the muscle (as you return the weight to the start). Eccentric muscle work can help improve your range of movement. Working on this part of the strength lift can use the rowing ratio as part of the movement.
The braking effect that you use as you control the weight in the eccentric lengthening muscle phase as you lower the weight down can enable you to have greater force production. When lifting heavy for few repetitions or using small muscles e.g. doing chin-ups against your body weight you may find the difference between the last successful lift and when you fail is large.
Do your first chin up
One way to improve your strength and do your first chin up is to start at the top of the lift with your chin over the bar (you may need a chair to step or jump up there). Then slowly lower yourself by straightening your arms doing just the eccentric part of the lift. Try a slow count of ten to complete the movement. You will gain strength more quickly by doing this slowly muscle lengthening under load.
When you've done this a few times, try doing one chin up - you probably can lift yourself up. Use approximately a 3:1 ratio in your lifting for big muscles - legs and back. And 2:1 for smaller muscles like arms. The more ratio you can manage the more you will be working the braking effect on the eccentric lift. You will do fewer repetitions using this method as you tire faster.
Consider a difficult lift like a squat using an olympic bar. Getting a deeper squat - to 90 degrees or to a deep squat position is challenging.
3x per week for 6 weeks.
Start each lift with an ultra-light load. This helps refamiliarise your muscles with the movement. Then add weight so that you keep good form. Try to do 3-5 sets of each lift each time you go to the gym.
11:30 Take your ratio training from the gym back into the boat.
Can you push the oar faster through the water so that you can take longer on the slide recovery? You should be able to increase your ratio thanks to your work in the gym.
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