Tapering before rowing race

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Across the world there are events at different times of year. When Marlene and I started this business we researched the major events for masters rowers in English-speaking countries. We designed the training programmes to cater for the majority using our standard training plans. Sometimes, these don’t exactly align with races you want to do.
We got this question from Michael
Do you by any chance have a training program for a single sculler taking part in a 16km head race?…

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You’ve probably heard of the concept of an “athlete pathway”. It’s the process by which federations organise talent identification and coaching to develop athletes towards high performance and the Olympic Games.
Much of national sport is organised around this pathway. Funding is allocated to different layers of achievement, coaching education is structured to advance athletes to the next stage, erg score targets and national speed order trials are organised.
There is no…

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Things that contribute to a robust rowing group over time can be encapsulated in Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Belonging and esteem are part of the list he identified in 1943.
Masters should have a range of ways to contribute to the overall club goals. Another word for esteem is ‘status’ and the way your club group assigns status is a core underpinning of its success. We masters are not all racing demons – young people gain rowing status by winning races; masters…

Hello again Reader Disasters happen – do you feel that they happen often? I don’t need to define the scale of what happens – you are already thinking about the last thing that happened to you which felt disastrous. And yet….. I was listening to a wise person talking about how they coached their children to face the ups and downs of life. They asked the child “Was it burnt toast or death?”. Meaning what was the scale of the crisis. And that allowed them to put some perspective around what…

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It’s February – shortest month but often a tough one when you’re training in the northern winter. Bringing your focus to future fun and challenges can be a nice way to motivate yourself.
I get asked if Faster Masters Rowing runs rowing camps – we don’t. But we do guest coach and so I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be at the US Rowing Masters camp from 1-4 April 2024. More details below.
Today we are celebrating some athlete results from our Erg Intensive group – a race…