Your Annual Rowing Review

Stepping back to reflect on your rowing of this year will make clear how to better your performance for next year. Your inner voice is probably already whispering hints to you but get it down in writing anyway. 

Get out your log book for an annual review; it will give you the information you need. To start your annual review, set aside a big chunk of time in a place where you like to hang out. 

Read through your entire journal for the year. Jot down notes about thoughts or events that stand out as you are reading. Make a list of your disappointments or commitments you did not keep.  Reflect on what comes to mind reviewing the negative or down points. Then list your accomplishments and high points of training and racing that went very well. Reflect on what comes to mind reviewing your accomplishments. Finally, summarize your year in one word.

Key questions

Questions to prompt your ideas are: What went well? What didn’t go so well? Why didn’t I achieve my goals? What big things did I learn? 

My favorite questions are: What should I start doing? What should I keep doing? What should I stop doing? 

This helps you recognize the good habits that are productive, habits that are interfering with your progress, and the habits you need to change to make progress. Think about the word you chose to sum up your rowing year and why you chose it. What’s going to make next year awesome? 

Summary actions

Write down 10 action steps that will get you there, for example: Drink more water, learn to steer a single straight on a buoyed course, improve my posture when sitting at my desk, arrive 15 minutes early for every practice, or hire a coach / trainer.

Now go and enjoy the new rowing year.

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