Yesterday I was out of the coaching launch and back in my single. Less than two weeks until the World Masters Regatta in Banyoles, Spain. From tomorrow, three guests arrive, and training (and tinkering with my boat) will be much harder.
The Session Plan
- Warm up
- Three short bursts
- Six two-minute pieces at race pace, with four minutes rest
Targets: 288 watts, 36 spm, and stroke angles of 65 degrees catch and 42 to finish.
Reality: I hit none of them.
I was slow. Weak. Short-strokes. I wasn’t sculling well – certainly not at medal pace. With travel and logistics for Spain looming, this felt… depressing.
A friend asked how training was going. I replied: “terrible outing, no strength, no power.” She texted back this morning:
“Well, no sympathy on the training results yesterday… your data told you to recover!”
HRV: What I Forgot
She was right. I had forgotten that the day before, my heart rate variability (HRV) was low – meaning my system was stressed, and I should have taken it easy. The app I use each morning flagged this. While HRV was back in the green yesterday, my resting heart rate was still slightly elevated. I’d focused on “green = go” and ignored the previous day’s advice to limit intensity.
What HRV Tells Us
Low HRV often signals overtraining or oncoming illness. Ignore it, and you usually regret it. I’ve made that mistake before.
Several top school rowing programs use HRV data., and have been doing so for many years. I use an app called Heart Rate Variability for Training, recommended by cyclist/sculler John Hale, who’s been helping me with my training for a long time.
Body Data: Weight, Muscle and Trends
I checked some old body comp data from my Tanita scales. Not super accurate, but useful for spotting trends:
| Date | 28th Aug. ‘24 | 19 May ’25 ** | 26 May ’25 ** | 29 Aug ‘25 |
| Weight: | 76.9kg | 77.8kg | 78.0kg | 75.6kg |
| Bodyfat: | 6.6% | 10.1% | 9.5% | 8.9% |
| Hydration levels: | 59.9% | 56.4% | 58.5% | 57.1% |
| Muscle weight: | 68.2kg | 66.6kg | 67.1kg | 65.5kg |
| “Metabolic age”: | 41 | 41 | 31 | 42 |
| Bone weight: | 3.5kg | 3.5kg | 3.5kg | 3.4kg |
| Visceral fat: | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
Key takeaway: I’ve lost 2.7kg of muscle mass over the last year. That’s significant. My mum, ever the optimist, pointed out that there’s now less to carry in the boat – true (less weight = less wetted surface area (of the skin of the boat) in the water & this is what really slows us down) – but I still felt slower.
** (Thanks to Kate Slatter for the sugar-free challenge back in May – I felt great that week. Kate raced in the Barcelona Olympics and will also be at the World Masters this year, at the same lake and is a wonderful nutritionist who has helped with some basic (but really important) things such as hydration!)
Performance Breakdown: Yesterday’s Row (against the stream)
My goal: 288W for each two-minute piece at 36 spm.
Result: Started strong, faded quickly.
| Distance | Split | Rating | Power | Peak ° | Catch ° | Release ° | °Slip | °Wash | |
| 1 | 513 m | 1:56.8 | 34.5 | 272 W | -4.2 | -57.4 | 39.1 | 9.2 | 7.3 |
| 2 | 474 m | 2:06.4 | 30.8 | 239 W | -5.6 | -59.7 | 40.7 | 10.5 | 9.9 |
| 3 | 470 m | 2:07.6 | 33.4 | 251 W | -4.2 | -57.6 | 38.5 | 10.9 | 8.0 |
| 4* | 453 m | 2:12.3 | 29.8 | 232 W | -4.3 | -59.7 | 41.8 | 10.1 | 10.0 |
| 5 | 471 m | 2:07.4 | 34.5 | 267 W | -4.7 | -55.1 | 38.7 | 10.0 | 8.6 |
| 6 | 467 m | 2:08.5 | 32.0 | 258 W | -5.0 | -57.6 | 39.3 | 9.5 | 9.1 |
*Piece 4 was slowed by river weed.
When Things Went Better: July Data
In July, I did a progressive set – building rate and power while keeping form. Felt great.
| Dis | Time | Split | Rating | Power | Peak ° | Catch° | Release° | °Slip | °Wash | |
| 1 | 1,319 m | 6 min | 2:16.4 | 23.4 | 216 | -4.3 | -65 | 47.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 |
| 2 | 1,096 m | 5 min | 2:16.4 | 26.3 | 234 | -3.5 | -63 | 47.1 | 10.1 | 11.4 |
| 3 | 923 m | 4 min | 2:10.0 | 28.6 | 234 | -3.3 | -61 | 45.4 | 10.4 | 11.2 |
| 4 | 731 m | 3 min | 2:03.0 | 30.5 | 269 | -3.3 | -61 | 45.4 | 9.8 | 10.4 |
| 5 | 519 m | 2 min | 1:55.5 | 31.7 | 281 | -6.9 | -62 | 44.5 | 9.0 | 10.2 |
| 6 | 301 m | 1 min | 1:39.9 | 34.5 | 326 | -8 | -61 | 43.6 | 8.5 | 9.9 |
Power was applied earlier (-8 degree peak), with better speed and rhythm. If I can hit those speeds at Worlds, I’ll be in the medal mix and possibly even hit a PB for the last decade plus… that would be a win!
So, What Changed?
Since July, I:
- Raised gates by 1 cm
- Increased span by 0.5 cm per side
- Shortened inboard
- Chased bigger angles, despite the wider span
Result? Reduced wash significantly, but stroke angles became too short when trying to hit higher ratings.
Action Plan
Here’s what I’m changing:
- Lower gates by 1 cm
- Shorten blades from 285.5 to 284.5 cm
- Increase inboard by 1cm from 87 to 88 cm
- Consider moving pins inward slightly
- More rock-over from hips
- Pull boat under me into the catch (adds about 2 degrees)
- Connect sooner: aim for, -8 degree peak power
- Finish at 42-44 degrees, minimum 40
- Catch angle >61 degrees, ideally 65
- Slip <9 degrees, wash c.8
- Sleep. Early start, guests arriving, boats to prep, and the ping pong table is chaos.
Off to bed.
- Ali
Footnote
Heart Rate Variability (HRV): The difference in time between heartbeats. Higher variability = relaxed, adaptive system. Lower variability = stress or fatigue. Pay attention to it.
Chez Boileau 