Training Through Transition Time

The beginning of the year can be a difficult time for athletes. The days are short. The weather is not the nicest. And we are coming out of a period of holidays and renewed reflection during the calendar changeover. On top of that, training has been suspended while schools, colleges, and clubs are closed. Family comes first for rowers and coaches as well, so the focus is not on training.

This phase of training is called the “transition period” for a reason. As athletes themselves choose how and how long they’ll train or recover from injury, they move from the regimented training of their school programs to individualized exercise. This doesn’t mean physical activity ceases. Some rowers may spend a few days cross-country skiing or running on a warm beach. Such a break can be beneficial and refreshing; when rowers resume high-performance training, they are more likely to do so with renewed excitement and commitment.

I remember vividly my experience as head rowing coach at the University of Western Ontario when students came back to school in early January. It was a trying time not only because students had to get back into organized workouts at times of day when it was dark and cold outside but also because long endurance runs, rowing on the ergometer, and strenuous sessions of weightlifting were not exactly appealing.

For coaches, the challenge is to design the right progression of training intensity and duration and to prepare and motivate rowers for the upcoming effort required to achieve success. For athletes, the transition period is a time to reflect on goals and plans to meet their athletic ambitions and to return to their performance program with renewed vigor.

This point in the season is a good time for coaches to convene meetings that develop and improve what Penny Werthner, in my latest book, Rowing Science, calls “critical psychological skills for high-performance athletes.” In these meetings, coaches should review topics such as self-awareness and visualization and discuss individual and team goals. I have found such meetings to be very effective in giving athletes a renewed mental and physical focus.

Coaches should prepare for these meetings by analyzing previous training, testing, and competition results, determining the level of training and performance required to achieve program goals, and identifying each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. This information will provide a clear picture of what the program and each rower should strive for and what actions must be taken. When the pathways to success are defined, it’s motivating for all.

As Penny Werthner says, “The continual development of all of these psychological skills ensures that each athlete, whether in singles or a crew boat, develops a deep sense of self-awareness, a solid level of self-confidence, and the psychological resilience necessary to cope effectively with the stress and demands of training and competition within the world of competitive sport, at all levels.”

Volker Nolte, an internationally recognized expert on the biomechanics of rowing, is the author of Rowing Science, Rowing Faster, and Masters Rowing. He’s a retired professor of biomechanics at the University of Western Ontario, where he coached the men’s rowing team to three Canadian national titles.