Steady Rowing: Let the Split Move

I’m not trying to push every steady row. I want an effort that feels comfortable, and if I’m feeling good, I can stay there. If I’m not, I’ll ease off a little. That’s how I’m trying to keep the work consistent.

It gets awkward when the monitor gives you a number you quite like. You settle into it, then the effort starts creeping up, but you’re still holding the split so it feels as though you’re doing the session properly.

Except the session was meant to be easy.

Or comfortable, probably. Easy can sound as though there’s no work involved, which isn’t quite right. A long row can leave you tired without being too hard. I’d be more concerned if finishing steady work feels much like finishing your intervals.

The point of UT2, the low-intensity aerobic work, is to spend time at a sustainable effort. That work builds aerobic fitness, supporting more capillaries around the muscles to deliver oxygen and improving your ability to use fat as fuel. It helps build the base for harder rowing and recovery between efforts.

There’s a reason to keep it controlled, then. Hard work has its place in the programme, but pushing the steady sessions as well adds fatigue. You can end up making everything harder without getting more of the endurance work you wanted.

Check the effort, not only the monitor

On your next steady row, say a full sentence aloud. If you have to gasp between words, back off until you can say it comfortably.

Actually aloud. The conversation in your head isn’t much of a test.

It’s a simple check, and it doesn’t tell you everything. But it gives you something to go on beyond the split you thought you should hold before you started rowing.

Heart rate can help too. You’ll often see this work described as Zone 2, although the labels and boundaries vary between systems. The training zones tool gives you a starting point. You still need to pay attention to how the effort feels rather than treating the zone as permission to ignore that.

Same with stroke rate. You can pull very hard at a low rate. Keeping the rate down doesn’t automatically make it a steady session, especially if you’re putting more into each stroke to protect the split.

So let the split move when it needs to. That might mean rowing slower than you expected. Not especially satisfying to look at, but the number doesn’t need protecting.

There’s still the problem of sitting on the rowing machine for a long time. Keeping the effort comfortable doesn’t stop it being dull.

A podcast or audiobook can give you something else to pay attention to. Rowing with someone can help, including remotely: agreeing a time gets you started, and talking gives you that effort check as you go. Provided it stays a conversation rather than becoming a race neither of you has mentioned.

If the continuous row feels like too much to sit through, break it into blocks, with short pauses for water or a stretch. Small changes in effort within the comfortable range can help with the boredom as well. Small changes. There’s no need to turn it into intervals just to make the time pass.

Getting in a boat gives you a different setting if that’s available. It doesn’t change the effort you’re aiming for, even if the conditions make chasing speed tempting.

You can also give one part of the stroke some attention, like relaxing the shoulders, and stay with that for a block rather than trying to fix the whole stroke. Just that. At the lower effort there’s more room to notice how it feels.

The split calculator can help plan the time and distance. What it can’t do is tell you how that plan will feel once you’re rowing. If the conversation starts getting broken up, ease off. You don’t have to win an argument with the number you chose earlier.