Peter (Pete) Hardcastle, is well known in Australian and World Rowing. Pete represented Australia at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games in different boat classes. After the olympics, Pete moved to the UK in 2008. where he coached at Dulwich College, Emanuel School and London Rowing Club, and coached the men’s four at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2014. In 2017, Pete joined Imperial College as the Head of Rowing and in his first season at Imperial, he coached the crew that won the Prince Albert Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
Pete is an amazing athlete, and still continues to amaze mere mortals, with his Ironman Triathlon exploits, and marathon running. In this episode, Pete and I explore what got him into rowing, and how he progressed to the U23 World Championships and then the Elite team under 4-years. We talk about personal motivation, and challenging others to explore what is possible. We review what is really going on with some of the rapid crews we are watching today, and he shares his tips on how to get yourself ready to race as well as preparing your race mindset.
This podcast is supported by, Precision Hydration, Bont Rowing, Filippi Boats and Citius Remex seat pads. For more information about our supporters, and to gain access to exclusive bonus offers, ensure you subscribe to my newsletter.
Over the last 12-months, I have tried out different boat brands, (check out the Filippi vs Nelo article) and always come back to Filippi for shear speed, performance, quality of build, and style. Over the course of the last 3-years, I’ve enjoyed success with the F22, and planned to simply continue. Then David Filippi shared with me, the new performance features for the 2021 models, then it was clear, an upgrade was in order. The features David shared with, sound really exciting, both from a performance and design aspect. More about these new features in late January 2021.
I invite you to join me as I follow David’s team at Filippi Boats, as the build my new 2021 F22 single scull over the next few months. Together, with the team at Filippi, we will be following the process from start to finish.
The first step will be choosing the final colour. My current F22 is all black, although ascetically pleasing, the boat suffers in direct sun, with the all-black surface heating up. There was always the risk of damage to the materials if the boat is not covered and out of direct sun.
I have selected the following colours for the boat. Which one do you like best? You can vote for one of the three colours below on the Masters Facebook Group.
The final colour will be accented with the classic Filippi white stripe.
Stay tuned and subscribed to my newsletter to follow the build, and for more information on the new performance features released in 2021.
Anne-Marie Howald is well know in the rowing world, having represented Switzerland at the 1987 & 88 World Championships as a lightweight, and now as the Head Coach of the U23 and Junior Squad.
In 2018, Anne-Marie was awarded the “Swiss Olympic Coach Award” for the impressive achievements of the junior national team at the European Championships in Krefeld and the World Championships in Trakai.
Anne-Marie leads the talent identification of young rowers in Switzerland, with the ‘Future Rowers’ programme that takes promising young athletes through to the Elite level. In this episode, Anne-Marie covered how she first started in rowing and how that love for rowing, and high performance, has taken her on her own journey to coaching and inspiring others. Plenty of inspiration for the listener, some ideas and tips on how to move the boat faster, along with some nice insights into her time training with the legendary coach, Harry Mahon.
This podcast is supported by, Precision Hydration, Bont Rowing, Filippi Boats and Citius Remex seat pads. For more information about our supporters, please ensure you subscribe to my newsletter to gain access to exclusive bonus offers.
I’m really excited to let you know, my flagship course, How to Create Your Annual Training Plan, is ready to go live! I have opened the course exclusively to you, before it opens to the public on Friday, 6th of November. The course will be open for a limited time, and for a limited number of people, so get your spot before the course officially opens. Click here to purchase the course.Special coupon code EARLYBIRD30
In addition to the course materials and downloadable tools, there will be three Live Zoom classes with Bill and former students from the Faster Alumni, exclusively for course delegates.
Here’s what’s included in the course;
Exclusive access to the Faster Alumni Group on Facebook, to share ideas and cover questions with past students. This group is only open to Faster students
Three Live Zoom Classes to review the course together with the course community. Classes will be recorded for playback
Access to all the online learning modules via the Teachable platform
Downloadable tools and protocols on how to test your performance
Dynamic and Maximum strength plans
Access to Tips & Tricks – Ideas & Inspiration from our advisory panel of experts
PDF downloads of studies on the best approaches to training
Guidance on how to train from the world’s best coaches, scientists and masters athletes – period!
Access to the entire course and all the online learning modules is $287, but I’m giving you 30% off when you enrol before the course opens on November 6th. Just use one of the limited the coupon codesEARLYBIRD30 at the checkout, and you’ll receive your discount.
Here’s what one student shared about his experience in the course.
“What I learnt from this course opened my eyes to what I was truly capable of and transformed the way I now train and prepare. I used to go fast, yet never knew if I was really training the right way. Since I have done the course, I now KNOW what I need to do to reach my potential. I don’t train any more than I used to, yet I am going faster on the ergo and on the water. I can better plan my training to achieve balance with my family and the business that I own and operate. I highly recommend this course to anyone that wants to train smart vs. just training harder all the time.”
So the racing season is over. One race done, and all done for the year. Very grateful, that with everything going on around the world, and in Switzerland, we were able to come together to race together. Great organisation skills from the Swiss Rowing Federation, the organising committee of Luzern, and discipline from all the clubs, to enable a safe regatta.
In the last week, the entire training squad from Vevey, has been tapering down, and getting ready for the first and only major race of the year. The Swiss Rowing Championships, held as always, at the Rotsee Lake, Luzern, Switzerland. The central point of rowing for Switzerland, and some may say, the best natural rowing venue in the world.
In the last week, the masters squad travelled to a small lake north of Vevey, to sharpen up for the coming ‘all or nothing’ regatta at the end of the week. We completed around 4-hours of training, about 60% less than a normal week’s training volume, and each session included high intensity. As a result, we all felt fresh, and sharpened up the coordination required for the 1,000m blast.
The races were all stacked together on the Friday, meaning that most of the squad were racing 3 times. We fielded a crew in the men’s quad, 2 doubles and four singles. Took home silver in the quad, silver in the double and a gold in the single scull.
Training volumes for the 8.5-months were 5% higher than last year. 84% of training volume (time) was spent <75% heart rate peak, and 5% of training volume (time) was spent >90% heart rate peak. Average training volume c.a. 10.5 hours a week.
The race in the single scull was always going to be a fast one. No one knew the others form, leading into the race, so I made some assumptions on what would be required to win it. I figured 3:35 or there about would be the winning time, and confirmed this on seeing the still conditions at the Rotsee. My opposition always start fast, and I started well. By the 200m mark, I settled into race pace with about half a lengths lead. My opposition cranked it up, and started to creep ahead, yet I was comfortable with the planned race pace of 1:45, and knew that at this pace, I could stay aerobic and leave something for the last 350m. Eventually, that is what happened. With 350m I was able to increase the pace and go through to win.
Racing Equipment
Filippi F22 single scull with Aliante carbon wing rigger
Concept2 Skinny plain edge smoothies
Bont BOA rowing shoes
Citius Remex seat pad
DiBi racing suit
Oakley Sutro glasses
Garmin 945 Forerunner
Precision Hydration electrolytes
Big Thanks
Lot’s of people are always involved in successful campaigns, yet it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my wife Angela. Angela not only supported my journey this year, she kept me healthy and incredibly strong with her knowledge of integrated nutrition and medicine. Thanks also to Giovanni Calabrese, and the team at Gavirate Rowing Club for being so welcoming all the time. To Luca and the team at the Australian Institute of Sport, that helped take our training and preparation to the next level. And finally, thanks to Urs Graf, for spotting all the areas for improvement. Urs helped us to understand what a fast moving boat feels like, and how to look after that speed.
Now the road to the Silver Skiff starts in a week….
Precision Hydration: So after a whole heap of time sweating on ergos and bike ergs over the lock down period, I started to do some research on hydration and the impact on both training and racing performance. I came across a company called ‘Precision Hydration’ via a sports science podcast, and I just did their sweat test. Will let you know how this goes, my sweat test results, and what this means for me.
Bont PBR1 Rowing shoes: Received a pair of Bont’s new rowing shoes this week. Excited to try them out, especially to see how they feel compared to their other models, and how the BOA closure system goes in the rowing environment. I’ve used the BOA closure system on cycling shoes and winter sports. Let’s see how this goes.
Had an interesting conversation with Dr Mark Campbell from Mosman Rowing club Sydney last week, when he said, “In the lead up to a major event, it’s the 90 90 rule. You need to be executing quality in 90% of the last 90-days leading up to the race.” With 42-days to go…and Mark’s comment in mind, I headed of to the Rotsee lake in Luzern Switzerland for a mini-training camp on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.
Had some challenging days at work, and with the lack of sleep and other life stressors, didn’t feel on top of my game on the Friday evening. Resting heart rate was elevated, and performance wasn’t that great. Running through a ‘systems’ check, landed on the lack of sleep as the main cause. Got an extra couple of hours shut eye after lunch on Saturday, and woke felling refreshed and energised. Amazing what sleep can do.
Two and a half days on one of the best rowing venues in the world with a great coach. Very grateful. Racked up around 75km in the boat. With 2 high intensity sessions, one of which was to compare the Nelo R75 vs. the Filippi F22 at race pace.
All of the sessions were done under the watchful eye of Urs. I’m a great believer in coaching. Whether in business, sport or life. A professional coach can spot areas for improvement that one can either over look or not be able to see. I spent a lot of time with Urs, focusing on the connection with the water, the movement around the front end of the stroke, and looking after the boat speed between strokes.
Photos: B Chambers & C Verzone (2020)
Urs did all the coaching from the river bank, as the Rotsee is a protected lake with no motor boats allowed. We used both the walkie talkies and a ‘check-in’ with Urs for feedback, every lap of the course.
This week was a recovery week, so knowing that we had double sessions on the water planned, I rested on Monday and Tuesday, with the load building up towards the mini-camp. All in all 8 hours, 104 km, 597 TSS.
As the training volume increases, I’m experimenting with a ways to enhance my recovery. I’m increasing my daily sleep by getting to bed 15-minutes earlier, not using my iPhone an hour before shut eye, and leaving my iPhone in the home office rather than beside the bed. I was using the phone as an alarm, and now use the alarm on my Garmin watch, which is very effective. 15-minutes each night, isn’t much more, yet it all adds up over the week with an extra 1’45” over the week.
I will be using the following performance metrics to track sleep over the next weeks;
Total sleep time via Garmin watch
Morning resting heart rate
Natural anti-inflammatories
From time to time I have some residual pain from strength training or the garden;-) I have been using Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex from doTERRA. I can say that Deep Blue has a profound pain relief for me. More so than over the counter pain killers from the pharmacy.
I buy it via a network to get a 25% discount. I DON’T sell doTERRA, I just use it, get the discount.
I first tried the Nelo in Gavirate at the beginning of this year. I was impressed with the stability, the speed and the little extras like the inverted seat rails and the water bottle holder. I am curious to understand the benefits of the inverted bow and stern, the flat bottom and square gunnels.
I have purchased an R75 to test this season. I will be using the following performance metrics over the next weeks, to compare the Filippi F22 vs the Nelo R75.
Speed over 500m
Speed over 5,000m
I will use the boats over the coming weeks and run the same test over many weeks. Decision will be based on repeatability of performance.
Being fresh with good form before a race is important – you need to get your mind and body primed and ready to race.
The primary goal in the final day before a race is to prime the body to perform at its peak level. Making sure all the body’s interconnected systems are functioning as efficiently and effectively as possible. The neuromuscular system is sending signals back and forth quickly between the muscles and the brain. The muscles are full of glycogen and able to activate the maximum percentage of their fibres and fire them forcefully, and your heart is ready to pump oxygen-rich blood where it’s needed.
In the days before a race, the gains you’ve made from training will stick around for some time, where in contrast, the neuromuscular system (the communication system between your brain and your muscles) requires constant stimulation because the growth and recovery cycle of the neuromuscular system is very short. The best way to optimise rowing specific neuromuscular communication, is to do a short row/erg, the day before your race with some short bursts at or near race pace.
What to do
The final day before the race, row/ergo for 30-45 minutes. When you have warmed up, include two to three 10-15 stroke bursts at race pace to facilitate optimal neuromuscular coordination on race day. Allow for a 5-minute easy paddle between bursts.
Avoid spending any unnecessary time on your feet today and get a good night’s sleep.
Eating
Eat a well-balanced and natural carbohydrate based meal for lunch and dinner the day before race day to maximise muscle glycogen stores. The best time to start replenishing glycogen stores is right after your short, fast workout, when your muscles are most receptive to glucose. Keep well hydrated and sip water as desired.
For the pre-race meal, check out my Race Day Breakfast here.
