Pre-season plan for paddlers — 6 weeks before your first trip
Six weeks before your first trip of the year. Longer steady sessions to handle a full day of paddling, plus threshold work for the stretches against the wind. Follows on from the winter base plan — no calibration needed.
- Duration
- 6 weeks
- Sessions
- 24
- Total rowing
- 14.4 h
- Frequency
- 4× a week
- warm-up
- work
- recovery
- cool-down
Week 1
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 36 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 36 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 30 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 36 min | Steady | 40% |
Week 2
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 39 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 39 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 36 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 39 min | Steady | 40% |
Week 3
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 42 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 42 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 36 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 42 min | Steady | 40% |
Week 4lighter week
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 25 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 25 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 18 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 25 min | Steady | 40% |
Week 5
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 40 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 40 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 36 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 40 min | Steady | 40% |
Week 6
| Session | Intensity | Resistance | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base 42 min | Steady | 40% | |
| Easy 42 min | Easy | 28% | |
| Threshold 36 min | Threshold | 54% | |
| Base 42 min | Steady | 40% |
Resistance is in % of your rower’s range — 0% is its lightest setting, 100% its heaviest. Numbers here assume the level you picked; in the app they adjust after calibration.
Why mostly easy?
About 80% of the sessions are easy (UT2, UT1) and about 20% are hard. This polarised split is how endurance athletes have trained for decades: the easy volume builds the engine, the few hard sessions sharpen it, and you recover in between. Every fourth week is lighter so the progress sticks.
Intensity levels and stroke rate
| Easy | UT2 | conversational | 18–22 SPM |
| Steady | UT1 | focused | 22–24 SPM |
| Threshold | AT | hard but sustainable | 24–28 SPM |
| Hard | TR | intervals, very hard | 28–32 SPM |
Typical ranges. Roowy anchors them to your own threshold from calibration and to your machine — some magnetic rowers don’t count strokes below ~22 SPM, so the exact numbers appear in the workout, not in the plan.