For an outdoor sport such as rowing, training in the winter comes with its own set of
challenges. most rowers have taken on our sport for its relation to nature and the
sensation it procures when gliding on the water. But when outdoor conditions are cold
and humid and when the sky is dark, being in a boat can suddenly seem less appealing.
to Prémanon in the Jura mountain area for
two weeks.
Rowers down under have the luxury of doing
their out of season training in sunny climates
before moving to the Northern Hemisphere
summer during the World Rowing regatta season
to compete. Rowers based in the Northern
Hemisphere, however, usually stay there during
the off season to endure the less pleasant
months of the year and are forced to adapt their
training accordingly.
It is during these months of training that the
foundation is laid for the racing season ahead.
Less time spent on the water does not imply less
training, only a different regime: cross-training is
the name of the game.
The French rowing federation organises a yearly
camp during the winter months, when rowing
is made difficult because of frozen water, wind
and low temperatures. This year the team went
“All-year round, rowers repeat the same body
motions on the erg and in the boat. It is important
to change sports and diversify activities,” says
Jean-Raymond Peltier, Director of the French
National Team. “During the Prémanon camp
they did cross-country skiing, which is also a
gliding sport. Rowers discovered similar body
motions and found a comparable basis for work:
gliding, accelerating, pushing.”
The training cycles during the camp lasted three
days each: four hours of cross-country skiing >
