RCA Zone Pace Calculator for Canadian Crews

UT2: steady aerobic

The foundation band. UT2 sits 12 to 16 seconds per 500 metres slower than 2k pace, ridden at 18 to 20 strokes per minute, with heart rate around 65 to 75 per cent of max. Conversational the whole way through. If you cannot string sentences together with the rower on the adjacent erg, you went out too hard. Across a Canadian winter, this is where most of the metres pile up: a December erg block at Western before everyone scatters home for the holidays, an early-January base camp at UVic, the long stationary kilometres at Brock and Trent while the Welland Canal is locked under ice. Pieces typically run 60 to 90 minutes continuous or in blocks of 12 to 20 minutes off short rest.

UT1: firm aerobic

One band up. UT1 holds 6 to 10 seconds per 500 slower than 2k pace at 22 to 24 spm. Heart rate climbs into the 75 to 83 per cent of max territory and sentences turn into short ones. The default zone for the build leading into spring sprint racing, and the practical compromise zone for university athletes whose course schedule will not allow the pure UT2 volume an NTC athlete is doing. Common prescriptions: 4 by 10 minutes off 2 minutes, 3 by 20 minutes off 3 minutes, 2 by 30 minutes off 4 minutes.

AT: anaerobic threshold

The lactate-accumulation band. AT keeps 3 to 5 seconds per 500 slower than 2k pace at 26 to 28 spm, heart rate around 85 to 90 per cent of max. It should sit at the edge of repeatable. If your sixth rep is two seconds outside your first, the opening pace was too greedy or the rest was too short. Bread and butter formats: 4 by 10 minutes off 4 minutes, 6 by 4 minutes off 2 minutes, 8 by 4 minutes off 2 minutes. Rowers who plateau at OUA Championship or RSEQ trials almost always need more AT, not more all-out work.

TR: transport (race pace)

2k race pace at 30 to 34 spm, heart rate at 90 to 95 per cent of max from rep two onward. Standard formats: 6 by 500m off 4 minutes, 4 by 750m off 5 minutes, 3 by 1000m off 6 minutes. The rest interval is doing real work here. Cut it short and the next rep degrades. Stretch it out and the energy system being targeted drifts away from 2k-specific endurance and toward creatine-phosphate recovery, which is fine for AN training but not what TR is for. Most coaches program TR twice in the week leading into a regatta like the Brentwood Regatta or the OUA Championship.

AN: anaerobic

Faster than 2k. AN drops 3 to 5 seconds per 500 below your 2k pace at 36+ spm, used in small doses for power and rate development. Formats: 8 by 250m off 3 minutes, 10 by 1 minute off 2 minutes, 30 seconds on 30 seconds off times 16. AN turns brittle when the nervous system is still carrying load from a heavy AT or TR session earlier in the week, so it gets sequenced after a recovery day. Programs sharpening toward the Royal Canadian Henley or the Canadian Henley typically taper AN volume across the final ten to fourteen days before racing rather than ramping it up.

Building the weekly structure

A typical base-phase week for a senior open-club rower runs around 60 per cent UT2, 25 per cent UT1, 10 per cent AT and 5 per cent TR or AN. As CSSRA Championship or the Royal Canadian Henley draws closer, the mix shifts toward UT1, AT and TR with UT2 still anchoring the long weekend session. Junior programs at Brentwood College, St Catharines RC and the high-school feeder clubs into Hanlan typically run 70 to 80 per cent UT2 in the base phase because aerobic capacity in young athletes responds most reliably to low-intensity volume over months, not to short, sharp sessions stacked on top of an undeveloped engine. The data-driven training guide walks through how a coach can see those proportions across an entire fall trial block and spring sprint season.