Rowing Pace Chart
Punch in a split and see the whole distance ladder against the zone strips. Print one for the shed, flick one to the crew chat. It redraws the moment you change the number.
What is a rowing pace chart?
A rowing pace chart projects a single 500m split out to expected times over each standard distance, with the five training zones shaded underneath. Set your 2k as the anchor and the 5k, 6k, 10k and half marathon appear alongside it. Kiwi crews use it to plan Maadi Cup 2k racing, set head race splits, and pace long winter metres on the Waikato.
Anchor split (your 2k pace)
Predicted split across distances
Take it with you
Print the chart or screenshot it and tape it up by the ergs. Being inline SVG it scales cleanly to poster size. If you want one per rower kept current all season, that job belongs to the Row HQ coach dashboard.
How to read the pace chart
The line shows your predicted split at each distance
As distance climbs, so does the split. The steep section runs from 500m to 2k, where the anaerobic tank drains and the aerobic system inherits the work. Beyond 2k the curve eases off, since sustained aerobic capacity now sets the limit rather than peak power. A 6:30 2k maps to roughly 17:00 over 5k and 20:30 over 6k, which is why NZ coaches trust a mid-winter 6k to signal where Maadi 2k speed will sit come March.
The coloured bands are the training zones
The strips are personal, built from the 2k pace you entered. Reading top to bottom: UT2 steady state, UT1 firm aerobic, AT threshold just off 2k pace, the TR strip at 2k itself, and AN beneath it. The strip a projection lands in names its energy zone. A 5k forecast around AT pace is believable. One up in UT2 says either the projection or the rower is having you on.
Why the Riegel curve matters
A season gives most rowers only one or two trustworthy scores, typically a 2k or 6k. Riegel's T2 = T1 * (D2 / D1)^1.06 extrapolates the rest from that anchor, with the 1.06 exponent fitted across thousands of endurance results. Small corrections apply: lightweights lose a touch more over the long distances, and masters rowers lose a touch less at 10k and further out, since the aerobic base ages more gracefully than peak wattage. A few seconds either way, worth remembering when the chart is setting head race targets.
How coaches use this chart in practice
It earns its keep three ways. Setting session targets: a 5k projection of 1:42 becomes the AT ceiling for that piece. Checking readiness: push a June 6k through the chart and the projected 2k shows whether a Ruataniwha time standard is within reach by March or the programme needs work. And clearing the hardware: splits consistently 5+ seconds off the chart across distances point to drag factor, monitor calibration or technique rather than fitness.
If a row of the chart is guesswork because you have never raced that distance, run it through the 2k prediction calculator. The training pace calculator then turns your anchor score into zone paces, and the 2k pacing strategy piece is the read before your next test.
One chart is quick. A squad's worth of charts, every single Monday? That's Row HQ.
Making one pace chart by hand is no bother. Remaking it weekly for the whole squad, anchored to each rower's latest score, is exactly the kind of chore software should own. Row HQ keeps zone-banded splits per rower up to date automatically and records the season's history, so trends show themselves. See it in coach tools, inside training session tracking, or in how a partner club uses it.