Sprint Training | Mediterra Swim & Run

Failure Leads To Speed

by Coach Mat | 24 Sep, 2016

This is a continuation from the previous post The Speed You Must Earn. Race day (if you like racing) is the great test of your abilities – this is the event most competitive athletes are focused upon. On that day you want to succeed in everything you have...

New Stroke Demo Videos

by Coach Mat | 5 Mar, 2016

I was in Clermont, Florida last week to attend a joint ‘Fast Forward’ TI Coach 2.0 training camp led by my colleague Tracey Baumann and Erin Glynn and a TI Triathlon Training Camp led by coaches Celeste Saint Pierre, Suzanne Atkinson and Dinah Damian. Head...

Your Potential At Other Distances

by Coach Mat | 27 Feb, 2016

This post is related to my 100 yard Sprint Improvement Project I discussed in the previous post. It is not common for swimmers – elite or regular citizen athletes – to train on both ends of the event spectrum – short sprints (like 50, 100) to long...

A Sprint Improvement Project

by Coach Mat | 21 Feb, 2016

Since I am back in Oregon USA and back to the short 25 yard pool, my interest has been drawn back to short distance work for these winter and spring months, until open water season arrives again. In Antalya I enjoyed year-round sea swimming, but I am now back to a...

Stroke Length Loyalty

by Coach Mat | 21 Mar, 2015

When you start feeling fatigue in your race (or while ‘just swimming’) you are urged to slow down. At some point you finally must give in. But when you do what is changing in your stroke to slow you down? SPL x Tempo = Pace (the inverse of the Speed...

Why Swim Symmetrical?

by Coach Mat | 11 Oct, 2014

Some weeks ago I had an email discussion with my TI Coach colleague Bernardo Blanco in Spain. We were discussing the asymmetry observed in certain elite swimmers, and whether we should imitate this asymmetry or practice a symmetrical stroke. Coach Bernardo was going...