Good Food For A Long Swim

by Coach Mat | 11 Jul, 2012

Eat (well), drink (well), and be merry- for tomorrow we race! The night before our island to harbor 7km swim three weeks ago, one of my swimmers asked my opinion about what to eat that morning before the race. Some of my Tri and Ultra-distance friends would no doubt...

Aikido For Swimmers

by Coach Mat | 6 Jul, 2012

Last week I had my first chance to visit an aikido class. I have been intrigued by this martial art for some time, even before reading George Leonard’s book, “Mastery” that is standard reading for TI Coaches. I am intrigued on several levels by it:...

Simple Steps For Children

by Coach Mat | 5 Jul, 2012

Or maybe I should title this, “Simple Steps For Teaching Children In Groups” For the last 3 summers I have been giving group lessons to children at a private international school. It may be of interest to some of you to read what I do with them. This...

Blind Swimming

by Coach Mat | 27 Jun, 2012

A couple days ago I went on a swim along the cliffs of Antalya in a place I can usually have all to myself. The water was warm and calm, no waves or chop. As it gets hotter this summer the clarity is lowering- I can still see maybe 5 meters down, but it has a cloudy...

Bio-Rhythm

by Coach Mat | 21 Jun, 2012

Bio-Rhythm I love this word. It encompasses the idea that something in the ecosystem, or something in the body, something in the being knows the right order of things. It gives the idea that there is wisdom inside the living-system. When we detect the bio-rhythm in a...

Long Live ‘Slide And Glide’

by Coach Mat | 19 Jun, 2012

I’ve been prescribing the classic TI drill “Slide and Glide” a lot recently. I used this for hundreds of hours in my early self-taught TI days, and it is still my favorite warm-up or warm-down drill. It’s a great way to pull together the focus...

State Of The Art

by Coach Mat | 17 Jun, 2012

The 7km race today went very well. Full sun, just enough breeze to keep the air pleasant, but no surface chop. The water temp was perfect. I was a little concerned for the first km that I might get uncomfortably chilled at our group’s pace but I was fine as the...

Little Sleep B4 Big Water

by Coach Mat | 17 Jun, 2012

It was not my idea of a good night rest before a race… In the small hillside city of Kaş everything echoes off the mountain. We headed to bed at 10 but the city had a concert on the harbor until midnight with fireworks. It might as well have on the terrace above...

Considerations For A Long OW Swim

by Coach Mat | 16 Jun, 2012

From left- Serdar, myself, and Baha, on our first evening, as we return from a training swim at a beach only accessible by boat taxi. The 7.1 km (or so, with currents and navigation) swim is tomorrow! Baha was not able to get a spot in the race on the registration...

Practice IS Pleasure

by Coach Mat | 14 Jun, 2012

Sitting at lunch today, on our first day of our swim camp in Kaş, while processing the potential of our training process this came out: “Some make the achievment of the goal their only source of pleasure. Practice for them is a mechanical means of getting to...