Overcoming Fear In OWS- Familiarity With The Environment

by Coach Mat | 4 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 7 of 9 – Familiarity With The Environment The third part of our strategy is Familiarity: Familiarity with the environment (water, surrounding terrain, and weather) and familiarity with the swimmer (yourself) that is...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Focus For The Mind

by Coach Mat | 3 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 6 of 9 – Focus For the Mind Your mind needs positive, productive, prioritized things to dwell on while you are swimming, especially under stress (voluntary stress of racing or in fearful situations). Again, what you...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Automate Good Technique

by Coach Mat | 1 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 5 of 9 – Automate Good Technique Good technique enables you to swim with control over your speed and energy consumption, and to do this without injury. But to be of value under a stressful OW situation, that technique...

Overcoming Fear in OWS- Managing Real Fears and Dangers

by Coach Mat | 1 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 4 of 9 – Managing Real Fears and Danger Fear is suppose to be a healthy response to danger. We don’t want to do away with the necessary triggers and healthy responses to it. We need it to survive and to succeed....

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Removing Irrational Fears

by Coach Mat | 30 Jul, 2011

Overcoming Fear in Open Water Swimming Part 3 of 8 – Removing Irrational Fears There’s an internet world of advice out there for all sorts of mental ailments and fear. I will simply present some ideas that may appeal to those who don’t feel they need...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Separate Phantoms From Real Fears

by Coach Mat | 30 Jul, 2011

Overcoming Fear in Open Water Swimming Part 2 of 9 – Separate Phantoms From Real Fears We want to take a daunting or even a seemingly insurmountable challenge and break it down into small, more easily conquered pieces. This is a simple approach to tackling all...

Overcoming Fear in Open Water Swimming – Introduction

by Coach Mat | 30 Jul, 2011

Overcoming Fear in Open Water Swimming Part 1 of  9 – Introduction We can find a lot in books and on the internet from amazing swimmers who’ve accomplished big feats in open-water (OW). They are truly inspirational. But they can also seem to operate on a...

Swim Out Of The Stone Age

by Coach Mat | 18 Jul, 2011

Moving fast in the water is a different problem and requires a different solution than moving fast on land. On land we fight against gravity. Gravity grabs onto MASS. In order to overcome the power of gravity, we must emphasize muscular strength to move our mass...

Can’t Outswim An Oil Slick

by Coach Mat | 15 Jul, 2011

Now I know a little how the oil-stained animals feel… This morning I swam out along the cliffs, toward the Old Harbor of Antalya, past the nearly completed salvage of a wrecked freighter from last December’s storm. It was a little embarrassing that I did...

Under-Estimating 10 km Recovery

by Coach Mat | 13 Jul, 2011

I am not a marathon runner. I’ve heard though that it takes some time to recover properly from that kind of running. Instead I’ve become a marathon swimmer these past couple years- by the definition of swimming 5km or longer. I took it for granted being...