Health | Mediterra Swim & Run

Half-Over

by Coach Mat | 3 Apr, 2012

A TI swimmer friend of mine heard me speak last fall and recommended that I read Haruki Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I did read it recently and loved it. You might also. In this following passage from that book Murakami is...

Endurance

by Coach Mat | 18 Mar, 2012

Endurance. What does that word mean to you? What kind of images of athleticism does it conjur up in your mind? For me it used to mean: Tough. High threshold for pain in the body, and a high threshold for monotony in the mind. Now: Effortless. Focused. Thrilling. This...

Swim For Vision, Not For Fat

by Coach Mat | 21 Feb, 2012

Interestingly, my blog essay Does Swimming Burn Fat? draws a large quantity of search engine traffic. No wonder. I am from a country obsessed with losing weight. I recently returned from a 2 month visit to the US with my family. Because of my work and my athletic...

Slide, Don’t Hammer

by Coach Mat | 27 Dec, 2011

I had a great practice set in the pool early this morning- 1600 yards broken into 16 x (4x 25 yard sprints), with a rest interval based on my heart rate*. The objective- holding SPL (at 16) while increasing tempo from 0.95 to 0.83 seconds, using a Tempo Trainer. In...

Learning Requires Trust

by Coach Mat | 8 Dec, 2011

Continuing on with the topic of Challenging Normal, I’ll share a simple example of how even I, a swimmer quite focused on the details of my body and each movement, can develop a ‘blind-spot’, and greatly benefit from some outside feedback… In...

Pain Is A Messenger

by Coach Mat | 18 Nov, 2011

Pain is a messenger, not an enemy. First, I recognize that there are different kinds of pain, sending different kinds of messages: Some pain means healing or improvement is happening. Some pain is a warning that damage may come. Some pain is an alarm that damage is...