by Coach Mat | 23 Mar, 2019
Three Zones There are two extremes that we are urged to avoid in training – going too hard and going too easy. If we go too hard, or go hard too often, something is going to break. If we go too easy, or go easy too often, we simply will not grow, and may even...
by Coach Mat | 9 Feb, 2019
For long distance events you need to be strong in terms of muscle endurance. Your body needs to be capable of working at moderate effort level for a long time. For sprint events you need to be strong in terms of muscle power. Your body needs to be capable of...
by Coach Mat | 26 Jan, 2019
As you may have noticed from my style of writing on this blog, I try to be careful with definitions of words and use them in technically accurate ways. I appreciate when someone sends me a kind note pointing out where I may have misused or misunderstood a term in its...
by Coach Mat | 5 Jan, 2019
I am often approached by swimmers thinking about preparing to swim a much longer distance than they have done before – like 3.8K (Ironman tri), 5K, 10K or 20K, or even 40K (for the English Channel). I receive this question in various forms, and it essentially...
by Coach Mat | 21 Jul, 2018
I have been looking back at my notes from studying one of the books from The Pose Method of Running, by Nicholas Romanov, and ran across this quote on relaxation that had caught my attention previously. It adds another dimension to my thoughts shared in a previous...
by Coach Mat | 15 Jul, 2018
Do you know what its like to spend energy of one kind in order to gain energy of another kind? That’s what it usually feels like for me when I go swim. It doesn’t have to be ‘easy’ swimming either. Most often I train quite strenuously,...
