Design Principles | Mediterra Swim & Run

Can You Trick Yourself Into A Longer Stroke?

by Coach Mat | 8 Jun, 2019

When you are working on improving your stroke length (stroke count) or stroke rate (tempo) there are neural tricks you can perform to get your body to make a fairly quick improvement in a single practice. But, in many cases, those improvements hold up for only a few...

The Challenge Of Going Slow

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...

Surviving or Comfortable or Competitive? Part 4

by Coach Mat | 2 Mar, 2019

Continued from Part 3. Training In Cycles And, over the course of a few weeks, your fatigue accumulates. This is something you should expect and actually plan for. Through a process known as periodization, with cycles lasting several weeks, and changing emphasis at...

Surviving or Comfortable or Competitive? Part 3

by Coach Mat | 23 Feb, 2019

Continued from Part 2. From High-Stress To Low Let’s say you want to move from 2 hours of swimming (about 5K) to 4 or 5 hours (about 10K). you When you get into swimming events that are more like 4 to 5 hours long, the average citizen athlete may have difficulty...

Moving From Novice To Expert – Part 3

by Coach Mat | 12 Jan, 2019

Continued from Part 2… I’ve mentioned before that my wife, Gail, is an ‘occupational therapist’. Occupational therapists, as they are called in the US, help people learn (or relearn) how to accomplish daily tasks that their damaged brain lost...

Surviving or Comfortable or Competitive? Part 2

by Coach Mat | 5 Jan, 2019

Continued from Part 1. How Much Is Enough To Be Comfortable? When someone asks me a version of this question, I need to know a few things to help guide them toward an answer that is more suitable to their personal situation: How do you want to finish this event:...