Practice Design | Mediterra Swim & Run

Amazing Things Can Happen In A Week

by Coach Mat | 6 Jul, 2019

I would guess that the average number of practices a week for those reading this is three days a week. I know of some whose schedule permits less and some whose schedule permits more. When we add up the interruptions and challenges in our routines over the months, we...

Small Steps Toward A Longer Stroke

by Coach Mat | 30 Jun, 2019

This article continues from The Importance Of Making Small Steps… When I use the term ‘small steps’ I am referring specifically to taking incremental steps, or measured steps toward a goal where each step is appropriate to how far you can move...

The Importance Of Making Small Steps

by Coach Mat | 29 Jun, 2019

In the previous article Can You Trick Yourself Into A Longer Stroke? I described the difference between doing tricks to produce temporary adaptation – or we might call them, temporary boosts in some part of your performance – and doing the work over time...

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...