Practice Design | Mediterra Swim & Run

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...

The Limitations Of Your Watch

by Coach Mat | 19 Jan, 2019

In order to plan the next cycle of practices for a swimmer working towards a particular performance goal, I need to see various kinds of data from both their objective measurements and their subjective measurements. We are, after all, training the whole person to...

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:...

Surviving or Comfortable or Competitive? Part 1

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...

Moving From Novice To Expert – Part 1

by Coach Mat | 29 Dec, 2018

It should be well understood that there is a process, and usually a long process we must follow in moving from a novice to an expert in the fundamental skills for an art or sport. There is a process or a path to follow, but there is not a single ‘recipe’...