Pacing | Mediterra Swim & Run

Intro to Pace Combinations

by Coach Mat | 25 Mar, 2015

A question from a friend about Pace Combinations made me realize that I have referred to Pace or SPL x Tempo Combinations several times without really laying out a direct introduction to it. So this essay is meant to give a brief explanation for Pace Combinations and...

Metrics In Open Water: Measuring Improvement

by Coach Mat | 21 Jun, 2014

When training in open-water how do I measure improvement? The best arrangement is to set up two fixed points (as described in the previous post), and then measure 2 of the 3 variables in the Pace equation: Pace = SPL x Tempo More specifically, for calculating Pace at...

Metrics In Open Water: Measuring Distance

by Coach Mat | 18 Jun, 2014

Now that open-water season is more widely opened up in the Northern Hemisphere we should discuss some ideas about translating pool practice into open-water. It takes an adjustment in mindset to move from pool practice to open-water practice. When asked I let swimmers...

Getting Enough Breath?

by Coach Mat | 2 Jun, 2014

Q: I have read your articles on Metrics-Tempo, Pace, etc with a lot of interest. What I was wondering, if you increase your DPS [distance per stroke], that means your SPL [strokes per length of pool] goes down. If SPL goes down, doesn’t that mean you will take...

Metrics 103: Pacing Failure And Success

by Coach Mat | 24 May, 2014

By gradually increasing distance you will challenge your abilities to hold your chosen SPL x Tempo combination. It will get difficult and you will reach what feel like limits to your ability for that day. Yet ‘failure’ of this type is an important part of...

Metrics 103: Pace Construction

by Coach Mat | 12 May, 2014

Can we assume that two swimmers who achieve the same Pace are equal in efficiency as well (in both terms of physics and of physiology)? No. Because the same Pace can be constructed by different combinations of SPL x Tempo, and each of those different combinations...