Specific Skills | Mediterra Swim & Run

Learning Requires Trust

by Coach Mat | 8 Dec, 2011

Continuing on with the topic of Challenging Normal, I’ll share a simple example of how even I, a swimmer quite focused on the details of my body and each movement, can develop a ‘blind-spot’, and greatly benefit from some outside feedback… In...

Don’t Forget To Play

by Coach Mat | 29 Aug, 2011

Have any of us gotten so serious in our swim training that we have forgotten to play? Good swimming involves having a relationship with water. To swim well and swim long a swimmer needs to know the water intimately, to know its ways and how it likes to move and carry...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- The Mindset Of An OW Swimmer

by Coach Mat | 13 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming The Mindset Of An Open-Water Swimmer By no means do I want to suggest that there is a Correct Mindset for an OW swimmer, and that others are wrong. With the variety of humans and sports out there, there are also a variety of...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Familiarity With Your Self

by Coach Mat | 13 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 8 of 9 – Familiarity With Your Self Along this sub-theme of increasing Familiarity as part of the strategy for overcoming fear in OW, I would like to point you inward. As in the previous sections this also is not an...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Familiarity With The Environment

by Coach Mat | 4 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 7 of 9 – Familiarity With The Environment The third part of our strategy is Familiarity: Familiarity with the environment (water, surrounding terrain, and weather) and familiarity with the swimmer (yourself) that is...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Focus For The Mind

by Coach Mat | 3 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 6 of 9 – Focus For the Mind Your mind needs positive, productive, prioritized things to dwell on while you are swimming, especially under stress (voluntary stress of racing or in fearful situations). Again, what you...