by Coach Mat | 9 Apr, 2017 | About Other Perspectives, Failure, Fear, Lessons From Elites, Mastery Process, Mental Training, Racing, Recommended Reading, Survival Instincts
Three Kinds Of Hardship Like you, I love to hear stories of those who have accomplished amazing things in the realm of sports and adventure. I recently listened to Rich Roll’s interview with Kimberly Chambers, ultra-distance open water swimmer, who, in 2014, was...
by Coach Mat | 28 Jan, 2017 | About Other Perspectives, Competitive/Performance Training, Distance Training, Exhaustion, External Feedback, How To Train?, Internal Feedback, Lessons From Elites, Marathon Distance, Race Preparation, Racing, Recommended Reading, Rest/Recovery, Triathlon, Triathlon Swimming
One of the ways you can detect truly elite coaches is by the emphasis in their teaching and marketing on ‘going-smarter’ rather than ‘going-harder’ (though this is required also). Mature coaches seem to echo the refrain: listen to your body. If...
by Coach Mat | 14 Jan, 2017 | Discomfort, How To Train?, Injury, Lessons From Elites, Motivation, Racing, Racing Misery, Recommended Reading, Running
Hungry For Knowledge Like many of you I have quite an appetite for knowledge. I make time in my week for reading, listening, studying, and for writing (which includes drawing diagrams since I think mostly in pictures) to process the treasures I find. Part of my...
by Coach Mat | 10 Dec, 2016 | About Coach Mat, Internal Feedback, Muscle Tension, Muscle Training, Neuromuscular Training, Racing, Recommended Reading, Relaxation, Running
In addendum to the previous post on What Is Relaxation? I recall another experience I had in running where a specific “Relax!” instruction worked. You certainly know about the global athletics company Nike. It started in Eugene Oregon, my home state, and...
by Coach Mat | 8 Oct, 2016 | About Other Perspectives, About TI, Competitive/Performance Training, Discomfort, How To Train?, Lessons From Elites, Mastery Process, Mental Training, Motivating Swimmers, Racing, Racing Misery, Recommended Reading, Training Theory, Triathlon, Triathlon Swimming
I happened to see some triathletes link to this article on Facebook a couple months ago. The title caught my attention because, clearly, this was such a contrast to our approach to swimming. I would have just ignored an article like this, but was curious to see what...
by Coach Mat | 28 Jul, 2015 | Race Events, Race Strategy, Racing, Travel Update
I wrote some pre-race comments in Funky Current in the Bosphorus, and now it is time to review what actually happened in the 2015 (27th Annual) Bosphorus Cross Continental Race in Istanbul, Turkey. The morning started very calm and beautiful. There was a northern wind...
