Swimmer Stories | Mediterra Swim & Run

Stroke Length Loyalty

by Coach Mat | 21 Mar, 2015

When you start feeling fatigue in your race (or while ‘just swimming’) you are urged to slow down. At some point you finally must give in. But when you do what is changing in your stroke to slow you down? SPL x Tempo = Pace (the inverse of the Speed...

Swimming Past Exhaustion Point

by Coach Mat | 21 Dec, 2014

Have you swam past your exhaustion point? Why, or why not? ** There is a difference between a difficult swimming situation that produces struggle and a difficult situation that presents challenge. Swimming as Struggle = swimming in a situation where I have lost...

Faster Tempo = Easier Swimming?

by Coach Mat | 29 Nov, 2014

Could it actually be easier to swim at a faster tempo? Yes. This could be the case for some of you. To swim fast or swim far you are not looking for longest stroke or the fastest tempo – you’re looking for optimal combination of stroke length and tempo for...

Mindfulness In/Out Of Water – Part 2

by Coach Mat | 19 Oct, 2014

Continuing from Part 1… I don’t claim that Total Immersion guarantees deliverance from these self-imposed emotional storms, but myself and so many others who I have met in the global TI community of swimmers have found our practice to greatly improve our...

Going Further From Inside

by Coach Mat | 20 Sep, 2014

I have a few students like this: they have been practicing faithfully for months if not years. They have the expected pattern of the stroke seemingly memorized. At first glance one might say, ‘Yeah, your stroke looks great!’. But these swimmers tell me...

Me Hot and Slow, You Cool and Fast

by Coach Mat | 23 Aug, 2014

I have had low swimming ambition this summer, but it was expected – August is now my hardest month of the year. I partly blame it on my (modest) obsession with ‘cool’ water swimming. For the last two years I have forsaken the pool and stayed in the...