Physiology | Mediterra Swim & Run

Trust Supports Skill… At Every Level Of Performance

by Coach Mat | 19 Mar, 2022

One of my favorite scenarios in coaching is to guide a non-swimmer from a tense and fearful relationship with water to a relaxed and confident relationship as a capable swimmer. With an understanding of what’s happening deep in the body’s autonomic nervous...

Fitness Fatigue vs. Extraordinary Fatigue Part 2

by Coach Mat | 4 Jul, 2020

This is the second part of Fitness Fatigue vs. Extraordinary Fatigue. What happens when we have an extraordinary athletic achievement but go past some internal limits to do it? In the first part I told the story of my longer-than-normal long run, and in this second...

My Return To The Water After Exile

by Coach Mat | 2 Jul, 2020

In my home state of Oregon USA, the various businesses and facilities are able to open up , county by county, as each meet certain requirements. The local fitness club where I swim and teach opened up a few weeks ago and then the pools did also. Tuesday I finally made...

Fitness Fatigue vs. Extraordinary Fatigue Part 1

by Coach Mat | 28 Jun, 2020

Before I get into the story of my long run and lessons I learned from it, I want to make sure you don’t get distracted by the distances I am running, as if this is too long (or too short) to apply to your situation. I am telling the story in order to describe...

Your Body Composition And Strength Matter For Speed

by Coach Mat | 7 Mar, 2020

Over the years I have worked with the widest range of bodies I can image – young and old, tall and short, large and small, very buoyant and very not, muscular and frail – all sorts. When one is working with a body at any of the extremes several...

Could You Be Hyperventilating?

by Coach Mat | 16 Nov, 2019

[Here is an excerpt from my working draft of the forthcoming Better Breathing In Freestyle book. It’s going to be loaded with useful stuff you don’t commonly find in swimming books!] There are two main gases that your exercising body needs to deal with. It...