Competitive/Performance Training | Mediterra Swim & Run

Achievement As A Tool

by Coach Mat | 28 May, 2017

There is this wide spectrum between “I want to perform better” and “I want to feel better” – a few swimmers seem to be on one extreme or the other, while the rest of us fall somewhere in the middle with a mixture of both. However, one of...

Going Harder And Going Smarter

by Coach Mat | 21 May, 2017

I have a couple swimmers in one of our weekly practice groups who are members of a local masters swim group that meets on a two different evenings each week. They came to me some months ago because their coach is great at making them work hard, and work harder, in...

Why Do Sprint Work?

by Coach Mat | 14 May, 2017

A 46 year old swimmer from Azerbaijan has been working with me for some months through the Mediterra Swim Dojo, our online training site, to prepare for 10 km swimming this summer. Within the last year or so he’s gone from essentially a non-swimmer to a...

The Discipline Of Restraint

by Coach Mat | 28 Jan, 2017

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...

Form Better Mental Representations

by Coach Mat | 17 Dec, 2016

Anders Ericsson declares that “the main purpose of deliberate practice is to develop effective mental representations.” (page 75). It would therefore be very important that we figure out what mental representations are in the context of our deliberate swim...

Full Attention Required

by Coach Mat | 26 Nov, 2016

We are continuing our series on the application of Deliberate Practice in our way of training: Part 1 – The Definition Of Deliberate Practice Part 2 – Follow A Proven Effective Path Part 3 – Difficult And Enjoyable Practice Part 4 – Focus On...