Fitness Training | Mediterra Swim & Run

Good Attitude

by Coach Mat | 16 May, 2015

The real test of your good attitude will not happen on a good practice day. It will be exposed and tested on a bad practice day. When you experience a ‘bad’ practice (i.e. failure to produce expected results) that is the best opportunity to examine the...

Swim Prep Habit

by Coach Mat | 11 Apr, 2015

Here is an inspirational description in the book The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg of the habit Michael Phelps had set up to support his success in every race. This story makes a persuasive argument for competitive athletes to set up a personal pre-race habit like...

Judging An Efficient Stroke

by Coach Mat | 28 Mar, 2015

In response to the recent essay Stroke Length Loyalty (and the subsequent essay Intro to Pace Combinations) I’ve entered into an enjoyable email discussion with a retired engineer about judging efficiency of the stroke. He has been asking how we know when a...

Improve Swimming Speed Part 3

by Coach Mat | 8 Feb, 2015

So, in the previous essay we have seen how swimming speed and ease can be broken down into a pyramid of interdependent skill sets. In your stroke mastery and performance improvement process you need to work through this cycle several times, gradually deepening your...

Improve Swimming Speed Part 2

by Coach Mat | 31 Jan, 2015

Let’s say you want to go a bit faster than you can now, to improve swimming speed, but your current methods are not working. When looking at the math of physics this is the equation we use in swimming to build speed: Speed = Stroke Length x Stroke Rate The...

Improve Swimming Speed Part 1

by Coach Mat | 24 Jan, 2015

A good portion of our typical swim students, maybe half, are primarily concerned about swimming faster. The other half may not be directly interested in getting faster – they just want swimming to be easier and more enjoyable regardless of speed (so it is said)....