Training | Mediterra Swim & Run

How To ‘Lift Weights’ In The Water – Part 1

by Coach Mat | 7 Dec, 2019

If you want to swim farther and/or swim faster, you have to be both more skilled, and stronger. Some people focus on just one or the other. But you can develop both of those together if you require both in how you go about your training. I trust you are already sold...

Add A Little Gallop In Your Stroke?

by Coach Mat | 26 Oct, 2019

You’ll see from time to time in elite swimming, especially in the shorter/faster events, that a swimmer may have a ‘gallop’ or ‘lope’ which is a slight up/down motion of their head and upper body during the stroke cycle. This gallop is...

Being Streamlined Is Not Enough

by Coach Mat | 28 Sep, 2019

Watching a nicely shaped boat cut across a smooth body of water is a wonderful thing to watch. Photo by Oleksandr Hrebelnyk on Unsplash Watching a nicely shaped swimmer cut across a smooth body of water is too! In moving forward most easily in the water, although...

The Lure Of High Lake Swimming

by Coach Mat | 3 Sep, 2019

At an elevation of 4,688 feet (1,428 meters), in the last week of August, Cultus Lake was just high enough to keep us above the unpleasant heatwave passing through the lower lands and yet not leave us quite breathless. The water was crystal clear, pleasantly cool...

A Good Reason To Hold Your Breath

by Coach Mat | 24 Aug, 2019

[I apologize for posting a week late – I was caught up in preparations and then marrying off one of my daughters this last weekend! It went very well, thank you. I intend to write an extra post soon to make up for that week.] In the previous post, I pointed out...

Flip Turns Or Open Turns At The Wall?

by Coach Mat | 20 Jul, 2019

If you are one of those who have began pool swimming as an adult, you may have noticed how many people do those fast flip turns (also known as tumble turns) and shoot back off the wall powerfully, then travel quite far down the lane before breaking the surface to...