World Class Performance Points Program

I hate swimming.

Ok, now I that I have said that and made myself feel better, I can now move forward with my new swim performance program designed by Joel Filliol to try and keep me on top of my swim program.

I REALLY hate swimming.

Sorry, just had to slip that one in. In case anyone was wondering, my least favorite part of any triathlon is the soggy appetizer. I am not sure why I became such a hater when it comes to swimming because all I know is the only time I am not really in love with what I am doing is when I am on my way to a pool. This includes the numerous rainy six degree days this winter on the bike and the day I blew to the moon and still had to climb an hour and fifteen minutes up Mt Lemmon AND the day after that when we were running intervals and I couldn’t make my legs go any faster than the I-got-nuthin shuffle. Swimming is still worse. A good day swimming is still crap compared to a bad day biking. However, any day swimming is still better than any day not doing what you love and I guess swimming still gets some love for being part of a triathlon.

Despite my dislike of the discipline, I want to be better. In fact, I want to be just plain GOOD, not just sort of okay. Of course, I still want to be FAST on the bike and run, but I really would like to be a good swimmer and minimize the passing required at the start of races. Unfortunately, the only good way to be a good swimmer is to swim – a lot. The past four weeks I have been swimming an unprecedented amount for me, six practices per week! Unheard of! The results have been promising and as a result, encouraging. So to up the ante, Joel Filliol, head coach at the Pacificsport National Triathlon Training Center upped the ante by creating a little motivational points program for Mel to keep her on her swim game through to Maui…..

 

It is amazing to me how LITTLE it takes to get me motivated.

 

Anyways, Joel put the plan on the board the other day and here is how it breaks down:

The World Class Performance Points Program – Xterra Edition

A points system to encourage ‘stepping up’ in the pool, and track progress towards a ‘breakthrough’ swim. This will be based on the principle that in order to step up the swim performance the athlete has to step up preparation to a world class standard.

Points System Details:

Regular Swim, Successfully Completed = 1 pt

Additional 1000m per workout (beyond the prescribed workout) = 1 pt

Extra Swim (beyond 5 swims per week) = 3 pts

Coach’s Choice (exceptional workout, subjective to coaches discretion) = up to 5 pts bonus

Late (not ready in suit while coach is giving instructions or later) = 0 points for that workout

Missed workout = -2 points

The goal is to achieve 230 points before Maui with the idea being that achieving this goal will also result in a front pack swim J. I will be swimming 5-6 times per week, maybe only 4 when I am away (but racing counts as one if I actually get in the water and warm up, which in the past was not happening). There are seven months to Maui and a lot of traveling so this is a pretty big goal but I am going to try and achieve it. Thanks Joel! And a little background, Mel is time challenging ie she has no concept of time and therefore is ALWAYS late for pretty much everything. My biggest challenge is to not lose all my points to lateness!

You might also be wondering what I get after accumulating all these points.

Satisfaction.

It is only after four years of balancing swim, bike and run volume with heavy bike miles that I feel I finally have the base volume to be able to add this much swimming to an already busy training program. I have also increased my running so at the end of the day we are looking at a whole lot of a LOT.

I can handle it.

We’ll see how the WCPPP is working out when we test it at our first race of the year. Temecula.

I’m ready.

Are you? Happy training!