Despite having no recollection, during the workout, of the actual 12 Days of Christmas gifts that my true love gave to me, 19 PAX accomplished the 12 Days of Swiftmas”ish” on Tuesday morning in Ballantyne.
The THANG:
- 0500 – Talk of extra credit captured at least Tuck, Gumbo, and Atlas. As YHC was late to the prerun, but perfectly in line with the plan put in place a while ago to create the goal of making the prerun to get to the actual workout on time, not sure if there was anyone else. Strava says no.
- 0515 – Mosey on the warm-up to the four corners of Ballantyne. As there SHOULD be Christmas lights on all 4 corners that are working, for some reason our corner did not have lights this morning. Not worth the effort to cross the road, we continued on trying to avoid getting run over by a “dump truck” (one of the PAX called this out, but evidently doesn’t know the difference between a dump truck and a trash truck), we made it to Brixham Green to finish the warm-up.
- 0525 – During the warm-up exercises, I was sure that it was the long lost Show Pony in a hat and long pants/tights warming up with us, so I chuckled and welcomed him to the workout (maybe his first ever Swift?). But then unconvinced that this guy with a beard, smooth stride, and fast wheels like Show Pony WASN’T Show Pony, I quizzed some PAX. No one knew who it was.
- 0530 – Commence the 12 Days of Swiftmas”ish” with predictions of modifying to stay under the clock. Here’s our out of order intervals:
- 3 French Hens – 3:00 (3 minutes 0 seconds) INTERVAL Pace (2mile race pace, “Hard” effort, aka V02MAx) around the Brixham Green loop. Watch dem bumps and the slick corner.
- 2 Turtle Doves – 2:00 jog recovery and regroup
- 5 Gold Rings – 5:00 INTERVAL Pace around Brixham Green loop.
- 4 Calling Birds – 4:00 jog recovery. It was during this time that Joe Schmo introduced himself as the previous mistaken Show Pony, but apologized that he was a LIFO and sped off into the darkness.
- 6 Geese a-Laying – 6:00 THRESHOLD Pace (“Comfortably Hard” effort, aka Lactate Threshold pace) with a destination of the putting green inside the Bull Ring.
- 1 Partridge in a Pear Tree – 1:00 jog recovery (first modification that included a little walk and extra time) to mosey to the outside of the Bull Ring.
- 8 Maids a-Milking – 800m (meters) INTERVAL Pace – one full lap of the Bull Ring.
- 7 Swans a-Swimming – 700m jog recovery. Get at least 2minutes of recovery for all of the PAX, this was at least a 2:30-3:00 recovery but nowhere near 700 meters, and it really shouldn’t have been. Second modification.
- 10 Lords a-Leaping – 1000m INTERVAL Pace for 1.25 lap of the Bull Ring.
- 9 Ladies Dancing – 900m jog recovery. Get in at least 3:00 of recovery, but actually more like 4:00-4:30 to regroup the PAX. Third modification.
- 12 Drummers Drumming – 1200m THRESHOLD Pace – OYO make it back to COT in 5:00. While some PAX got to 1200m, everyone worked hard and found the lot just at 0615 with Bagpipers standing around and waiting.
- 11 Pipers Piping – 1100m jog recovery. Out of time. Fourth modification. If you feel cheated, ask for a refund.
Moleskin:
- Holiday themed credit goes to ThinMint and Das Boot (anyone else?). Thin Mint wore the coolest ugly christmas sweater workout shirt that’s likely ever been created. He says the M picked it out for him, but we all saw it last week on his Amazon Wish list.
- Welcome back “kotters” to Rebar who said he’s had a busy work schedule. Apparently hasn’t lot much of step though and he was working hard.
- Welcome
back “kotters” to Show Pony first time Swift PAX Joe Schmo, who even though he had to LIFO, sounded like he would be back for more intervals at Swift.
- Long Haul is making Swift Great Again! Great to see him again after some running setbacks.
- We’ll give half credit to Depth Charge who asked about the workout the previous night, but since this Software Developer can’t figure out the Internet and Strava, we’ll not know if it actually happened.
- We’ll give half credit to Haggis, who PAX were asking about why in COT he was holding a bike helmet, as he rode his bike in 7mi and out 7mi to make Timekeeper after the workout but wisely continue recovery after a lot of miles (1600+) in 2017. You all know that he almost “stumbled” into a Boston Qualifier marathon time at Kiawah two weeks ago, right? Not sure he felt up to the marathon the day before, he negative splits (runs the second 13.1 faster than the first) his way to a 3:16:00 (7:29/mi pace)!
- Otherwise, Strava comments handed out (where are you Harry Caray, Vuvuzela, Abacus, Rebar, and Joe Schmo?). Quite a 2017 for the Swift PAX with several PRs and goals reached! Let’s keep this thing rolling!
Announcements:
- Swift is on next week with Rock Thrill on Q promising to give the PAX a JoeDavisRun prep workout that will be sure to give them a taste of the actual course.
- JoeDavisRun 5K & 10K on January 6th. Sign-up using F3 discount code of “” for $5 off registration, or fart-sack and donate.
About the author