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Danny's Blog
Here you can follow Danny Aldridge, Heart and Sole co-owner and former elite middle-distance runner, as he trains to become an elite level masters runner. So without further ado, Danny's blog! February 26th, 2010 Welcome back, Sorry about not blogging yesterday, but I was extremely tired. Thus, I didn’t feel like blogging. Live with it. What’s really cool about this blogging stuff, is that I hear from people that I haven’t heard from in a long time, or some that are just introducing themselves for the first time. Got contacted today about a Badass Workout. A former UC Irvine runner told me about a Badass Workout that they would do down at Irvine that was created by then-American Record-Holder Steve Scott, who I had the opportunity to room with at one of the USA Cross Country National Championships, when we were both running for the Sub 4 Track Club. Super nice guy. This is how it was told to me: “there are 31 hill(streets) that come up off Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna that are all pretty steep. Scott came up with this workout where you sprint up each hill, return to the bottom, go to the next street, do the same. 31. Enough said. I did it a couple of times and can attest to the pain.” Today workout – Friday 2/26/2010
February 24th, 2010 Welcome, Just to clarify, on yesterday’s story, I mentioned that I was excited about breaking the 4-minute mile barrier, because it was a goal that I had set back in high school. But my other goal was to make an Olympic Team. And that goal, I didn’t reach. After watching the Winter Olympics, and seeing how the American’s did in curling, I think I still got a shot! Where do you try out for the curling team? Hahahaha! Today workout – Wednesday 2/24/2010
February 23th, 2010 Welcome back, I gotta do a story today. This blog is getting too dull. I need to spice it up, like Posh Spice. I got a pretty good story for ya. My first time breaking 4:00 in the mile. Bruce Jenner Meet, San Jose. (For those of you who don’t know who Bruce Jenner is, he was an American Olympic Champion in the decathlon.) This was the first big meet of the year, and the first meet in which I really thought I had a chance of going under the 4:00 minute barrier. Although I had run a 1,500m in 3:40.80 at the NCAA D1 Championships, taking 7th, and the charts say this converts to a 3:57 or so mile, I still couldn’t call myself a sub-4 miler. I remember telling my high school coach there were two things I wanted to do before I finished my running career. One was to break the sub-4 minute mile, and one was to make an Olympic Team. On race day, I was really nervous, because I knew I was fit, and ready to finally break the 4-minute mile. I was also really nervous, because there were two great Kenyan’s in the race, one of them being Henry Rono, holder of 4 world records, and the other runner being Cherioyot, I can’t remember his first name. Both were running for Washington State (DI), and I was running for Cal Poly (DII). David versus Goliath(s. My plan from the start was just to follow these two great Kenyans, and hope that they would pull me to that first sub-4 mile. After the first lap I was just wondering what they were thinking, that this Division II athlete was hanging with two of the greatest distance runners in the world. But this was a mile. Which some, including myself, consider a middle distance race. The two of them exchanged taking the lead throughout the first three laps, and I just sat, covering their every move. We came through the ¾ mile in 3:01. I knew, with a good last lap, that I was gonna go under. On the last lap, with 300m to go, Cherioyot went by Rono, and I followed immediately, setting myself up into second place. As we passed the 200m mark, now 200m to go, I moved up on Cherioyot’s shoulder, and thought “I might win this thing!”And indeed I did. As I swung wide coming off the turn, and started to accelerate by Cherioyot, I realized he wasn’t going to cover the move, and I was gonna come home the winner. Although the victory wasn’t all that important to me, at that moment it was all about whether I had gotte under 4 minutes. As I jogged 100m around the track, my coach was sitting in the stands, pointing at his watch. Yelling out “3:58!” I know from past results, that he always had a quick finger. As I stood by the stands, waiting for the results to become official, over the loud speaker I heard “And winning the mile, in 3:59.99, Danny Aldridge, from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo!” You’ve never seen a kid with a bigger smile. Today workout – Tuesday 2/23/2010
February 22th, 2010 Welcome to my world, Doodle-Dog (aka Aladdin, the store dog) says “hi.” Yesterday was the Valley Ford Relays. And the team that I ran on, The Pink Cows, got third overall, and first in the 30-39 age division. By the way, none of us are actually in the 30-39 age group. I led off with a 15:03, which was the exact same time as two years ago. But! I’m two years older, so I was pretty happy with the time. Michael Brew, (age 22), ran second. Let’s just say he’s past his glory days. 17:10. Sigh… But! He did not get passed by anybody. Unless you count turtles. Our third leg was Alex Wolf-Root (23), who was doubling back after running an earlier leg for another team. He was the only person on our team who actually moved us up a place, from 4th to 3rd! Way to go Alex! His time was 14:21. Nice double. And anchoring for the team, also running his second leg of the day, was Gerald “Treadmill” McCormick (27). Both of his times (14:12 and 14:28) were faster than my time. Maybe, I need to get on the treadmill some more! Sunday’s total mileage was 8 miles, and that put me over 60 miles for the week. Today workout – Monday 2/22/2010
February 20th, 2010 Welcome back, Excited! Get to run my first race in 2010. Tomorrow I’m gonna run the Valley Ford Relays, put on by the Empire Runners. The race consists of four legs of 2.75 miles. The first and third legs are net downhills, and the second and fourth are net uphills. I hope to break the 15 minute barrier. Two years ago, at age 51, I did 15:03 for the downhill leg. My PR, at the age of 37, is 13:05. Should be a lot of fun tomorrow. Check back and see how I did in a couple of days! Today workout – Saturday 2/20/2010
February 19th, 2010 Welcome back, Another of my running terms: Today workout – Friday 2/19/2010 That’s all folks!
February 18th, 2010 Welcome Home, Today, I told you I’d make my prediction for Reesey Byers of Santa Rosa High School, who stopped by the store today, with his buddy Peck. My prediction is Reesey will be the first Redwood Empire runner under 9 minutes. Today workout – Thursday 2/19/2010
February 17th, 2010 Welcome Back, I thought this was an original “Welcome Back,” but I walked into Applebees yesterday, and over their door is a sign that says “Welcome Back!” Believe me, I didn’t steal it. I got a prediction for you. My first prediction of the year. Many to follow! After watching the high school cross country season unfold, and looking at some of the returning runner’s track times, I think that, for the first time ever, Redwood Empire will have four girls under the 5:00 minute mark for 1,600m. I thought about going out on a limb and predicting five, so come on coaches, prove me wrong! There’s only been twelve girls to break 5:00 ever from Redwood Empire, and only once have three done it in the same year. In 2007, Kristen Sanzari, Jacque Taylor, and Leanne Fogg all broke the 5 minute barrier. Tomorrow’s prediction: How fast will Reesey Byers run? Today workout – Wednesday 2/17/2010
February 16th, 2010 Welcome Ahead, (just seeing if you’re paying attention), Was so excited about the Panher’s 20x400m’s that I had to bust out a good mile today! During my run, after 22 minutes of running, which took me from the store to the Brush Creek Bike Path, I busted out a 5:12 mile. Sean: Next time you guys do 20x400m, count me in! I’m still excited! Just talking about it! I want to be a Panther! I used to be a Panther. Then I was a Puma. Now I’m a Coyote. But I’ll always be a Trojan. Petaluma rocks! So let’s talk about all my mascots. I once was a Valley Vista Viking! (that’s my grade school). Bantams rock! That was my Petaluma Junior High name. I went to the Trojan’s, USC Trojan’s. We all know the USC fight song. That’s famous. SRJC Bear Cubs. Not so intimidating. Cal Poly Mustangs (what is an Aggie, anyways?) From Cal Poly I went on to Athletic’s West, which might be called the Swoosh’s. Basically I made that up. I ran for the Sub 4 Track Club; let’s call them The Clocks. Ran a brief period for the Reebok Aggies (what’s an Aggie?!) Currently, I run for the Empire Runners, which you all should be a member of. If you’re not, pull out your checkbook, write the check, put it in the mail, and you get a free race, great newsletter, and a shirt! But, they don’t yet have a great mascot name. So come on by the store, and toss us a name or two, and yours could be the one that just might stick! Today workout – Tuesday 2/16/2010
February 15th, 2010 Welcome Back, I found out a good scoop today. One of our local high school programs is having the kids run 20 by 400m’s. Let’s just call them the Panthers. That brings me back to good memories. Back in the day, when 20x400 was a weekly workout. And we all loved it, because we knew that, to be good, it was all about the work. And believe me, it’s work doing 20x400. Good job, Panthers. Today workout – Monday 2/15/2010
February 14th, 2010 Welcome Back, Happy Valentines Day Today workout – Sunday 2/14/2010 February 13th, 2010 Nice day for running, warm an sunny.. Hope you all have a president day Weekend, and remember that we are having a sale at Heart and Sole Through Monday. Lots of Shoes at 30-50 dollars. Winter close are also on sale at 20% Off. Today workout – Saturday 2/13/2010 February 11th, 2010 Welcome back, I’m gonna go over some definitions. So sometimes you guys hear me mention words like “float”, “active recovery”, “pickups”, “strides.” I know a lot of you might know what these terms mean, but some of you who are reading this may not. Like Michael Brew.
We’ll continue with some of the terms later on. I don’ wanna overwhelm you too much. Today workout – Thursday 2/11/2010 February 10th, 2010 Welcome back, I believe it’s 9:17 at night. Or maybe it just feels like it’s 9:17 and it’s really 6:17. Must have been a long, hard day at the store. Really, it wasn’t that long, hard day at the store, as it was a long, hard day on my run. Wait. The run was short; it just felt long and hard. Since I’ve started this blog, what’s really cool about it, is I’ve reconnected with some oooold former athlete’s, who, after reading the blog, tell me they’ve started their own running regime again! Can the young pups keep up with me. No! Yes! No! Maybe? So. So, what is the truth? One of those people that I have reconnected with is Scott Pierce, a former Sonoma State runner of mine. Scott is also trying to get back into the master’s scene, as he tells me he’s trying to run 100 straight days in a row. Go Scott! Another one is Peter Egerton, former SRHS runner. He’s on the all-time Spring Lake cross country list, ranked in the top 30. Boys, (I mean not men, I’m the only true man here!), it’s good to see you out there again! (You’ll always be boys to me!) Okay, that’s it for the day. Today workout – Wednesday 2/10/2010 February 9th, 2010 Welcome back, Spent Wed-Thurs down in the OC, baby. OC being Orange County. While I was down there, I got to see parts of the Huntington Beach Marathon and Half-Marathon. Aladdin and I actually jumped in and ran two miles. The reason for this: it was the only way back to the place I was staying. And if I waited until the race was over I was gonna be stuck on the beach, which isn’t a bad place to be stuck, for another three hours until everybody passed. What was cool about watching the race, what I saw, was such a variety of people running. Big people, little people, blonde people, brunette people, fast people, not-so-fast people, people that Aladdin and I could pass during the run. All these people were sporting shoes of all kinds: Adidas, Nike, Saucony, Asics, Brooks, Pearl Izumi. While I was down there, I did a lot of leisure running. It was good to let my legs rest for a period of time, with some looong, sloooow, easy runs, as most of my runs were run with Aladdin. That’s it. Today workout – Tuesday 2/9/2010 February 4th, 2010 Welcome back, I’ll tell you what I did today. Not much. Today workout – Thursday 2/4/2010
February 3rd, 2010 Welcome back, Got to LA, drove from Fresno to LA, as I’ll be spending the week down in Huntington Beach. Within 15 minutes of arriving in LA I was out the door for a run. Legs were all cramped, had to get out and stretch them out. The LA canals have some great bike paths above them. You should try running on them. It’s really cool, the are marked every quarter mile. For the rest of the week, through Saturday, I’ve decided that if you can tell me the name of the groundhog that I mentioned in this blog, then come into the store and mention the name of said groundhog and you can get 20% off one item of winter gear. Today workout – Wednesday 2/3/2010
February 2nd, 2010 Welcome back, There was something I was trying to remember from my run this morning. O yea! Phil came out today! He’s a groundhog. Guess what? He saw his shadow. That means there’ll be six more weeks of winter weather. So keep out that winter gear. And if you don’t have any winter gear, where should you go? Duh! Heart and Sole! Today workout – Tuesday 2/2/2010 Note: May not be able to blog the rest of the week, depending on computer situation. Going to LA. Not sure if they have the internet down there, being out in the country and all.
February 1st, 2010 Welcome back, Today, I had a great conversation with Kim, who came in the store, and I realized that there are a lot of people out there doing group training. Which to me seems really cool. It seems that the running boom is definitely back. Hopefully barefoot running won’t kill it. I just want people to understand that although I don’t believe in barefoot running as the sole way to train, I do believe it can enhance one’s training if done correctly and in moderation. Something like maybe twice a week on a grass field as post-run strides. As I was talking to Kim, who is training with Kathy DuBay, and she was telling me about some of the interval training they are doing, and some of the other structured workouts they do, it seems to me that not only are people just running, but they are trying to push themselves and improve their running, taking it up a notch. Bam! AM run went well. Actually felt really good. Did a nice 5 miles with the third mile being the start of my 45 second pickups. I came through the mile in 6:40 and felt so good I extended it for another 400m, which I did in 90 (8:10 for 2,000m total). PM: The morning run went so well I decided to do the exact same workout for the afternoon run. Basically the same thing: 3rd mile I started my 45 second pickups, which brought me through the mile at 6:25, finishing the 2,000m in 7:58. Today workout – Monday 2/1/2010
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