January 30th, 2010

Welcome,

This morning, I ran three miles to the dog park at a dog-like pace. I did this so I could loosen up for an afternoon interval session. The afternoon workout went pretty well. I did 2 sets of 5x300m with 100m/1minute active recovery, with 500m jog between sets. The first set I was trying to do 400-pace work of about 1:20, which is a 60 second 300m. My splits were between 56 and 58. Second set I wanted to increase the pace a little bit, and I was able to run between 55 and 57. After another 500m jog recovery, I decided to run one last 300m and open it up a little bit, finishing with a 48.

Tomorrow I plan on taking an easy run and going out and timing my protigi Alex Wolf-Root in a 2mile time trial. If all of you feel inclined to come on out and cheer Alex on, there will be coffee and (gluten-free) donuts. Which I will be eating. And there will be none for you.

Today workout  Saturday 1/30/2010

January 29th, 2010

Welcome back,

Hahmmmm, ohmmmmm, nice easy run of 5.2 miles this morning. Did my usual pickups on the third mile of 4x45 seconds, coming through the mile in 6:40. The reason I say coming through the mile is because I extended it to 2,000m, which added one extra 45 second pickup, for a total of 5. Will be doing no PM run; hoping to get in a quality track workout tomorrow, weather permitting.

Anybody up for another racing story? Well youre gonna get one anyway!

Remember the story about how I rabbitted for Seb Coe? Well I was paid to rabbit one other time. This time it was here in the states, for a gentleman named Sydney Maree. The meet was in Berkeley, and I was asked to do the pacing for a mile race. The pacing duties was to consist of 57-1:54-2:51 (thats it). Thats as far as I was gonna go! As a rabbit, your biggest fear is that, as you take off to the lead, and hit the correct pacing, that none of them will follow. I went out in 57, they went out in 61. I came through at 1:54, they came through at 2:01. I was looking like a fool, they gearing up to kick my butt. I could hear people yell from the stands Danny, steal the race! Steal the race! I wish I couldve. At the 800m mark, I realized that there was going to be no record today. And so at 800m I dropped out of my commitment to rabbit the field through at 2:51. Because I was looking like a fool, and it wasnt doing anybody any good. And the entire zoo had jumped on my back anyway. It was windy. The pace was way more difficult than it should have been. And nobody was taking the race as a serious attempt at a record.

I still got my carrots.

Thats good enough.

Today workout  Friday 1/29/2010

January 28th, 2010

Welcome back, blog time, Danny time, run time, dream time,

Listen! Listen to me! Listen to me good! Wear running shoes! After reading the article in this mornings paper entitled Who needs running shoes? I was a little bit on the furious side. The article, to me, was a little bit too sensational. I feel that the media is grabbing on to this whole idea that barefoot running is whats best for runners. I totally disagree. In the article, it was suggested that we would all benefit from not wearing anything that supported our foot. I have yet to see anything scientific written that even comes close to suggesting that running barefoot is better for you. We all here at Heart and Sole believe that a better solution is to correct your gait and your foot strike, to promote a softer and more efficient stride. And, THATS what most of the studies are implying. Enough for now, I need to cool down, and I dont mean by running.

Today workout  Thursday 1/28/2010

January 27th, 2010

Welcome back,

I had a niiice run this morning. Did my five miles with 4x30 second pickups. I couldnt resist. I had to time it. Ive gone a whole week without. Big withdrawal pains. 6:52.

On my morning run, a thought came to me (a rare occurrence). What makes someone want to run? Some of us do it for health, some do it money, some do it for social reasons, etc, and after pondering this for several minutes on my run, I figured it doesnt matter why you do it, and theres no wrong or right reason for why we run, the fact that we all share a common interest is great with me.

After consuming my sample of Pineapple Roctane Gu, I headed off for my run to the JC, which is about 1.5 miles. Once I got there I did 800m worth of stride the straights, float the turns, then went into a 400m with the idea of running 75 seconds. I came through the 200m in 35, which was a bit of a surprise, because it felt like I was going 75 second pace. In an instant, I changed from running 75 seconds to trying to break 70. Which means Id have to run 34 or faster (duh). I ended up with a nice 68 second negative split quarter. You do the math. I followed the 400m with another 800m of stride the straights, float the turns.

Today workout  Wednesday 1/27/2010

January 26th, 2010

Welcome back,

Blah Blah Blah. Thats all Ive got to say about my morning run. Well, wait a minute. I got a little bit more to say. I went out the door thinking that this would be no different than any other morning run that Ive had over the past three weeks. I started the run at my usual casual pace, knowing that Id pick up during the second half of the run. But no, not today. No strides. No feeling good. No picking up. Blah Blah Blah.

Ah, things can get better in a hurry. I went out with no expectations on my afternoon run. Id just go and see how I felt, and then make adjustments from there. Guess what? I started feeling good after the first mile. I had a thought (really?!) that I would see if I could try to increase each mile as I went along. I started the first mile at 8:03, second at 7:43, third at 7:02, fourth at 6:45, fifth at 6:25, and the last .8 I cruised back to the store. As you see, if you can just give yourself a chance, even though you may be feeling not so chipper going into your run, that sometimes they can just work their way into something positive. Be positive. It works. Im always positive.

Today workout  Tuesday 1/26/2010

January 25th, 2010

Welcome,

Did you notice I didnt say back? You know what I liked best about the last week and a half with all this rain? Is that it tests the mind and enhances the spirit. And tests your will. And conviction to running. And it gives me a good chance to bust the balls of some of those who come to the store just to run on the treadmill, instead of braving the weather, the rain, you know what Im talking about Gerald! I want to make it clear that we do hire some candy-asses at this store, Gerald. Enough bashing and teasing and poking fun at one of our own. I know hell be a good sport about it.

I got up this morning to another day of rain. I went out in the rain, Gerald, and ran 6 miles. The run felt quite refreshing, Gerald. As is customary, I did my 4x30 second strides within the third mile. When I got back to the house I had time to hop on the Pilates machine and get in a little extra work. This afternoon, once again it was raining during my 5 mile run, Gerald.

Speaking of Gerald, I asked him to go for a run with me this afternoon. And he came up with some candy-ass excuse, that he had no running clothes to deal with running in the rain. Did he have shoes? Did he have shorts? Did he have a shirt? Yes. So therefore, he had running clothes. O, yea, the shirt is optional. You dont necessarily need a shirt to run in the rain. Just gets wet. I didnt let Gerald know that I was going to get dressed in my half-tights, long-tights, t-shirt, arm-warmers, long-sleeve, beanie-cap, and night-life gloves. But I was running in the rain, Gerald.

Today workout  Monday1/25/2010

January 24th, 2010

Welcome back,

While on my morning run today (7 easy miles) it came across to me that that running is like being on a rollercoaster ride. It's gives me the thrill of the moment and most times I'm screaming with excitement, but yet there is this fear of the unknown that always awaits me. Just thought I'd share that with you.

Congrats to all the High School kids that ran yesterday and advanced to the California Indoor State meet. meet will be held in Fresno on Feb. 6th. Locals qualifying: Michelle Stone (Ursuline, pole vault), Reesey Byers (Santa Rosa, 3,200m), Brian King (Cardinal Newman, 3,200m), Spencer Hall (Casa Grande, 3,200m), Nick Spector (Sonoma, 3,200m), Jeremy Thompson (Maria Carrillo, long jump), Tyler Baker (Maria Carrillo, 550m), and Alissa Page (Montgomery, 100m and 200m).

Go Minnesota Vikings.

Today workout  Sunday 1/24/2010

January 23, 2010

Welcome back,

Quickly. Had a nice morning interval session with Carlos. We did a series of 800m repeats, six of em to be exact. We did this workout about three weeks ago, and this one was better. Better in time, and easier in effort.

But thats not badass. But who was badass? We all know Steve Prefontaine was badass. This is just one of many examples of how Badass Steve Prefontaine was. NCAA Championships, Pre ran the race with a foot bleeding so bad that he had to be helped from the track as he crossed the line. As he lay there with a puddle of blood around him, one of his competitors was quoted as saying You ran like that? You are crazy! But what he really meant is You are one badass dude!

Everybody have an enjoyable Sunday run. Ill talk to you later.

Today workout  Saturday 1/23/2010

January 22th, 2010

Welcome back,

I really enjoyed my morning run: nice and easy five miles. No strides. No strain. No pain. And a lot of gain. I was thinking, though, on my run, how excited I was about yesterdays workout. Not only was I able to increase each laps pace, but it was done in the pouring rain. And I didnt complain about it - out loud - even once. I even came back into the store with a smile on my face, telling the boys in the store that I kicked that workouts butt! But, did I really? Or did it kick my butt? Although I was proud of my workout, it did bring me back to some of my past workouts, and how my pace now is so much slower. Which is going to bring me to my badassary for the day.

Im gonna give you my five most badass workouts:

Remembering these workouts wore me out. Im done. That was my double for the day.

Today workout  Friday 1/22/2010

January 21th, 2010

Welcome back,

As I went out the door for my afternoon run, it was 38 degrees and rainy. How rainy? Real rainy. For the fourth day in a row, all of us runners have been fighting the rain. Im a little bit sick of it. I know its good for Sonoma County to fill the reservoirs, and Im all for that. But, come on! Cant it stop raining for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening during my runs?! I thought this was Gods country!

I took my afternoon run heading towards the JC trying to figure out what I would do once I got there. On the way over, it came to me, Id just try to run each lap on the track faster than the previous lap, for as long as I can. I started off at a modest pace of 1:45 and the proceeding splits went as follows: 1:41-1:38-1:35-1:32-1:28-1:26-1:18. I gotta admit, it felt great once I got done. Going out the door I thought this was going to be the run from hell. It just shows you that if you put your mind to it, a negative can turn into a positive. Its magic!

Heres a badass story from my Maria Carrillo High School coaching days: One of our runners, Alex Wolf-Root, a senior, the week of the Cross Country State Meet, on Monday came down really sick. He knew that he had to go to school all week so that he would be able to participate in the race due to school rules. Each day, the sickness just kept progressing further and further. The day before travelled down to Fresno, as our customary ritual, we ran the State Meet course and gathered as a team to do our pre race strides, and I could see that Alex wasnt feeling his usual self. As his energy was low, and if you know Alex Wolf-Root you know his energy is never low, Alex was trying to hide how sick he really was. He knew that if I knew how sick he was, I might not allow him to run in something he had worked towards for four, no three, maybe two-and-a-half, years.

As all the kids were up socializing, as most kids do when theyre let loose in a hotel, Alex decided to try to get to bed at a relatively early hour. After about two hours of trying to fall asleep, the halls remained quite active. Alex had had enough of that. He got up, went out into the hall to tell our team to quiet down so that he could get some much-needed rest. As Alex went out into the hall, he realized it wasnt our team (boy was I relived!), that it was the team in the room across the hall that was making all the noise. Alex burst into their room, and just went off, telling them all that he was sick, tired, and needed to get some rest, and quoted Some of actually us want to run fast tomorrow! As it turned out, he was talking to the team that ended up talking to the team that took 7th in the state meet in Division 1 (the biggest, best division).

The most badass part is how he was spitting up blood the morning of the race, and still had the guts to toe the line. It turned out that he actually ran faster than the majority of that other team and was our number one guy leading our team to a 12th place finish. Of course he continued spitting up blood after the race, and spitting up a lot of green stuff too. Eww.

Today workout  Thursday 1/21/2010

January 20th, 2010

Welcome back, Got up with all intentions of doing my morning run, but, unlike yesterday, where I braved the weather and went out and did my run, today I wimped. Not a total wimp, because I did go work out on my Pilates Reformer for 30 minutes. There was reason behind this decision, figuring that, with the store coming in, that our store would be slow today, and that I could use one of the two store treadmills for my morning run. My plan was to go for my normal 5 mile AM run, but I was so happy to be dry that I decided to run for an hour, which got me to the 7.8 mile mark. You know me, boredom, I made the treadmill go from an incline of 0 to 3.0 and Ive decided to take the afternoon off.

Todays Badass Story is coming from Uptown Kenny Brown. On Kennys 40th birthday his good buddy Erik Bohn signed him up for the Quadruple Dipsea. Kenny wasnt able to do big mileage because of a hamstring strain and I believe he got the strain from running with his Thursday night training group trying to catch up. Even though he wasnt prepared to run this length (28.4 mountainous miles), being the badass runner that Kenny is, there was no way he wasnt going to attempt this, even though his buddy, Erik Bohn-less, backed out.

From the beginning, Kenny knew it was going to be a long, long day. For those of you who dont know anything about the Dipsea course, one way is 7 miles over Mt. Tam. So the Quadruple Dipsea requires 9,000 ft of climbing. Im starting to think that this is not a badass run but a dumbass run (editors note: duh). After the 21 mile mark, Kenny was thinking about pulling out. But the Badass Dude that he is, he forged on, taking pictures along the way. Not so badass. Kenny completed the run in 6 hours, 15 minutes, and 59 seconds, placing 78th overall.

Badass, nay or yea? Please come in and let us know!

Today workout  Wednesday 1/20/2010

January 19th, 2010

Welcome back,

Ahhh, got up this morning, rain was coming down, and, as we all do, I questioned if I should skip the run or not. As a runner, and as a competing athlete, I knew what the answer had to be. Get out the door, and brave the elements. Im proud to announce that I got in my five miles and was not struck by lightning. Yesterday I mentioned that I was gonna talk about Rich Kimball, so now I will.

During my junior year (1974) I got to go watch the California State Track and Field Meet, where I got to witness one of the all-time most badass performances in high school history. Kimball, who was already becoming a legend amongst us high school runners, who had earlier in the year posted two 4:02 miles, was planning on doubling in both the 3,200m and 1,600m. The rumors were that Kimball had come down with a severe case of Plantar Fasciitis, and if any of you have had Plantar Fasciitis you know how painful it can be.

After watching a few laps of the 3,200m, it was quite clear that he was favoring the foot. You could see the pain on his face, and that he was gutting this race out to get himself a state title. It came down to a kickers race, and Kimball was able to prevail in 8:46, running his last lap in 63. As soon as he crossed the line, he went straight to the ground and his coach had to literally carry him off the field to the medical tent, where he stayed with his foot wrapped in ice until the start of the 1,600m.

So now the talk was if Kimball would come back and attempt the 1,600m. Most thought he would no-show. As the runners came down the track towards the starting line, everybody was trying to see if Kimball was among them. He walked to the starting line, with no warm-up, no strides, nothing. He stood on the starting line and we were all betting on what lap he would drop out. Nobody, I repeat nobody, thought he would finish. The gun went off, he took his customary position near the front, not wanting to give an inch to this class field of runners. We all watched closely and we could see with every step he was winching. We would all cheer wildly and were going nuts over this performance. We could not believe what we were seeing. With a lap to go he took to the front. Andy Clifford, who would go on to be a star runner at UC Berkeley, got right up on his shoulder. Four times, Clifford tried to go by. Four times, he was held off. With 50m to go, Clifford drew even, but thats the best he could muster. Kimball and Clifford leaned for the tape, and Kimball came away with a 0.1 second victory, 4:06.6 to 4:06.7. The entire stadium was going nuts. It was the most badass performance I have ever witnessed.

Remember, if you got any badass stories that you want to bring in and share with us, please stop by the store. We love badassary.

Today workout  Tuesday 1/19/2010

January 18th, 2010

Welcome back,

Im proud of myself. I got up this morning, it was raining, I thought about bagging the workout, but I decided to put on the rain gear and get out there and just do it. (The following was not a paid advertisement for Nike.) On the morning run, as usual, I did pickups on my third mile, but today I decided not to time my entire mile because I think I am getting too competitive within myself trying to go faster every day. It actually felt good being out in the rain, so instead of doing my normal 5.something miles I did 6.5. PM run again started out in the rain. Shortly after starting the run the rain stopped, so as in the morning, I increased the miles by 1, getting in 6.0. Not a bad day of mileage.

As I was debating whether to whether the weather (did I get the weather right?), my coworkers and I were discussing/arguing about badassary. My coworker, Alex, was telling me about Antonio Vega, who just won the USATF Half-Marathon National Championship. Why is that so cool (besides for the fact that he won a national championship)? Because he did the training for this half marathon entirely (except for three runs) on a treadmill. Our understanding is that he trains 120 miles a week. Let that sink in for a minute. So we decided that this is one Badass Runner. Now, weve decided to come up with a Badass Story for each day the rest of the week. Tomorrows Badass Story is going to be about a high school runner by the name of Rich Kimball, who in 1974 pulled off a California State Meet double in 1,600m/3,200m, but the Badass Story will be how he did it.

For the rest of the week, we invite you to drop by and share a Badass Story with us. If we deem it a badass enough story it will make this blog. We look forward to your stories.

Today workout  Monday 1/18/2010

January 17th, 2010

Welcome back,

Today was a relaxing day, as this is my one day off from the store. Today's run was an easy 7 miler, and the last mile was run with my dog Aladdin. I was a little sore from yesterday's workout. It was a exciting day for all us Viking fans, as our team kicked butt on those Cowboys (the cowboys being my brother's favorite team), and will be playing in the NFC Championship game next week. Go Vikings.

Hope all of you had a nice week of running.

January 16th, 2010

I got up this morning with all intentions of doing my workout, but I had a little bit of a knot in my leg, so I decided to take the dog for a walk and try to stretch it out for a little bit before trying to run on it. By the time I got done with the walk, it was too late to run so I had this great idea that Id just go down to the store and run as soon as I got there at 10am. Two hours later, after waiting on many a customer (which is a good thing!) I was able to sneak out to the JC for an interval workout. I went there with the idea of doing 10x300s with a 100m active recovery. But because my leg was still feeling a little knotty, and thats not naughty, I had to make an adjustment to the workout. I decided to run a two-mile and not start out too aggressively and see if the leg would warm up from lap to lap. My splits went 1:40-1:35-1:32-1:27 for a 6:14 first mile, then I purposefully slowed down the fifth lap so that I could start the same cut-down process over again. My second mile splits went 1:37-1:33-1:29-1:24, for a 6:03 second mile. The leg was feeling pretty good, so I decided to jog an 800m and then run a series of 200ms, with the idea of doing 4. I did 8. They ranged from 33-35. Cooled down two miles back to the store, and helped some more customers.

Today workout  Saturday 1/16/2010

January 15th, 2010

Okay, welcome back,

Bow-wow, my doggies sick. Aladdin (all of you who visit the store know that this is his store) has come down with an ear infection, because of bad fatheringhood. I forgot to give him his swimmers ear medicine after going into the swimming hole (aka Doyle Park Creek). The reason I am mentioning this is because I did have several customers come in and ask wheres Aladdin? I wonder, if when Im not here, if people come in and ask wheres Danny? And my perception is probably nope. (Editors note: nope.) On a good note, the morning run went well today. I shook things up a little bit; instead of doing my customary 30 second strides I went for 45 seconds. And, with less recovery. Ive decided that Im gonna keep with the pattern of doing double days Monday through Thursday, and single runs on Friday through Sunday. For now. Until I get bored.

Yesterday I talked about planning my racing schedule. Id like all of you to know that Ive decided to go back and run the Boston Indoor meet at Reggie Lewis Center, which is also the Masters Indoor National Championship. At this moment, subject to change, I plan on running both the 3,000m and the mile. I hope to get in a few all-comer meets before the Indoor Nationals at the end of March.

Thats all I got to say today.

Today workout  Friday 1/15/2010

January 14th, 2010

Welcome back!

Today I was starting to plan my racing schedule for this season. As I was planning this schedule, I started to think of the races ahead of me, and the races behind. Which brings me to an interesting story, you know the stories like Hans Christian Anderson used to tell. When I was a professional athlete running for Athletics West (Nikes club), I was over in Europe running in a meet in Hengelo, Holland. After the race, I was approached by the meet promoter for a meet in England, which would be run at Crystal Palace. What they wanted me to do was rabbit for Sebastian Coe in a 1,500m race. Of course, they paid me a tidy sum. I jumped at the chance of rabbiting for one of the greatest middle-distance runners ever. For three days, I was put up in one of the finest hotels in London, given basically a blank check for food and other luxuries. They told me that Peter Coe (Sebs dad and coach) would be approaching me on how hed like for me to rabbit the race. So for the next three days I did some nice training runs, got to visit all of London, and enjoy myself for free.

On the day of the race, I still havent heard from Peter Coe on how he would want me to run. Im now warming up, its one hour before the race; still no word from Peter Coe. Im now doing my strides 15 minutes before the race, and I stop to do one last minute stretch by putting my leg up on the rail and I see this figure walking towards me and I realize that it is Peter Coe. He comes up to me and asks me Are you Dan Aldridge? and I say Yes, and Im the rabbit for your son. What would you like for me to do? His exact words were I want you to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. I want to see where my sons fitness is. I thought to myself Is this man crazy?! but, I wasnt going to disappoint, and I was going to give it my best shot, and let the chips fall as they may.

Gun sounds, I take to the lead, we come through the 400m in 52, which, by the way, is way under current world record pace (about 55). At the 800m, were at 1:51, which was still under the current world record pace. My contract with the meet promoter was to take him through 1,000m, and thank goodness for that! As I reached the 1,000m mark, with very tight gluts and straining immensely, I stepped off the track, hands went to knees, head down, and gasping for breath. I slowly was able to raise my head to watch the finish of the race, and at the 1,200m mark Seb was feeling the same pain. He ended up not running anywhere close to his PR and faded in front of the home crowd to third place. Needless to say, the promoter wasnt happy, Sebs father wasnt happy, but I did what I was asked to do. I never heard from Peter or Seb Coe again. I found out later that his dad didnt tell him what I was going to do because he wanted to see how Seb would react. Only if we all had nice fathers like that.

Ready to go home, stores closing. Hope you enjoyed the story.

Today workout  Thursday 1/14/2010

January 13th, 2010

Welcome back!

Lets talk about why I train the way I do, and why you train the way you do. Its fun. If youve been following this blog youve probably noticed that in almost all my workouts there is some type of up-tempo segment of the training. The reason I do this is because I enjoy that type of training, and if you dont enjoy your training, you wont stay with it for a long period of time. By no means am I suggesting this is the way everybody should train, but for me its what works. Its what keeps my interest. Its what motivates me. Its whats fun. Another reason why I continually do pickups during my runs is that it reminds me to keep leg turnover and proper body mechanics. While typing this last line, I just met a new friend. Her name is Lauren. Good luck in your triathlon! I just want to make sure that everybody understands that this is the way I train, and that this is not the way everybody else should train. You need to know what works for you and continue to do it. And if it doesnt work, stop doing it and move on to something else. I thought about this on my morning run, as I was starting my 30 second pickups, that I wonder if people are reading my blog and asking themselves Why is this nut sprinting on a daily basis?

Today workout  Wednesday 1/13/2010

January 12th, 2010

Welcome back!

Another wonderful day of running! I want to just spray some kudos to one up-and-coming runner and to one not-so-over-the-hill runner. Keep an eye on this young starlet, Rylee Bowen (10). Over the last several months her name has kept popping up in results. How about a 9th place overall and first female overall, regardless of age, in the Run to Feed the Hungry? In the Resolution Run 5k, she was the third female overall, and the fastest all-time girl under 12 years old. And then back in December, at the USATF Junior Olympics, she took 10th in the Bantam division (girls born in 1999-2000). This compares to the Julia Stampss, Trina Coxs, Jenny Aldridges, and Jacque Taylors of past Santa Rosa Express fame. Rylee is the daughter of Nika Bowen (former Horn), who stared at Santa Rosa HS and was one of the first great female runners out of the Redwood Empire.

The other runner that I want to mention is Clinton Stevens (36), who over the past year has been improving through the local ranks. In his most recent race, the Resolution Run, Clinton placed 5th in 17:21, and became the 6th fastest in the 35-39 year old age group. Back in October at the Wine Country Marathon, Clinton ran 3:27:48.7, placing 14th overall and 2nd (to the overall winner) in his age group. He achieved this improvement by putting in some quality runs. Just last week, Clinton put in two 20 mile efforts, and a couple of speed sessions. Keep up the training Clinton.

Today I had two pretty good runs. Afternoon session was 5.2mi run with a very quick third mile. We (Clinton and I) covered that third mile in 5:30. What was really exciting was the way we ran it, negative splitting (like we talked about in this blog before). The first half was in 2:52, closing the second half in 2:38. Clinton informed me after the run that this was the fastest training-mile that he had ever run.

Today workout  Tuesday 1/12/2010

January 11th, 2010

Welcome back,

It dawned on me, during my morning run, when in my customary manner, I was picking up the pace for a set distance, that the pace I was running at right then (6:00minute/mile pace for 2,000m) was a pace that I used to run for 10 miles, every morning, in my Athletics West days. Needless to say, it was a little discouraging. My goal is to make 6minute pace feel like it once did, easy and relaxed. Now I know I wont be able to do this on a daily basis, and I do have a limited window because of age, but it would be nice for it to happen within the next two or three months.

My plan for the year is to average 50 miles per week for the entire year. This is about half of what I was running per week in my peak years, which consistently consisted of 100+ mile weeks. I dont know if this makes any sense, but I figure if I can do 50 miles per week, and get back to some quality workouts, then it will equate to running a sub-5 minute mile. Because at 100 miles per week, I could run a sub-4 minute mile. Doesnt that make sense to everybody? Welcome to Dannys World

Today workout  Monday 1/11/2010

January 10th, 2010

Welcome back,

Congratulations to Alex Wolf-Root (Heart and Sole staff) for placing 5th today in the Cal 10. Alex's time was 54:35. My run today was not of the same quality, as I just went for a whimpy 8 miler. My weekly mileage was good for 61.2 miles. I was pleased with the week's worth of running and look forward to the coming weeks of training.

That's it for today.

January 9th, 2010

Welcome back,

I loooooove the track! If youre wondering why there are that many os in love, its because thats the number of 800m repeats I ran today. I met one of my ex-Sonoma State runners, Carlos Castelo, for a workout of six times 800m. It was so much fun getting the track juices flowing, as we progressively increased the pace of each interval to a fantastic conclusion. We started the first 800m at 2:57, and progressed down to 2:38. Each 800m was followed by a 200m jog in about 90 seconds. I would encourage anyone that is serious about achieving goals to get on the track for an occasional interval session. This is the best way to figure out pacing and is a great way to progress towards a PR performance. My belief is that track interval training is more valuable for the 5k and 10k training, than it is for say a half or full marathoner. If you are interested in some good half or full marathon training come into the store to see Downtown Kenny Brown (who has since moved uptown).

Thats all I want to write for today. Tired from the intervals.

Today workout  Saturday 1/9/2010

P.S. Check out this team that is shooting for my Valley Ford all-time team record: Jonathan Peck (SRHS, 2009 NBL 1,600m JV Champ), Alex Wolf-Root (ex-MCHS, ex-UCD, 2010 World Leader Eggnog Mile), Reesey Byers (SRHS, fastest Redwood Empire junior 3,200m runner ever and second all-time [9:06.93]), Erik Olson (Novato HS, sub-9 minute 2miler). Theyre not gonna do it. Its our record. (Current, and future, recordholders are Mike Stone, Ty Strange, Erik Walker, and me.)

January 8th, 2010

Welcome back,

Im tired. After running four straight days of double days, putting in 10 miles a day, Ive decided that this afternoon my body needed to have a rest period. Although Im not running, I will go home and work on my Pilates Reformer, which I periodically do two to three times a week as a supplement to my runs. I used to count this as part of my mileage, in 2009, but I got harassed by one of my coworkers that this couldnt possibly count as miles run. Doesnt mean its not useful, it just means dont put it as running miles in the log book. So sad. Ive decided that for 2010 I am going to increase my water consumption, as Im trying to become more hydrated. I was told by a professional that the human body (not to be confused with the body of a dog) needs to consume a large quantity of water daily. Roughly, the formula is, divide your weight in pounds in half, and drink that much in ounces. (ie: 160 pounds --> 80 ounces water). Im hoping my adherence to this formula reduces the amount of muscle soreness, strains, and pulls that Ive been having over the past couple years.

Ive also changed my diet a little bit, by going to a gluten-free diet to help with some stomach ailments (bad gas) and allergies. Its not helped the smell in the bathroom, so say my coworkers. Although Ive never been one for a healthy diet, as I like chocolate, sweets, etc, I will be continuously working on the diet as well, so that I can shed a few pounds. In my heyday I had a racing weight of 125-130. Im currently at 165 pounds, and I hope to get down to between 150 and 155. I have come a long way from my dough boy stage (the one my son is currently in) of two years ago, when I weighed in at 180. Too much coaching, not enough running (although I enjoyed my time coaching).

As you can see from the last several paragraphs, Im prepared to do the things that it takes to get to a very high level in the sport of running.

Cheers for now, talk to you tomorrow,

Danny

Today workout  Friday 1/8/2010

January 7th, 2010

Welcome back,

So all Im going to do is talk about goal setting. Set your goals high, put yourself on a journey to achieve that goal, never give up on yourself, and youll be a better runner for it. 100% of people who never set a goal never reach that goal.

Thats all for the day.

Today workout  Thursday 1/7/2010

January 6th, 2010

Welcome back,

Okay, um, lets see! Yesterday I talked about the importance of pacing in your races. Hopefully you learned from my example, that if you dont pace right, bad things can happen. From all my past experiences and past races, I found that whenever I paced the race right, I performed the best. All my prs came from either even splits or negative splits. I believe most of the world records are done in the same manner; even splits or negative splits. Thats why those guys look so fresh at the finish, because theyve mastered the art of pacing. If you fail to pace correctly, and you go out like a bat out of hell, youll most likely come in looking slow and ugly. I remember my PR 1,500m where I ran 60, 60, 60, 38 (which is about 54 second 400m pace), and in HS when I ran my PR 800m when I ran 1:49, I came through in 54.5, and you can do the math. Im a firm believer that all of us need to do workouts that emphasis correct pacing and negative splitting so that we can all continue to get what we strive for  those continuing PRs. Pacing in life, is the key.

Today workout  Wednesday 1/6/2010

Talk to you tomorrow,

Danny

And dont bury yourself with bad pacing!

Or bad humor...

January 5th, 2010

Welcome back,

Yesterday I got a phone call from Bruce Meadows from the Press Democrat. On March 5th Im getting inducted into the Santa Rosa Junior College Hall of Fame. It was nice talking with him about my days at the JC. It brought back some memories, one of which was a 1,500m race that I ran during the Conference Championships in 1977. I believe you can learn something from every race that you run; the lesson learned during this run is that pacing is very important part of racing...

As I was eager to go after the 1,500m JC national record that day, my enthusiasm got the best of me as I opened up my first 400m at 55 seconds (which is under World Record pace). Coming around the first turn hearing 5152 my thought was simply Oh shit! I ended up coming through the 800m at 1:55, the 1,200m at 3:05, and finished at 3:47-3:48. Not bad, but not smart. Upon finishing, and picking myself up off the ground, I was taken to the training room and was given an oxygen mask so that I could attempt to run my next race, which would have been the 800m. As I came out to the track--and my eyes were still rolling in the back of my head--coach pulled me from the 800m and told me to get ready for the 4x400m relay. Although Ive run 3:38 in the 1,500m, I never went out that fast again. Well, except this one time, when I rabbited for this guy named Seb Coe

The lesson learned, for all you young guys, is to make sure you pace yourself in all your races.

Today workout  Tuesday 1/5/2010

January 4th, 2010

Welcome Back,

Hey everyone, my daughter Jenny (age 25) just got engaged. For those of you who dont know anything about her, she is the oldest of my two kids; Ryan (age 21) is the other one. Both of them ran for me at Maria Carrillo High. Jenny ran 4:49 in the 1600 and won a State track title. Ryan was our League Cross Country Champion.

Today Im going to take you into my world of training. My training is revolved around running fast, period. I love to test my body and enjoy the feeling of running, fast. I hope to get back to some of the same type of workout that I did while running for Nike and Athletics West. Although I know that it wont be possible to reach the mileage (100+mpw) or times of the past, I believe it is possible to bring the same desire and intensity to the workouts. For example: I use to run 10 x 400 @ 57-59 with a 1:00 rest. Once I could achieve these times, along with all the other training during the week, then I felt ready to break 4:00 in the mile. Im thinking if I can get back to running the 10 x 400 @ 70-74 with a 1:00 rest, then Ill be able to break the 5:00 mark. Each year since I have turned 50 (now 53), the goal has to break 5:00 in the mile, along with running a fast 800. Each of the past 3 years I have come down with injuries that have slowed my progress towards those goals. In the past 3 years I have run 4:58 and 5:01, but that is not good enough. If I stay healthy I will run faster, much faster. Goal: 4:45

My weekly training goals: 50-70 miles a week for the next 8 weeks.

Today workout  Monday 1/4/2010

Enjoy your runs.

Danny

January 3rd, 2010

Hello Everyone, Welcome Back

First, hope everyone had a nice run today, and if you didn't do your run, then get off this page and go for your run. Run first, computer time second. No whimps on my blog.

Here are some race tidbits for you. On January 1st the Empire Runners had their 5k Resolution Run. It started at Montgomery High with about 200 runners turning out for this year's event. It was nice to see that Cathy DuBay, the women's winner, is healthy as she is coming back from her fight with cancer. Way to go Cathy, we are all excited with your progress! The overall men's winner was Reesey Beyers of Santa Rosa High School, who was our 2009 Heart and Sole/Saucony Runner of the Year. Getting 2nd in the men's race was recent UC Davis grad and H&S employee Alex Wolf-Root.

Another event that happened on the 1st was the 1st Annual Redwood Empire Eggnog Mile. It works like this: you must consume a 12oz cup of eggnog, then run 400 meters; you do this 4 time,s making it a total run of 1 mile (and yes, they started at the mile, not 1,600m, start line). At the end you would have consumed 48oz of eggnog. Just so you know 48oz of eggnog has just over 3000 calories. The race had 20 runners, and the winner was Alex Wolf Root in 5:35.9. Yes, this is the same Alex who earlier in the day got second in the Resolution Run. Craziness, but you got to love it. And how about Jacque Taylor (another Heart and Sole/Saucony Runner of the Year) showing up and running the ladies' race. This is one of the best high school distance runners in the country (she won the 2009 California D2 State Cross Country Championships). How cool is that.

Tomorrow I'll start to show you my daily training log.

Now, I'll finish up with my Bio from yesterday. What I'll give you today are my all-time best times, and then I'll give you some of my best races and awards on another day. So here are some of my PR's - can't remember all the 10ths, but they are close.

Bye for now.

Danny

Heart & Sole Sports

Masters runner (53) - running fast is what I do.

January 2nd, 2010

Welcome back

As I mentioned yesterday, today I was going to give you a personal bio of myself, along with some goals for 2010. I was born in Michigan, at the age of three moved to Petaluma, California.

As a single mother, my mom raised my younger brother and me. We moved around Petaluma throughout my early years, attending several different elementary schools. I was an active kid, playing many different sports, and was a cub scout. I had a great child hood. My mom gave me freedom to try new things and not to be afraid of failure, which would serve me well in my running years.

Each day on the Blog, Ill reveal a little bit of personal info like I did above, just so you get to know me a little better, but you will need to come back to find more about me. There is a good story here.

Here is a sample of my running Bio  more to come

High School - Petaluma

College  USC  Santa Rosa JC  Cal Poly SLO

Tomorrow Ill give you my best all-time PRs from 800 through the Marathon, and yes, the running goals are coming.

Run with no fear, and remember the passion from within.

Danny

January 1st, 2010

Hello to everyone,

Today is January 1st and this is the start of my Blog. On encouragement from my staff at Heart & Sole Sports I've decided to talk about my training and thoughts on a daily basis. Through out 2010 I will be bringing you into my world of training and thought. Call it Danny's World! If this is something that you find fascinating and interesting, then come back each day and join me in my journey to become one of the best masters runner in the world. I have set specific goals for myself which I will share with you tomorrow. Also tomorrow, I will give you a bio of my running background. You know, all the goods, like PR's and running acomplishments. Then on January 4th I'll start the daily posting of my training.

Danny Aldridge

Masters runner

Heart & Sole Sports