The only way I can describe my recent trip to Toronto is as an experience, the CF Experience.
If there is book, sprinting article, or journal article written in English (or translated to English) on how to improve sprint performance, I have read it. After hundreds of hours of reading I can say this with confidence- you can read all you want without experience it is just words. As many of you, I’ve read everything Charlie has ever written. I read Speed Trap in two days and the same with the CFTS. The thing that stood out with Charlie’s work was it was in fact a system- The revelation that training and therapy were eternally intertwined. I had the opportunity to truly experience this during my trip to Toronto.
Physical changes with proper coaching, proper massage, and proper therapy can occur quite rapidly and quite dramatically. Drills and stretches (the Chalienator has to be experienced) that I thought were my enemy before I could get into position for were now my ally as my hip mobility is the best it has been in ten years. Once these changes occurred I did not have any endurance in sprint position as it is the first time in years I was in sprint position, an experience in itself. Ah yes, finally the experience of sprinting on top of the ground and not running on it. All of this happened in a mere week.
A special thanks to Charlie, Rupert, Dr. Prebeg, AJ (for the Playboy Golf party- a whole other story), Carey, and others for an incredible experience. Take the trip to the Holy Lands of the sprint world and have the CF Experience for yourself.
I hope to make it out to Canada within the next 6-8 months myself and have such an experience. I am based in Dublin, Ireland and plan to go and spend some time learning from the best.
Right now I’m just competing in local All-Comers meets. Some in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota area (80 miles away) and some in the Sioux City, IA area (I live in a Tri-State Area).
The meet I just competed in this June in Sioux City the results (Comparing Hand Held times from last year) have been incredible. I have dropped over .75 sec off my 100m times (with the same people timing as last year).
The first real meet will be the USATF Iowa Open and Masters Championships on June 25.
I have set the goal to improve my 100m at this meet on the same track from last year by 1 sec.
I am on track to meet this goal. This would not have been possible without the trip to Toronto. Exciting!
I’m the Coach/Masters Athlete and compete in the 30-34 age division. I turn 35 in December and go up to the 35-39 division.
Tommy just turned 27 yesterday and yes he did run 10.37 at the USA Trials in 2002 and got 7th place (Maurice Greene won in 9.88 and Tim in 9.89). His PR is 10.10 not me.
I’m making a comeback after a major car accident with many injuries.
No shit! I was amazed how quickly things improved when I was up there, especially considering the sorry condition I was in when I arrived. Between Monday and Saturday I literally became a new runner. The frustrating part about coming back home is not having pre-workout massage from Charlie. I can’t tell you what a difference that makes. Tom can back me up on this one.
It’s hard to explain. Like proper coaching and technique, you need to feel it to really understand what we’re talking about.
Getting the massage work from Charlie is good but also frustrating at the same time. On the one hand, you have a tactile/kinesthetic reference point as to what really effective massage feels like. On the other hand, it’s difficult trying to reproduce that effect with other massage therapists. And I’m just talking about a quick 10-15 min. pre-workout massage. I can’t even imagine what it was like getting deep work from Waldemar!
I think the problem with most massage therapists isn’t really their level of skill but their experience working with non-athletes. They simply don’t know what to do with athletic muscles to get them in an optimal state, because they’re not used to dealing with them. The biggest problem I have is getting them to go deep enough into the tissue to effectively loosen it. They’re always afraid they’ll hurt me until they realize that I can barely feel the softer stuff.
I agree with Tom 100%. I have been fortunate enough to train with Charlie two different times and plan on going again this fall. You will get world class coaching and therapy. I was also amazed at the talent level working out at York. Everytime I turned around there was a former Olympian running or training someone.
Flash gives a good summary. Most massage therapists are taught to relieve pain and have no idea as to how to increase performance as Flash has stated they don’t work on real athletes. The it hurts here then I rub here mentality.
I use the analogy all the time-
There are alot of mechanics that work on Chevys but its hard to find someone who can truly tune up a Ferrari.
?