Success Stories

Hi Catherina,

Just a quick note to say thank you for Saturday...I found the session really beneficial and enjoyable....I have been for two runs over the last few days and have focused on my alignment and while it will take me a while for it to come naturally I am determined to keep at it.
Thanks again
Aoife

Hi Catherina,
 
Just a quick note to thank you for the class last Saturday. I found the whole thing extremely beneficial and hope to build on this over the coming weeks and months. I'll certainly be recommending it to others. All going well I'd hope to take a refresher this time next year .

Best Regards,

Seamus

Catherina,
 
I really enjoyed the workshop last Saturday. While I had read the book and tried to put some of the concepts into practice, it was difficult to get a grasp of the proper techniques from the book (and I know that I had got some of the techniques wrong).
 
I compliment you on your instruction, you made us all very relaxed and encouraged us to get familiar with the various exercises and techniques. In particular, you kept the focus on a small number of elements which made it seem possible to achieve.  The two elements I found most enlightening were the video replay and the run in the park before lunch. It was also worthwhile to see what the others were doing - both right and wrong.
 
So overall, it was a very enjoyable day, enlighting on how I can improve my technique. It was also great to be able to pick 'your brains' on various aspects of Marathon running. I am now hoping to be able to put them into practice over the next few months. First test is tomorrow night, when I hit the road again for a few miles.
 
 
Thanks for an excellent Workshop (which will without doubt help me on the road to Paris), it was a pleasure to learn from an Athlete who has achieved so much.
 
Regards,
 
Pat

Just a quick note to say thanks for the workshop on Saturday and to let you know about the 10K race I took part in today

I focused on all the things I was taught at the workshop, posture, relaxing the ankles, lifting the heels, and constantly checked all the way round the course spotting tension and relaxing it. I felt great all the way round, it was never a slog, my calves were relaxed and on the home straight I had some left, so I just increased my lean and went for it, passing others who's form had all gone to pieces.

I ended up taking a massive 7min off my PB and for what felt like less effort than any other race, no aches and more importantly, no pain.

Thanks again,
Ian

First of all I'd like to say that I really enjoyed the session with you last Saturday week. I've been working on the posture and I find it's been a great help and my back has improved alot. I think I'm getting the hang of the technique for walking etc. All the best

Deirdre

Many thanks for your training. Myself and Richard really enjoyed it and found it very useful.

Linda

Just wanted to let you know that I finally did my 10K challenge last Saturday in Dun Shaughlin! Never thought I'd see the day but I got through it and my target time was 62 mins and I met that - the first time I did 10 min miles!!! Thanks to your training workshop Catherina, I ran the race with your voice in my head (!) telling me to lean into the hills and keep focusing on my "sweet spot" shoulders relaxed and lift the heels! etc. I also did three nervous rounds of your body looseners before the race as well! I have to say I still run uninjured and dare I say it might be slowly beginning to even enjoy it! I now plan to do the 5 miles in Phoenix park next Saturday. But, I do syill think I'll never pass 10K! My goal now is just to do it faster!

So thanks again Catherina your training really works and prevents soreness and injury and helps late comers like me to suffer on!

Hope your keeping well,

Máire

Thank you for your support! Every run gets easier and I just can't believe how much less of a toil running is for me. Brilliant :-)

Chat soon,

Jacqui

Just to let you know that I managed to complete the marathon yesterday in 3:45, just 5 minutes outside my target time of 3:40. Given the conditions together with an 11 minute first mile, I was very pleased with that. It was certainly very hot indeed. Nevertheless, I finished with a 7:30 last mile and felt very strong albeit rather tired.

A little aching today but nothing like previous marathons so, I think the Chi Running must be having an effect- and at 24 minutes faster than my time in Chicago, especially given the heat- then I am feeling very pleased.

Thank you very much for this EXCELLENT Chi-Running Workshop. Do you do private sessions too?
If yes, please let me know how much you charge. We will definitely stay in touch. Hopefully I can do the Certification in June 2007. Will see ... :-
Thanks again,
Regards,

I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming over and doing the Chi running workshop for us at the weekend. It was fantastic! i have heard from most of the other group members since and they all were delighted with what they learnt and are putting it into practice in their runs. A few live near enough to each other to get to run together every couple of months to help each other progress.

I have found my running easier and no knee ache after as well, even with downhills - focusing on the feet turning out thing there. It really works. My back has been good too, I am noticing increased stability with some of my weight training exercises to - the posture just comes into everything doesn't it!

So just to let you know it was great to meet you, and that everyone really enjoyed, and got a lot from, your workshop. Hopefully we will meet again at some point.

Firstly thank you very much for the session on Saturday. Enjoyed meeting you and listening to the extremely useful tips on chi-running and am looking forward to the second session already.

I ran on both Saturday evening (about 9 miles) and yesterday evening (15 miles) and tried to concentrate on using the new mechanics. I found the new mechanics much easier on my legs and felt much more relaxed entirely. One thing I discovered particularly on yesterday's run was that my mile splits were about 75 secs faster than I have been running for the past year or so. I had not intended taking splits on yesterday's
run but when I saw the first one I thought there might be something wrong with the watch so I time the second, third, fourth and fifth spilts and found that they were all much faster. Unfortunately my plantar fasciitis started to affect me in the later part of the run but I found that with the new foot strike that it was possible to continue running. I did further splits on mile 14 & 15 and while slower than the earlier miles (mostly because of the plantar fasciitis) they were still faster than I have been running. Is this improvement in pace to be expected? The one thing I was unsure about was how long my pelvis was staying in locked position and that
probably just takes lots of practise. Any suggestions for helping the plantar fasciitis?

Thanks a million for your time yesterday.

I found the whole session very useful, and have learnt a lot which I will now starting putting into place. It was great to meet you, sorry I had to dash off early but I had to get back to the children. I will be in contact letting you know how things are going.Off my first chi run and posture session now.

We both found the last "class" very useful on Thursday ... been out twice since and am working on the leaning. Thanks again for introducing us to
chirunning - as we said we wouldn't be running as well or even at all were it not for chi. So we will be keeping up the good work.

Thanks again for all your help ...