Chapter 50

"Good boy, Su Xiaoyu, are you really going to combine events?"

After more than two months of winter training in the national team, the players who trained together in the national team are now familiar with each other. The one talking to Su Yu was Zhan Youming, a player in the next 200-meter group. He is also the strongest male 200-meter player in the national team.

In the 2017 season, Zhan Youming significantly refreshed the domestic men's 200m record with a time of 20.28 seconds. He is currently the undisputed strongest athlete in the 200m event in China and even in Asia.

In terms of physical condition, Zhan Youming has a height, weight and Quetelet index similar to those of the world's top 200-meter athletes, as well as efficient metabolic activity and excellent recovery ability.

With these basic conditions, Zhan Youming also has excellent stride length and stride frequency capabilities, and has made in-depth research on the special techniques of 200 meters. It can be said that the domestic 200-meter results in recent years are all supported by Zhan Youming alone. Apart from him, there are currently no other players in the country who can run 200 meters within 20.60 seconds.

According to the original plan, Zhan Youming should have gone to the national team's overseas training base for winter training this season. However, because he suffered a minor injury at the end of the season, although the problem was not serious, the national team considered it and decided to temporarily keep Zhan Youming in the country. After confirming that his injury has recovered, he will be sent abroad for further training.

Although Zhan Youming was injured during this period, his injury was in his leg, so he still came to the team to participate in some training items that would not affect his injury recovery in order to maintain his physical fitness.

Perhaps due to physical reasons, the time arrangements of Zhan Youming's recovery training and some of Su Yu's training items were quite close, so the two of them actually became somewhat familiar with each other during this period.

Especially after Zhan Youming noticed Su Yu's 200-meter ability, occasionally when Su Yu was training, he would chat with Su Yu and tell him about his 200-meter experience.

Su Yu is a person who is willing to listen to other people's experiences. He does not think that theoretical knowledge is absolutely above everything else. In fact, Pei Dingshan also thinks so - an athlete who can run top results in Asia, his accumulated experience is not inferior to that of a coach with rich theoretical experience.

In short, during this period of time, Zhan Youming inexplicably became familiar with him, and took advantage of Pei Dingshan's absence to instill in him a lot of "200-meter tips", and of course, some brainwashing output of "200-meter running is really good".

After observing for a period of time, Zhan Youming really felt that Su Yu had great potential in the 200-meter race. Zheng Sheng also talked to him alone later, and the two of them analyzed Su Yu's 200-meter ability together. In the end, they both felt that such a good seedling should not be given away to only the 100-meter runners! (?)

To use the words of Zhan Youming - Su Yu is exactly 10 years younger than me. In a few years, when I can no longer run, Su Yu will have just reached adulthood.

What is perfect echelon construction?

What is the perfect reserve talent?

It’s him!

Of course, although Zhan Youming thought so in his heart, he did not say it so directly to Su Yu - isn't it? When he heard the 100m and 200m test list announced by Sun Gaoshu, he just came over with a smile and joked with Su Yu.

As for Su Yu, in fact, before the test match list was officially announced, Pei Yongsheng and Sun Gaoshu had already asked Su Yu's opinion through Pei Dingshan - is there any problem in participating in both the 100m and 200m test matches at the same time?

Su Yu didn't hesitate at all.

He is willing to take part in more challenges within the scope of his ability. He will try his best in the 100-meter test match. The 200-meter team test match will be his first 200-meter event, which he also looks forward to.

***

Since it was just an internal test match, there wasn't actually much to prepare. The test match was announced the day before, and we took some time out of our training schedule the next day to start the test.

Due to this type of test, athletes have basically no time to adjust their condition before the game, and the training progress and intensity of different athletes are inconsistent, so it is actually difficult to balance the conditions of the athletes with each other. But this is not a big problem, after all, it is not about pursuing the athletes' extreme results.

The next afternoon, after the athletes finished their lunch break, the assistant coaches and staff of the sprint team came to help clear the 100-meter and 200-meter tracks in the indoor training ground.

Since the jumping group and the sprinting group actually share an indoor training ground, the training of the jumping group was also restricted after the staff cleared the 100-meter and 200-meter tracks. Anyway, an intra-team competition does not take much time, so the athletes in the jumping group now gathered in groups of three or four, found their respective 'best viewing seats' on the side and began to watch the excitement.

If Su Yu is the most eye-catching young talent in the sprinting event during this winter training, then in the jumping event, this name should be replaced by Jiang Yuan.

During this winter training, both Gao Xu in the long jump and the high jump athletes have witnessed the strength of the 14-year-old Jiang Yuan. In daily communication, everyone also knows that Jiang Yuan and Su Yu from the next door sprint group are both athletes from the S Province Sports Team, and they are childhood brothers with a very good relationship.

Gao Xu looked at Su Yu who was warming up in the 100-meter test preparation area, shook his head, and said to Jiang Yuan: "What's wrong with your brother? He has been training for more than two months, but he doesn't look any stronger."

Jiang Yuan was aware of Su Yu's physical condition: "Xiao Yu's physical condition has improved a lot."

Gao Xu glanced at Su Yu not far away, and then at Jiang Yuan beside him, and couldn't help muttering in his heart - with this physique, if he wasn't so small, I would have thought he was a member of the jumping group.

Although athletes in the jumping event group pursue height, their bodies are slender and their muscle groups are not trained as vigorously as those of sprinters.

From this aspect, Su Yu's physical condition is indeed different from that of regular athletes in the sprint group.

However, as one of the top athletes in domestic track and field events, Gao Xu also understands that sometimes an athlete's outward appearance is not the only criterion for judging whether he or she has potential in a certain event. Appearance conditions can be used as a reference, but they are not absolute and unique.

Just as I was thinking this, on the 100-meter track in front of me, the women's 100-meter runners had already entered the field and started the test first.

Speaking of which, during this winter training, the coaches of the women's team were also worried about the list of qualified athletes for next year's World Youth Championships. However, the reason for the women's team's worries was different from that of the men's team - at least the 100-meter coaches were worried about which two athletes to send to compete in Tampere, Finland.

After all, unlike the men's 100m where only Su Yu and Ye Minghao have met the public standard, in the 2017 season, a total of five athletes in the women's group have run times under 11.90 seconds, meeting the standard for the women's 100m event at the World Youth Championships.

And among these athletes, there is also a regular player of the national team, Guo Minzhen, who is only 19 years old this year. She is also an outstanding multi-sport athlete with good results in both 100 meters and 200 meters. If we only consider the World Youth Championships, Guo Minzhen alone can take up one place each in 100 meters and 200 meters.

But in reality, these coaches cannot simply decide the roster in such a simple and crude way.

In short, both the women's and men's national track and field teams have troubles with the qualifying list for the World Youth Championships, but the directions of the two teams' worries are not quite the same.

Precisely because of the fierce competition for places in the Women's World Youth Championship, even though this is just an intra-team test match, the women's team players are eager to try, and obviously have no intention of treating this match as a simple intra-team match.

On the side, the coaches of the women's group were also watching the competition intently, each holding their own coaching board in their hands, seemingly preparing to record the performance of the players in this game for subsequent judging.

The people present did not have to wait long before the assistant coach in charge of officiating gave the order to 'get ready'. After the athletes quickly stepped onto the starting blocks, the order to 'get set' and the bang of the starting gun rang out one after another - the women's 100-meter team test race started first!

The female athletes obviously tried their best in this test match. Even those who fell behind at the starting stage did not give up the fight for victory. When the athletes finally crossed the finish line, the national team players present gave the girls of the women's team warm applause without hesitation.

The winner of the first round of the women's 100m test was Guo Minzhen, a regular player of the national team.

The coaches of the women's team were both pleased and a little worried. After all, the remaining players were of similar strength, and combined with their daily training situations, it was still difficult to draw a final conclusion for the time being.

In the end, the coaches of the women's team could only put the 100-meter test results aside for the time being, and wait for the 200-meter test results to come out later before making a decision based on the situation.

After the women's 100-meter test, the men's sprinters also came to the starting line. On the track, in addition to Su Yu, Ye Minghao and Feng Xiaofeng who were in the trial, there were four players selected from the national team. However, the four players selected from the national team were not the strongest lineup of the national team's men's 100 meters. Zheng Tianxi, the number one in the national team's men's 100 meters and the first person in the country to break the ten-second 100-meter barrier, is currently training at the national team's overseas training base.

However, even though it is not the strongest lineup, the strength of the four national team men's 100m regular athletes present is already very impressive.

It can be said that the domestic athletes who can run less than 10.30 seconds in the men's 100m event, as well as the athletes who have the hope of breaking 10.30 seconds in the future, have basically gathered here.

Before the starting line, compared with previous competitions, Su Yu did not seem to have the intense heartbeat he had before every competition before this men's 100-meter test.

Looking at the track in front of him, Su Yu could clearly feel that he was not as excited as before.

At this moment, the theory that Pei Dingshan had told him before flashed through his mind - every athlete's competitive state cannot be full and high forever. So far, because you have just started to get involved in sprint competitions, you can have full enthusiasm in every competition and challenge, but you need to know that as the number of competitions increases and as you learn more about the project...

Your passion for every game will never remain at its peak.

This is why coaches need to make annual competition and training plans for players. Coaches need to adjust the players' best competitive state throughout the year to match the competition cycle as much as possible through planning different training and competitions for players, such as training-small competitions-training-small competitions-big competitions and similar plans.

These are all theories that Su Yu has learned and understood, but before today, Su Yu has never experienced a drop in his competitive enthusiasm during a game... or maybe it should be said to be a drop. He is also looking forward to the game in front of him, but Su Yu can clearly feel that he does not feel as nervous, stressed and excited about the game as in the past.

Is it because you know it’s just a Test match?

However, his opponents include four top domestic 100m athletes, which is definitely a challenge for him.

Or is it because I have begun to lose my passion for sprinting?

Su Yu asked himself this question, and quickly got the answer from his determination and expectation for sprinting.

No, neither.

At this moment, Su Yu subconsciously turned his head to look at Pei Dingshan who was standing by the track watching the race. Since he embarked on the road of sprinting, no matter what unknown questions he had about technology and training, Pei Dingshan was able to give him accurate answers. This made him unknowingly go from being resistant to Pei Dingshan at first to having a certain trust and dependence on Pei Dingshan now.

Beside the track, Pei Dingshan also noticed that before the start of this race, Su Yu's condition was not like before, where he was unable to devote 100% of his concentration to preparations.

Pei Dingshan read some hesitation and confusion from Su Yu's expressionless face.

In just a moment, in a flash, Pei Dingshan breathed a sigh of relief - he understood, understood what kind of problem Su Yu encountered.

Although such a situation should be a trouble for Su Yu, Pei Dingshan breathed a sigh of relief at this moment, and at the same time, he had new expectations for Su Yu's next performance.

This feeling of relief and anticipation was not because Pei Dingshan wanted to see Su Yu embarrassed or for any other reason.

This expectation is precisely because Pei Dingshan has higher and deeper expectations for Su Yu.

The reason for saying this is because Pei Dingshan knows very well that up to now, almost every one of Su Yu's competitions has broken his past records, and Su Yu has invested almost all of his enthusiasm in every one of his competitions.

This is certainly a good performance.

But what Pei Dingshan understood more clearly was that this kind of total commitment and continuous, crazy progress could not be sustained for a long time.

For an athlete, long and boring training, repeated adjustments and adaptations for certain technical details and possibilities, and constant attempts to sprint to break through a certain performance node - these are the norm for a true athlete.

In the long training and competition life, it is impossible for athletes to maintain 100% enthusiasm for every game forever, but as a qualified athlete, as an athlete capable of winning glory for the country, then in the competition where they lack enthusiasm, at least they should devote all their attention and keep their results above a baseline. This is an indispensable ability for an excellent athlete.

Pei Dingshan understood.

For someone like Su Yu who has extraordinary talent - and even this talent is not limited to sprinting, the biggest test for him is whether he can adapt to the rhythm of the competition and long-term boring training.

And now.

After accompanying Su Yu for nearly half a year, Pei Dingshan finally waited for Su Yu's enthusiasm for the game to temporarily wane - or in other words, he finally waited for the moment when Su Yu's competitive state was not so full.

On the side, Pei Yongsheng and Sun Gaoshu, who were also watching the game, seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with Su Yu's condition.

After taking a look at his nephew's expression, Pei Yongsheng had a rough idea in his mind - this was probably the first step in Pei Dingshan's training of Su Yu in competitive mentality.

Looking at Su Yu, who subconsciously looked at him for help behind the starting line, Pei Dingshan glanced in Su Yu's direction and made a gesture to him that there was no problem.

——Calm down and run seriously.

- Even if you are not that passionate about this game, you can still devote your attention to it, and the skills you have honed through thousands of training sessions are still in your hands.

——Then, master your skills and focus on the game.

——This game may not make you as excited as in the past, but you can still complete it with your own strength!

Sun Gaoshu, who was standing next to him, was a little worried about Su Yu's condition, but he saw that Pei Dingshan only made such a simple gesture to Su Yu.

Sun Gaoshu:?

Sun Gaoshu was not at ease and whispered to Pei Yongsheng: "Coach Pei, Dingshan just made a gesture to Su Yu... Will this work?"

Pei Yongsheng was not sure if this would work at first, but when he turned around, he saw Su Yu seemed to take a deep breath, and then squatted on the starting block attentively at the referee's command of "Get ready".

Pei Yongsheng: ...

At least for now, it seems that there is nothing wrong with Su Yu's condition?

After Su Yu squatted on the starting blocks and stretched out his hands to support himself in front of the starting line, Su Yu, who did not hear his own pounding heartbeat this time when he started, suddenly felt that - indeed, there seemed to be no problem with his calm state of mind for the race.

After all, he has been accustomed to being calm and focused since he was a child.

Even without the anticipation for the game brought by the high competitive state, he would still calmly and attentively wait for every instruction from the referee.

Su Yu even felt vaguely at this moment that his current state seemed to be more conducive to controlling his limbs and technical movements. His mind was clearer in this state than in the past when his competitive state was high.

If the other contestants around knew what Su Yu was thinking at the moment, they would probably fall into collective silence.

After all, in the general concept of most players, excellent competitive state is often equivalent to excellent competition results, and a low state period is usually equivalent to the low period of players' performance.

So - when one's competitive form is at its lowest, can anyone really achieve an ideal result purely based on their own technical ability?

The players around him didn't know Su Yu's current condition. They were also concentrating on their own pre-match preparations.

Especially Ye Minghao and Feng Xiaofeng from the trial team.

Although the two of them are teammates in the G Province team, they are undoubtedly also each other's biggest rivals in the national team trial team.

Because up to now, Su Yu has reached the threshold of 10.35 seconds in daily training, while the results of the other two of them are still outside the door of 10.40 seconds.

The two players' current achievements and performances are comparable, but there are only two places available in each event at the World Youth Championships.

In other words, if one of the places has been secured by Su Yu, the two of them will be competitors for the other place.

No one wants to give up, and everyone wants to qualify for the World Youth Championship.

Therefore, in today's test match, Ye Minghao and Feng Xiaofeng had a long-lost strong expectation of winning or losing. Compared with Su Yu, whose competitive state seemed to have fallen to the bottom, Ye Minghao and Feng Xiaofeng's competitive state today was quite outstanding.

As for the other four regular players of the national team, Gao Tianwu and others understood that they were not the protagonists in this team test match, but Gao Tianwu and others did not want to lose to Su Yu, Ye Minghao and Feng Xiaofeng, who were young players in their teens.

For a moment, this test match seemed to be filled with smoke of war, and Su Yu was the only one who remained calm among everyone.

In this strange atmosphere, the referee gave a new instruction: "Ready."

After all the contestants raised their hips, pushed their front and back legs, and bent their knees to stabilize, the starting gun sounded with a bang - the team test competition for the men's 100-meter group officially began!

Even though it was just an internal test match, the national team's training ground was fully equipped with all kinds of equipment.

At this moment, coaches Pei Dingshan, Pei Yongsheng and Sun Gaoshu were standing next to the athletes' starting reaction time data. Sun Gaoshu was originally a little worried about Su Yu's condition just now, but after looking down at Su Yu's starting reaction time, he fell silent.

0.125 sec.

Okay, it's okay.

With this reaction at the start, if you tell other contestants that Su Yu is not in good shape today, the other contestants will definitely jump up and beat you!

In fact, Sun Gaoshu watched Su Yu's entire state of starting explosion and acceleration in the first 30 meters of the competition, from the forward leaning angle of the body in the starting explosion stage to the gradual raising of the body during the acceleration process.

The connection is perfect and smooth.

To be honest, considering Su Yu's current condition, if Su Yu is in a bad competitive state, then Sun Gaoshu really wants to hit him.

Not only that, Sun Gaoshu even felt that Su Yu's technical connection in today's game seemed to be more delicate than his previous performance.

It’s not that Su Yu’s overall skills were not good in the past, but relatively speaking, in today’s test match, Su Yu’s overall technical movements looked more precise and easier than before.

Sun Gaoshu: ...

Sun Gaoshu once again doubted his judgment of Su Yu before the game - given Su Yu's situation, is his competitive state really not good? Was I really mistaken in seeing his slightly hesitant look before the game?

If he did not have many years of experience in coaching the national team, if he was not a veteran coach with 30 years of coaching experience, Sun Gaoshu would have thought that his previous questions must have been an illusion.

But it wasn't just him, Pei Yongsheng and Pei Dingshan also gave him the same feedback before the game!

So Su Yu’s condition before the game was indeed not right!

only……

Sun Gaoshu watched Su Yu's performance on the court and couldn't help but think with a strange expression - Su Yu's condition before the game was indeed not right, but his condition during the game was too right.

At this moment on the track, Su Yu did feel a different feeling from the previous times when his competitive state was high. When his competitive state was high before, he even had a firm idea in his heart that he could definitely surpass his own limits.

It cannot be said that either state is wrong, but it is true that compared to the current calm state, the two have completely different competitive feelings.

Now that his mind is clearer, Su Yu can control his limbs and breathing more calmly. He can land on the ground with his midfoot more accurately and can even feel his toes curled up when he lands. He can also feel the elastic force feedback from the ground as his feet do not touch the ground, urging his body to roll forward.

This is also a very wonderful feeling.

He was able to calmly and clearly feel the distance between himself and the surrounding players, and could even judge the distance between himself and his opponents by visual observation out of the corner of his eye.

At the same time, he could even vaguely calculate in his mind the gap between himself and his opponent and how much he needed to increase his stride length or stride frequency in order to catch up, surpass or further increase the distance.

But at the same time, what was clearer in Su Yu's mind was that he knew what pace and stride he should maintain in order to best maintain his speed.

Su Yu had a vague feeling that if he was in a high competitive state in the past, his own emotions and persistence would become the driving force for him to keep moving forward. At the same time, his emotions would also prompt him to choose to increase his stride or step frequency, which was not so rational compared to rational judgment.

In this rational situation, he would be more inclined to choose a calm approach - that is, to maintain the best stride length and frequency for himself based on rational calculations.

Su Yu didn't know which of these two approaches was actually better and more appropriate, but this did not prevent him from following his rational judgment at this moment.

On the track, his mind was also working frantically and at high speed. He calculated the relationship between his breathing rate, heart rate and footsteps, his physical energy consumption and the physical energy he should have retained in the final sprint.

Outside the sixth path where Su Yu was, on his right was Feng Xiaofeng. He could even hear every breath of Feng Xiaofeng, and even make a judgment from Feng Xiaofeng's breathing and the rhythm of his footsteps - Feng Xiaofeng's technical movements had been deformed, and Feng Xiaofeng's speed would decline next!

On the sixth lane, Feng Xiaofeng certainly had no idea what Su Yu was thinking at the moment. He just gritted his teeth and sprinted at full speed. When he reached the segment distance of almost 70 meters, Feng Xiaofeng could no longer maintain his maximum speed. He could feel that Su Yu on his left was still maintaining a very good rhythm.

If his speed continues to decline, the gap between him and Su Yu in this game will be further widened!

With such thoughts and resistance, Feng Xiaofeng gritted his teeth and tried to squeeze out the last bit of strength in his body, running and sprinting more vigorously, increasing his stride to make up for or even improve his performance in the final stage.

But all this seemed so difficult. Even though he was trying to increase his stride, the distance between him and Su Yu still seemed to be widening? !

In the final sprint, Feng Xiaofeng crossed the finish line with a sense of unwillingness and final persistence.

On his right is one of the national team's regular 100-meter runners, and on his left is Su Yu.

He originally thought that at least he couldn't fall too far behind Su Yu.

But in the end, the distance between him and the national team player on his right seemed to be even closer than the distance between him and Su Yu? !

When Feng Xiaofeng crossed the finish line, he was almost frightened by the thought that just crossed his mind - would Su Yu's speed be faster than the regular players of the national 4*100m relay team? !

Although Feng Xiaofeng also knew that even as a member of the national 4*100m relay team, it did not mean that they could always achieve a time of less than 10.30 seconds in a season, especially in this test match. Everyone knew that it was actually a test for them, the trial players, and several senior members of the national team might not be in such good shape.

But even so, when Feng Xiaofeng realized that Su Yu might have defeated his predecessors in the national team, he still had a subconscious reaction in his mind - this is unlikely, right?

***

It's impossible, but the people watching the game around saw it clearly.

In the final sprint stage, Su Yu did rely on his outstanding ability in the latter part of the race to overtake Chen Peijie, a member of the national 4*100m relay team in the seventh lane.

Chen Peijie actually knew that in the final stage of the race, he and Su Yu should cross the finish line one after the other.

From the eyes of the spectators around him, Chen Peijie guessed that Su Yu was slightly faster than him - he was a little surprised, but he didn't feel offended.

After all, it's a test match, and what matters is the players' abilities.

Su Yu has the ability to surpass him, that is Su Yu's ability - but if you ask who will win or lose between the two in terms of their current absolute strength, Chen Peijie still dares to pat his chest and say that it is his.

You know, his 100m PB is 10.19 seconds, which actually not only broke the 10.30 second mark, but also the 10.20 second mark.

Among the current domestic 100-meter athletes, his 100-meter PB is among the top three.

So from this perspective, Su Yu is indeed a rising star, but if he wants to go from 10.35 to 10.20, there is still a long way for Su Yu to conquer.

After taking a few breaths, Chen Peijie also went to the computer on site.

The national team's indoor training ground is equipped with various facilities, but it does not have a large electronic screen for viewing like those in outdoor stadiums. If you want to see the results, you have to go to the computer to look at the final integrated data.

At this moment, Pei Yongsheng, Pei Dingshan, Sun Gaoshu, Zheng Sheng and other short-distance running coaches were already standing in front of the computers recording the results, and they seemed to be discussing something.

After looking up and seeing Chen Peijie approaching, Sun Gaoshu said to him: "You didn't maintain your mid-run very well today. Your movements were a bit broken in the second half. Let's review the details later."

Chen Peijie nodded to show that he understood.

He himself also felt that his performance in the second half was not good, which was why he was surpassed by Su Yu. However, he still came to the side of the crowd and asked, "Are the results out? Can I see?"

Pei Yongsheng and others nodded to indicate that the results were out, and then gave their seats to the athletes watching the race around them and Chen Peijie, Gao Tianwu and others who had already finished the race.

After taking a breath, Feng Xiaofeng probably adjusted his mentality. He walked to the computer and took a look at his result - 10.52 seconds.

To be honest, this result is not bad, but it is definitely not good enough.

In contrast, his opponent Ye Minghao ran a time of 10.43 seconds in today's race, which broke his own PB in training.

A little ahead of him was Chen Peijie, whose final result was 10.41 seconds, slightly faster than Ye Minghao.

Feng Xiaofeng: …

When Chen Peijie's result of 10.41 seconds popped into his mind, he finally subconsciously thought of a problem - in the previous race, Su Yu obviously crossed the line faster than Chen Peijie!

So what is Su Yu’s score? ?

After Feng Xiaofeng quickly scanned the screen, he finally locked on Su Yu's final result of the 100-meter race - 10.34 seconds.

oh.

10.34 seconds.

Fortunately, it was only 0.01 seconds faster than his best result in training... What a shame!

Feng Xiaofeng covered his face with a mask of pain and shook his head helplessly.

How come Su Yu’s grades have improved again?

Of course, the same question also appeared in the minds of coaches such as Pei Yongsheng and Sun Gaoshu - didn't Su Yu look in average condition before the game?

So how come his grades... improved again? !

So are there really players who can feel that their condition is not very good, but at the same time perform stably, and at the same time successfully improve their results in the competition?

After looking at Su Yu's final result of 10.34 seconds and his starting reaction time of 0.125 seconds, the coaches who were also in the sprint group couldn't help but shift their gazes between Su Yu and the result, and finally cast their envious eyes on Pei Dingshan.

Tsk, this little Pei - how come he is so lucky? !