IBABS Chapter 68 — Training Difficulties & Birthday During Winter Training

When the National Team received the invitation for the Japan Indoor Invitational, they weren’t surprised.

Every year, there were all sorts of invitational competitions held worldwide to promote competition between athletes from different countries and to better understand their rivals.

In Asia, Japan and China were among the countries that frequently hosted invitationals, especially Japan, which had been organizing events more often in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

This invitation during winter training was essentially a practice competition, allowing athletes to verify their training results in the short term and prevent them from losing their competitive edge due to extended periods without competing.

However, the National Team was surprised by the separate interview request for Su Zhe alone.

Zheng Wensheng, who had come to check on the National Track and Field Team’s winter training and deliver the news, smiled and shook his head saying, “I just found out that Su Zhe is quite popular in Japan. Apparently, during the Asian Championship Invitational, he caught attention during the live TV broadcast.”

Zheng Wensheng’s face showed a hint of amazement as he continued, “During the World Championships, besides our domestic coverage, Japanese reporters wrote long articles about him. The response was really positive. The TV station broadcasting this invitational has taken a liking to him, so they’ve invited him for a post-race interview.”

The National Team staff clicked their tongues in amazement before someone suddenly remembered something and chuckled. “Hey, wasn’t that sprinting drama Chasing the Light just started airing these past few days? I’ve watched a few episodes, and I have to say, Su Zhe and the actor playing Xie Wei both performed quite well… Man, Su Zhe’s face is already stunning in person, but on screen? He looks absolutely gorgeous. If he caught people’s attention during a live broadcast, it’s not surprising at all…”

Although “Chasing the Light” wasn’t airing during prime time, it premiered just when public interest in track and field was still high after the World Championships and related sports broadcasts. As a result, the drama garnered decent discussion from the start.

As a project that Shao Xingchen had specially cleared his schedule for and devoted himself to completely, his Satellites fans naturally put a huge effort into promoting it.

For the aunties and mothers who controlled the TV remotes at home, Shao Xingchen and Su Zhe’s faces were enough to make them pause while channel surfing. With Liu Zhengyan’s production team’s standards, “Chasing the Light” was definitely above average in overall quality. Therefore, despite not being a particularly trendy topic, the show’s initial performance wasn’t bad compared to “Just Want to Meet You,” an idol drama starring top-tier celebrity Qiu Zhenhao.

When the staff brought Zheng Wensheng to the track and field stadium, Su Zhe was focused on specialized technical training. Su Yinsheng, Zhang Ye, and Zhang Zhengshui were all beside him, discussing adjustments to Su Zhe’s starting posture.

While on paper, they could all easily explain how Su Zhe’s starting posture needed a specific forward lean angle, and how the supporting knee and power leg ankle should form certain angles with the starting blocks.

However, all these figures were just theoretical.

Since Su Zhe’s return to the sports team for training, his improvement had far exceeded Su Yinsheng’s initial expectations, and the limited training cycle didn’t allow for comprehensive adjustments to all of Su Zhe’s technical details.

Take his starting position, for example. It had initially been formed during Su Zhe’s junior and high school years when he trained under Su Yinsheng. After Su Zhe’s two-year career in showbiz, his current starting posture, while not unprofessional, was definitely not the most optimal for his current physique or aligned with modern sprinting techniques.

However, adjusting such technical movements was extremely difficult.

Due to years of muscle memory, his body had grown accustomed to this stance and the subsequent series of technical movements. Therefore, changing this technique could potentially affect the following movements and habits.

Moreover, these technical adjustments largely required athletes to precisely remember various angles and movement ranges of their body – like maintaining a supporting knee joint angle of 161.3°±2.6°…

But no matter how difficult, if they wanted to improve his performance in the first 60 meters, even these seemingly minor detail adjustments couldn’t be overlooked.

For Su Zhe, this meant constantly correcting and practicing, first committing all the technical details to memory, then erasing his previous habits and integrating these new movements into his muscle memory.

When Zheng Wensheng arrived at the stadium, he didn’t immediately interrupt Su Yinsheng and the others’ training session, but instead casually looked around the facility.

The National Track and Field Team’s indoor stadium was enormous, providing enough space for athletes to complete their respective training regimens.

Athletes were scattered across the facility, each engrossed in their training. Some, like Su Zhe, were working on specific technical adjustments with the coaching team’s guidance. Others were lifting weights or using machines for leg strength training.

The National Track Team’s medical group was also present during training sessions to provide immediate treatment if athletes sustained injuries. After training, the massage therapists from the medical team would help athletes relieve their fatigue.

Finally, during a training break, Zheng Wensheng called over the coaches and informed the head coaches of relevant events about the Japan Indoor Invitational.

“How does this work for you? Will this timing be a problem?” Zheng Wensheng asked. “If the timing isn’t convenient, we can decline participation in some events without issue.”

The invitational was scheduled for December 10th-13th, by which time most events would have completed a small training cycle. For this type of invitational, they wouldn’t need to specifically adjust the athletes’ competitive condition, so there really wasn’t much impact.

All the coaches shook their heads, indicating they had no objections, and the matter was essentially settled.

After Su Yinsheng informed Su Zhe about the invitational and the post-competition interview, Su Zhe just smiled and nodded. For him, the invitational would be perfect for verifying whether his recent training had achieved its goals. As for the post-competition interview, he didn’t think much of it.

After all, he had previously participated in post-competition interviews on Fuji TV with athletes like Shiraishi Shouta, so he assumed this interview would follow a similar format.

In the days that followed, winter training continued as usual.

For Su Zhe, the regular strength, physical conditioning, and endurance training weren’t particularly challenging. Currently, the most difficult obstacles remained the technical adjustments for the 100m sprint and 110m hurdles.

His 100m sprint technique had been personally coached by his father, Su Yinsheng, and the detailed adjustments he was now making meant fighting against his established technical habits.

As for the 110m hurdles, perhaps because he had received specialized training from the sand sculpture system, Lü Fei had always praised his thorough understanding of hurdle techniques. However, changing his pre-hurdle steps from eight to seven still a whole other difficulty for him.

From a technical standpoint, the seven-step approach compared to the eight-step approach eliminated one stride, meaning his driving explosive leg needed to switch from the right to the left. At the same time, to achieve the seven-step approach, his pre-hurdle stride length had to increase.

This technique was highly advantageous for the body’s forward lean and center of gravity transfer during hurdling. With the center of gravity moving forward, the forward thrust from explosive power and the pushing force from the legs produced better forward momentum than the eight-step approach. Additionally, this technique allowed athletes to be more proactive when attacking the hurdle.

However, for Su Zhe, the greatest challenges were his height, leg length, and explosive power.

Su Zhe’s height already put him at a significant disadvantage among hurdlers. Even though he had grown to 179.5 cm, standing next to Ye Jun and Zhou Tianjue still made him look perfectly like a little chick.

The system training program was progressing with difficulty, and the 2 cm reward from the system still seemed a long way off.

During training, Su Zhe once asked Lü Fei bluntly, “Coach Lü, is my current height really suitable for changing from eight steps to seven?”

In the global context, the seven-step approach technique was generally assumed to require sufficient height. Given that he was already at a height disadvantage, Su Zhe felt some doubt about this technical modification during training.

In response to Su Zhe’s question, Lü Fei turned and pulled out a stack of materials from nearby, handing them to Su Zhe. The materials contained information about a Jamaican athlete named Holness.

This young 110m hurdler did not appear at the recent World Championships, but according to Lü Fei’s materials, the young talent had already achieved a personal best of 13.02 seconds in Jamaica. From the several competition results that Lü Fei had gathered, Holness’s performance was very consistent, generally maintaining times between 13.1X and 13.0X seconds. It was clear that he could break his record at any moment and run under 13 seconds.

Most importantly, this young Jamaican athlete was only 180 cm tall.

After Su Zhe finished looking at Holness’s profile, Lü Fei smiled and said to him, “Although he’s only 20 years old, this Holness has already completed the conversion of his pre-hurdle steps and is currently using the seven-step approach technique. According to current information, he has already qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. If his competitive form remains stable, he will definitely be a strong contender for the gold medal in Tokyo.” After a pause, Lü Fei continued, “From what I understand, Holness’s 100m performance is also excellent, and he’s likely to be one of the members of Jamaica’s 4×100 meter relay team next year.”

Looking at the materials in his hands, Su Zhe was speechless. He smiled and handed the materials back to Lü Fei.

The world was vast, and beyond his field of vision, there were countless extraordinary talents he couldn’t imagine. Su Zhe once again deeply realized that he shouldn’t question the correctness of certain techniques just because he currently couldn’t accomplish them.

Su Zhe patted his head and earnestly told Lü Fei, “Coach Lü, I’ll continue to work hard in the upcoming training!”

“Don’t worry,” Lü Fei patted Su Zhe’s shoulder and smiled. “Your talent is no less than anyone else’s. Height shouldn’t be your concern. When your abilities take you to the top, it’ll just be another part of your legacy.”

As Su Zhe was about to turn and resume training, Lü Fei said to him, “For almost ten years, the overall standard of 110m hurdles worldwide has been declining, but history always cycles through ups and downs. You, Xiao Jue, and Ye Jun have come at a good time. A new era of strong competitors is about to arrive, and I hope you all can showcase and break through to your best form in this era.”

Under Lü Fei’s expectant gaze, Su Zhe smiled and nodded, “We definitely will.”

On November 18th, after finishing training, Su Zhe received a message from Boss Shao asking for his mailing address, saying he had a small gift to send him.

Starting from November 20th, the National Track and Field Team’s training base began receiving dozens of packages specifically addressed to Su Zhe. The team staff even asked Su Zhe in confusion why he was buying so many things during winter training.

There was even an international package from Japan.

Su Zhe was a little confused as well at first. He expected only Boss Shao’s package. But when he opened the packages, he discovered they were gifts from his fans, the Philosophers.

And that package from Japan, when opened, contained a letter with the sender identified as “Su Zhe Japan Fan Club.”

Seeing these gifts, Su Zhe suddenly remembered that November 23rd was approaching. His birthday was coming up.

Looking at these gifts sent from all over, Su Zhe felt a warmth in his heart. While he had been completely absorbed in training, barely even logging into Weibo, his fans had kept his special day firmly in their hearts and even sent him gifts filled with their affection.

That evening, after finishing training, Su Zhe logged into his long-neglected Weibo and posted two thank-you messages: one thanking all his fans for remembering him and sending gifts, and another thanking Boss Shao for his gift.

Shao Xingchen’s gift was actually quite simple. It was a carefully edited and produced photobook of pictures he had taken of Su Zhe during the World Championships. The cover featured a deep night sky dotted with stars, and inside was a handwritten blessing from Shao Xingchen: “May all good things come to you as you wish.”

Su Zhe carefully arranged all the gifts, took selfies with them, and shared the photos on Weibo.

When the Philosophers saw Su Zhe’s rare appearance online, they swarmed in excitedly. Some girls happily claimed the gifts they had sent in the comments and enthusiastically wished him a happy birthday.

Beyond that, Su Zhe discovered that during his absence, not only had his follower count increased significantly, but many people’s comments made him feel somewhat disconnected from the public’s way of thinking.

The comments under his Weibo post fell into several different groups:

[Ahhh, baby, you must take care of your health and rest well!]
[QvQ It’s so good to see our healthy baby appear…]
[Wuwu, seeing our baby makes me feel alive again!]

After a moment of confusion, Su Zhe finally remembered after seeing the name Lu Ming that according to the broadcast schedule of “Chasing the Light,” the episodes where Lu Ming discovers he has a terminal illness should have aired by now.

After seeing the genuinely emotional fans and passersby in the comments, Su Zhe got a general idea of “Chasing the Light’s” current popularity and reputation.

As for his thank-you post where he tagged Shao Xingchen, it was quickly reposted by Shao Xingchen with a simple “Happy Birthday.” The comments under this repost had a different tone compared to his other posts.

Some Philosopher girls, after seeing a preview of the photobook’s interior pages, wailed and tagged Shao Xingchen, begging the photography master to release more photos from his storage.

[QAQ… Seeing the inside pages, I almost shouted ‘Please release the photobook of our baby!’ Then I calmed down and remembered the photographer wasn’t a fan site admin but Boss Shao.]
[Damn it, those few inside pages that our baby shared, Boss Shao never released… My baby is so beautiful and handsome, but the photo collection is on someone else’s computer. Let’s team up and hack Boss Shao’s computer!!]

Besides these Philosophers who wanted to raid Shao Xingchen’s computer storage, there was also a small group of girls posting confusing codes like “kdl”¹ and “xwnzszd”² in the comments, leaving Su Zhe completely bewildered.

After thinking for a moment, Su Zhe clicked on Jiang Hanning’s profile and asked him what these meant.

Jiang Hanning quickly replied with an exasperated expression.

[=.= With your level of awareness, I can’t believe you were actually in the entertainment industry! Unbelievable!]

A moment later, Jiang Hanning sent Su Zhe a super topic link. When Su Zhe clicked on it, he discovered it was a CP super topic called “Stars Align For You.”

[……]

Su Zhe speechlessly replied to Jiang Hanning with six dots.

Of course, Su Zhe had some understanding of CP fans. After all, he and Jiang Hanning had their own CP called “Ning Zhe’s Not Gay.” He just really did not expect that even after leaving the entertainment industry, he could still form a CP with Shao Xingchen.

Jiang Hanning, however, responded nonchalantly: [Isn’t your drama currently airing? Your characters are best friends, so having a CP is totally normal. It’ll pass once the drama’s popularity dies down.]

Seeing Jiang Hanning’s message, Su Zhe nodded in understanding and felt that this CP was probably due to the popularity of “Chasing the Light.”

After learning about Su Zhe’s upcoming birthday, on November 23rd, at the end of training, the National Track and Field Team presented Su Zhe with a specially made cake prepared by the kitchen’s master chefs – guaranteed to be low-fat, low-sugar, and meeting all dietary safety requirements for athletes.

Zhou Tianjue, Ye Jun, Zhao Zhixuan, and others had also prepared individual gifts for Su Zhe. Everyone gathered behind Su Zhe’s cake for a group photo.

Some daring troublemaker, after the cake was divided, took advantage of Su Yinsheng’s momentary distraction and left a cream fingerprint on his face. This moment was faithfully captured by the girl in charge of photography, who posted it on the National Track and Field Team’s official social media account.

[#Happy Birthday Su Zhe 1123# Today is the 21st birthday of National Track and Field Team sprinter and 110m hurdler Su Zhe. All track and field athletes currently participating in winter training celebrated this memorable birthday with Su Zhe at the training base! (Attached: group photo, Su Zhe’s individual photo, Su Yinsheng with cream-smeared face, etc.)]

After the post went live, Su Zhe’s sports fans rushed to send their congratulations, but everyone’s attention seemed captivated by the photo of Su Yinsheng with cream smeared on his face.

[Hahahaha, happy birthday Zhe-shao, but why does Su Laohu have cream all over his face!]

[First, happy birthday Zhe-shao! And then… wow! Who did this? So bold to smear Su Laohu’s face. Well done!]

This post went viral in the sports community. Many athletes who had trained under Su Yinsheng, or those who simply knew him, used the occasion of wishing Su Zhe a happy birthday to repost it, adding laughing emojis. Some mischievous ones even tagged Su Yinsheng, enjoying his furious reaction.

When training began the next day, Su Zhe glanced at his father and, sure enough, his father Su Yinsheng was in an exceptionally foul mood. Zhang Ye, the only hero in the National Track and Field Team who dared to openly mock Su Zhe’s father, was especially smug today – until he was buried under a mountain of data analysis tasks as retaliation.

By early December, Su Zhe had reached the final stage of his first training cycle of this winter training.

In his 100m training, he had made initial progress in adjusting his ready position and starting posture. To avoid conflict with the technical switch from eight to seven steps in the 110m hurdles, the stride length and frequency adjustments for the 100m were planned for the second cycle.

In his 110m hurdles training, Su Zhe was gradually adapting to the change from eight steps to seven steps before attacking the hurdle. Whether in terms of stride adjustment or switching the power leg, this was no easy task.

As the first training cycle ended, Su Zhe traveled with the National Track and Field Team members to Japan once again, to participate in the indoor track and field invitational competition organized by Japan.

Author’s note:
Today’s confusion time
Boss Shao: Have you counted how many times my name has appeared so far?
Cai Cai: [confused.jpg]
Boss Shao: (cold smile) 289 times.
Boss Shao: And have you counted how many times Zhou Tianjue’s name has appeared?
Cai Cai: [terrified.gif] N-no…
Boss Shao: (furious) 332 times!!!
Cai Cai: QAQ… I’m sorry!!! I’m guilty!!!