Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 09/02/2023
As he crossed the finish line, Qiu Wen looked around and saw that he was the first one to cross. Excitedly, he raised his fist and, after a moment of slowing down, instinctively looked up to find Su Bai and his teammates in the stands. With excitement, he waved his hand in their direction.
Although it was just the first of the group matches and the final ranking was yet to be determined, Qiu Wen could feel that his performance today had been exceptionally outstanding.
During the first 200 meters, even though he controlled his speed, Qiu Wen sensed that his pace wasn't much slower than his regular pace for a 200-meter run. Roughly estimating, he calculated that his speed for the first 200 meters was around 22.1 to 22.2 seconds. From 200 to 300 meters, he consciously followed Su Bai's instructions and lowered his speed, which might have decreased a bit too much for this stretch considering his usual training pace. However, during the final sprint, despite some fatigue and a bit of oxygen debt, he managed to pick up his speed a bit.
Calculating in his mind, Qiu Wen felt that his result should be within 48 seconds or less, though he wasn't exactly sure how much less.
In any case, there should be hope for the final, right?
Thinking this, Qiu Wen grinned, feeling a slight decrease in the cooling sensation on his scalp.
After running a short distance, the momentum from earlier had mostly dissipated from Qiu Wen's body. As he came to a stop, a voice greeted him from behind.
"Hey, you're Qiu Wen, right?" Lin Chuan caught up from behind. He glanced at the athlete number on Qiu Wen's bib, then walked up to him, scrutinizing him again before praising, "Impressive, kid. When I saw you start off so fast, I thought you wouldn't control your speed, but you surprised me by maintaining the lead the whole way."
"You're a newcomer in the 400 meters, right? Incredible! To debut with such performance, your future looks promising!"
Lin Chuan's praise brought another grin to Qiu Wen's face. He scratched his head and laughed in a somewhat silly manner, "Hehe, I also think my future is promising!"
?
??
"Ha."
For the first time, Lin Chuan encountered a situation where someone he praised for being a newcomer in such a way genuinely responded with unfiltered enthusiasm. Lin Chuan could easily tell that Qiu Wen had no ulterior motives. In fact, he truly believed in what he was saying.
Thinking this, Lin Chuan shook his head and chuckled, "Sure, sure. But if you give it your all in the heats, make sure your performance doesn't dip in the finals."
Hearing Lin Chuan's words, Qiu Wen wasn't worried. He waved his hand dismissively, "No worries, I haven't competed in a long time. Right now, I just want to run more. As long as I make it to the finals, I'll be fine!"
Speaking of this, Qiu Wen patted his chest with lingering fear, his face taking on a serious expression as he said, "As long as I make it to the finals, I'm good. If I can't make it to the finals, that's when it gets dangerous!"
Evidently, Qiu Wen was worried that if he didn't qualify for the finals, he wouldn't be able to enjoy the delicious food Su Bai had prepared for him. However, Lin Chuan wasn't aware of the reasons behind this, so he looked at Qiu Wen and assumed that he might have made some kind of commitment to the team or that his team was particularly focused on members' performances and would be displeased with poor results.
After a moment of thought, without directly asking, Lin Chuan patted Qiu Wen's shoulder and reassured him, "Don't worry. Before coming to this competition, I already checked the list of participants. There are not more than 6 athletes with the ability to consistently run under 48 seconds. The rest of the athletes' performances have been quite variable. Given the speed you just showed, staying within 48 seconds is not a problem. You will definitely secure a spot in today's final."
Just as Lin Chuan finished consoling Qiu Wen, the loudspeakers at the venue had already compiled the results for this group of 400-meter runners. The official announcement was made through the broadcast.
"National Track and Field Grand Prix, City H Division Men's 400m
Preliminary Round, Group 9: First Place: Qiu Wen (S Provincial Track and Field Team), 47.76 seconds (wind speed +1.1 m/s); Second Place: Lin Chuan (Z Provincial Track and Field Team), 47.89 seconds; Third Place..."
As the announcement on the broadcast ended, the audience in the stands erupted into enthusiastic applause and cheers. In these national track and field grand prix division matches, typically, out of over a hundred athletes across a dozen or so groups, there were usually no more than 10 athletes who managed to run under 48 seconds. However, in this ninth group just now, both the first and second place athletes had clocked times under 48 seconds. This could be considered as the most intense and exciting competition among all the preliminary rounds.
For such an outstanding performance, the track and field enthusiasts in the audience were generous with their applause and encouragement.
In the stands, there were also many track and field fans who weren't very active online. After cheering for a while, they excitedly discussed the sudden emergence of this newcomer in the 400 meters.
"Looking at Qiu Wen's appearance, could he be a newcomer who just moved up from the youth division? But I haven't heard of any youth athletes in the 400 meters with such prowess."
"Wait a minute, Qiu Wen, I do know about him. There's a guy named Qiu Wen who runs the 100 meters and 200 meters, also from the S Provincial Track and Field Team. Does the S Provincial Track and Field Team have two athletes named Qiu Wen?"
These track and field enthusiasts were discussing without much coherence. Their seating position in the stands wasn't very close to the athletes, so they couldn't make out the detailed appearance of Qiu Wen. They had no idea that the Qiu Wen they were talking about was the same person.
However, the members of the Track and Field Athletics Kingdom forum who were sitting not far from them heard their discussion and provided them with the correct answer: 【This Qiu Wen in the 400 meters is the same guy who runs the 100 meters and 200 meters.】
"Ah?" A middle-aged track and field enthusiast wearing glasses was momentarily surprised, and then quickly asked, "Isn't that Qiu Wen also performing well in the 100 and 200 meters? Why did he suddenly switch to the 400 meters?"
The forum members chuckled when they heard this question. They were quite familiar with this question because it had been debated on the forum for a long time.
So, one of the young forum members who seemed to be in his twenties started explaining to the nearby track and field enthusiasts, "We hang out on the Track and Field Atheletics Kingdom forum. Well, when the news about Qiu Wen switching to the 400 meters came out, we were skeptical too. Some people even contacted the S Provincial Track and Field Team to ask if they were going crazy by moving a good 100 and 200 meters runner to the 400 meters."
"But later on, the S Provincial Track and Field Team directly put up an announcement on Weibo. They said that Qiu Wen's talent in the 400 meters is much stronger than in the 100 and 200 meters. And they even got Wu Shengping from the national team to vouch for his talent."
"Just for this matter, we've been eagerly waiting for Qiu Wen's debut on our forum for a couple of months. And now, today's debut result is out—47.76 seconds! Wow, he has surpassed the veteran Lin Chuan in his first race and ran within 48 seconds right from the start... How long has he been training for the 400 meters? Less than two months!"
"Look at his talent. How can it not be better than his previous performance in the 100 and 200 meters?"
Listening to this gossip from the Track and Field Athletics Kingdom forum, the people present immediately picked up their phones and scrolled through the announcement released by the S Provincial Track and Field Team some time ago—indeed, it contained the content the young man mentioned, and there were retweets and comments from Wu Shengping and He Yishen.
With a clear understanding, everyone nodded, their faces showing excitement.
"No wonder! I was thinking, Qiu Wen was doing so well in the 100 and 200 meters. Why would he switch to the 400 meters? He's only been training for two months, and he's already at this level. It's no wonder he's switched to the 400 meters. Otherwise, how could he justify his talent!"
"You're right." The middle-aged man with glasses spoke up, "Our domestic 400 meters really lack talented individuals. Let's not talk about world championships, Olympics, or Diamond League events. Even participating in an Asian competition, they can't make it to the finals..."
As the topic shifted to this, the track and field enthusiasts in the stands felt frustrated. There were promising 400 meters talents in China, but after breaking the 47 and 48 seconds barriers, further progress seemed almost impossible. These enthusiasts couldn't understand whether it was because Asians weren't suited for sprinting or if the coaching standards were inadequate.
"Ah, forget about all that. This time with Qiu Wen, he doesn't seem like the previous athletes. His debut result after two months of training in this new event is so impressive! I think, you know, we might have stumbled upon a fantastic talent this time!"
The spectators in the stands were discussing excitedly, and on the forum, after more than a month of anticipation, the enthusiasm of the members exploded due to this impressive result.
Forum Title: [Good News! Qiu Wen's Debut in the 400 meters after switching events for two months—47.76 seconds, clinching the first place in the h City Substation Meet Group!]
Since this post was published, it had been rapidly gaining popularity on the sprinting section of the forum, and the participants in the post were all filled with joy and excitement, exuding an extra cheerful spirit.
1st comment: [First! I claim this comment to celebrate for Xiao Qiu! Keep it up, achieve even better results!]
3rd comment: [Today's result in this competition makes me feel reassured. Training for less than two months and breaking 48 seconds in the race—Xiao Qiu is capable. I predict he'll run within 47.60 seconds in this year's outdoor season!]
10th comment: [Xiao Qiu is amazing, and so is Coach Su Bai! I have to apologize to Coach Su Bai. When the news first came out, I criticized the S Provincial Track and Field Team for not being considerate and switching Qiu Wen to the 400 meters. I even cursed them for assigning an inexperienced coach. I've already slapped myself in the face once. I'll say it again—Xiao Qiu did an excellent job, and Coach Su Bai's guidance was excellent!]
13th comment: [Seeing the 10th comment, it reminds me of Coach Su Bai. It's true that the S Provincial Track and Field Team didn't have exceptional talents in the 400 meters before. Zhao Heping's coaching expertise leaned more towards the 100 and 200 meters. The 400 meters project within the previous S Provincial Track and Field Team felt like a less important discipline, more like an addition to complete the lineup with 400 meters athletes. Unexpectedly, this time with Qiu Wen and Su Bai, their 400 meters project seems to have come to life.]
Not only at the scene and online, but also within the S Provincial Track and Field Team, He Yishen and Zhao Heping were paying close attention to the results of this substation meet's 400 meters. They had instructed the overall team leader to immediately report Qiu Wen's 400 meters preliminary results to them.
Thus, Zhao Heping and He Yishen, who were sitting in He Yishen's office, chatting and waiting for the phone call, were also the first to receive the report of Qiu Wen's 400 meters preliminary race.
"Oh?! 47.76 seconds!"
Hearing this result, both He Yishen and Zhao Heping were delighted. After hanging up the phone, they exchanged smiles, both feeling relieved.
Although they had known about Qiu Wen's talent in the 400 meters from previous test races and were aware of Su Bai's exceptional coaching in the 400 meters, those were just test races within the team. Official competitions were a different matter altogether.
Seeing the performance of many athletes during the training phase and their performance during actual races, they knew that race-day conditions couldn't be solely determined by training results. Even though Qiu Wen had performed well in previous races, this was his first time competing in the 400 meters, after all.
However, both He Yishen and Zhao Heping couldn't help but remain slightly worried. Fortunately, this result thoroughly validated Qiu Wen's potential and talent in the 400 meters and proved that Su Bai was indeed capable of coaching Qiu Wen effectively.
Thinking about this, Zhao Heping couldn't help but shake his head. "I was a bit concerned when I saw Su Bai's training programs before. The training hours for these athletes seemed insufficient. He explained to me the benefits of appropriate relaxation for the athletes' physical recovery and enhancement. These concepts are also found in foreign research papers, and we've experimented with them before. However, our control groups didn't show any significant improvements. I've always thought that these advanced theories from abroad might not be suitable for our domestic athletes."
Pausing for a moment, Zhao Heping continued, "Now, it seems that it's not necessarily the case that these foreign advanced theories don't suit our domestic athletes. Perhaps we didn't thoroughly research them initially and failed to grasp the essence of these foreign theories."
He Yishen nodded in agreement upon hearing this. He then thought about the other two 400 meters athletes in the team, Hu Li and Zhang Wei, besides Qiu Wen.
After a moment of consideration, He Yishen suggested, "Old Zhao, how about letting Su Bai train Hu Li and Zhang Wei as well? The thing is, Qiu Wen's 400 meters result doesn't have a control group to compare against, so we can't definitively attribute his success to Su Bai's training methods and theories. But Hu Li and Zhang Wei have been long-standing members of our team. If we let Su Bai guide them using his theories and training methods, we can see if it yields results for these experienced athletes."
He Yishen added, "If it does produce results, it would prove that Su Bai has already mastered a set of advanced training concepts and methods. At that point, we can have him document these into research papers and provide training for the coaches in our team. This will be beneficial for him too."
Upon hearing He Yishen's suggestion, Zhao Heping immediately agreed. "Sure, I'll talk to him about this when he returns."
Zhao Heping clearly understood the implications of He Yishen's suggestion. Su Bai had transitioned from being an athlete with a ten-year career into a coach. However, his athletic achievements were average, and his coaching credentials were only at the third level during his university days. Even now, no matter how much the team wants to improve his position, there's a limit to it.
Fortunately, he also held the position of a cook, which provided an additional salary subsidy.
As for further promotion in ranks, for Su Bai, it would require not only contributions to the team that everyone could see but also substantial research papers. He Yishen's words were all about securing Su Bai's potential for future promotions. Zhao Heping had taken them all to heart, planning to have a thorough conversation with his disciple about this.
H City Sports Center Stadium:
After the 400 meters preliminary races had concluded, Qiu Wen, Hu Li, and Zhang Wei found Su Bai together.
Today's performances from Hu Li and Zhang Wei were ordinary. Both of them clocked times just above 48 seconds, which meant they hadn't qualified for the finals. However, Qiu Wen's time of 47.76 seconds placed him fourth overall in the preliminaries, securing him a spot in the finals. Lin Chuan, who was in the same group as Qiu Wen, managed to enter the afternoon's finals with a seventh-place overall ranking in the preliminaries.
Upon seeing his time, Qiu Wen was overjoyed. When he saw Su Bai, his eyes brightened, and he was about to share his excitement. However, before he could do so, he noticed Su Bai looking at him with a calm expression. This immediately made Qiu Wen hesitate.
Oh my, ever since Su Bai became his coach, his authority had been growing day by day. Qiu Wen couldn't help but shiver when he saw Su Bai in "coach mode."
After a moment of contemplation, Qiu Wen thought about how he had performed today. He pondered over it and recollected the significant slowdown he had experienced at the 300-meter mark. He ended up mentally sentencing himself for his performance.
Su Bai hadn't anticipated that before he could say anything, Qiu Wen had already given himself a harsh verdict.
In reality, Qiu Wen's performance was quite commendable for a first-time participant in the 400 meters race, especially considering that he didn't have a natural talent for controlling his speed.
During regular training sessions, Su Bai had deliberately worked with Qiu Wen to help him grasp several different speed states through conditioning his reflexes. However, this training method had its pros and cons.
Since the speed training hadn't reached an advanced stage yet, Qiu Wen's control over his speed had indeed improved to some extent. However, this control wasn't flexible enough. He might subconsciously revert to a speed state he was familiar with, but it wasn't guaranteed whether these trained speed states would be suitable for real-time race conditions.
Just like Qiu Wen's performance today.
Su Bai could tell that after this period of preparation and adjustments, Qiu Wen had reached a minor peak in his athletic state. In this state, his first 200 meters were exceptionally smooth, and the increase in speed hadn't burdened him physically.
However, even in this state, Qiu Wen wasn't able to effectively or consciously adjust his pace after the initial 200 meters. He still brought down his speed following the rhythm he was accustomed to during regular training, but ironically, this attempt to control his speed had impacted his overall competitive state and the fluidity of his performance.
Even though Qiu Wen increased his speed again between the 300-meter and 400-meter marks, the initial compression of speed between the 200-meter and 300-meter segments had already influenced his rhythm and state. This ultimately resulted in a time of 47.76 seconds.
Su Bai's feelings toward this performance could be described as a mix of satisfaction and regret.
He was satisfied because Qiu Wen's talent was indeed remarkable, and his current competitive state was superior. However, there was regret in the sense that Qiu Wen's training duration had been too short so far, and there were numerous technical deficiencies and pacing issues.
Nevertheless, this only strengthened Su Bai's determination. He was determined to fine-tune Qiu Wen's training program further upon returning, enabling Qiu Wen to fully showcase his inherent talent and potential.
As he looked at Qiu Wen who had returned, Su Bai didn't intend to scold him. He simply wanted to make sure Qiu Wen stayed focused, given that there was a challenging 400-meter final race in the afternoon.
To Su Bai's surprise, Qiu Wen, who had initially been in high spirits, immediately became nervous upon seeing him. He hesitated and awkwardly approached Su Bai, admitting his mistakes beforehand.
Listening to Qiu Wen's self-critique about how he shouldn't have miscalculated his speed at the 300-meter mark, shouldn't have gone too fast during the first 200 meters, and how his energy distribution between the two halves of the race was poorly arranged...
Su Bai managed to maintain a calm expression and nodded in response, advising Qiu Wen to focus on controlling his state during the afternoon race.
Beside Qiu Wen, both Hu Li and Zhang Wei were dumbfounded to see Qiu Wen admitting his mistakes so earnestly. Unable to contain themselves, they straightened their postures and stood next to Qiu Wen, like two schoolchildren apologizing together.
After all, Qiu Wen had run a 47.76 today, a significant improvement from his usual training times of around 48.20 seconds. Yet, here he was, humbly admitting his errors in front of Su Bai. For Hu Li and Zhang Wei, who hadn't achieved their desired results due to an off day, they felt the need to lower their heads and submit to their circumstances.
At that moment, both Hu Li and Zhang Wei felt fortunate – they hadn't expected Su Bai to be such a demanding coach. They had even considered joining his group before. Looking back now, they were relieved that they hadn't ended up with Su Bai as their coach.
The place where the three of them met was still within the sports center. Coincidentally, some users from the Track and Field Athletics Kingdom forum recognized these four individuals as Qiu Wen, Su Bai, and the two other members from the S provincial track and field team.
Witnessing Qiu Wen humbly admitting his mistakes while Su Bai remained composed, one forum user decided not to disturb them. However, he discreetly took a photo with his phone and quickly shared it on the forum.
Thread Title: "How Outstanding 400-Meter Athletes Are Developed - First, You Need a Devil Coach."
The initial post in the thread included the photo of Qiu Wen reflecting and admitting his mistakes in front of Su Bai. The thread starter also summarized some of the overheard conversation.
Immediately, forum members responded with surprise:
3rd User: "Wow, if Qiu Wen's performance in the first race today were in the hands of another coach, they would've already hailed him as a prodigy and praised him to the skies. They would have pampered him and pushed him to give it his all in the afternoon finals. Who would've thought that he's still admitting mistakes in front of this Su Bai... scary, when Su Bai was an athlete himself, you couldn't see any of this. But now that he's a coach, he's a real devil coach!"
8th User: "It's really hard to believe. This Su Bai has such a clean and innocent appearance, seems easygoing, but look at this – not just Qiu Wen, but those two other old members of the s provincial track and field team's 400-meter event, aren't they also coached by Su Bai? And they're also so obedient in front of him... Real people don't reveal their true nature!"
As this thread contained both images and real events and was closely tied to the day's hot topic figure, Qiu Wen, it rapidly spread throughout the forum.Meanwhile, Su Bai had no idea. He initially just wanted Qiu Wen to stay focused, but due to a series of chain reactions, he inadvertently gained the moniker of a "devil coach" in the eyes of some track and field enthusiasts.—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------