▲ Zhang Deshun won the 2024 Xiamen Malaysia domestic women's championship and the third place in the international women's group
Author|Zhang Deshun
Edit|Silently
The picture comes from the author and the Internet
Speaking of which, this is the first time in my career that I have participated in the Xiamen Marathon. The reason why I chose Xiamen as the battle for the beginning of the year is because firstly, our team has not officially entered the winter training, and secondly, I know that Brother Dong and Brother Hui are going to run, so I want to come together. So at the beginning of December last year, when I received the invitation from the Xiamen Marathon Organizing Committee, I wanted to use this competition to give myself an intensity and raise my state to stimulate the winter training that was about to begin.
Before the race, I checked the temperature and humidity in Xiamen, and I have been hearing from Brother Dong and Brother Hui that the track is difficult to run, windy and sloped. I didn't think much about it after listening to it, because the pre-competition goal I set for myself was to "stabilize the domestic championship". The reason why I say "steady" is because I had a bit of a cold before the game and I kept coughing. The day before the race, I was still praying, "Don't get any more colds, don't run down!" As for the target result, after all, it is a training session, I think it is around 2 hours and 29 minutes.
The day before the race, I slept from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and I would have slept longer if it hadn't been for the alarm clock for having to bring my own drink. On race day, I woke up at 5:30 a.m., had breakfast, cleaned up, and stood at the starting point. Before going out, I also deliberately counted the number of foreigners in front of me: 6.
Maybe when the audience sees me from the scene and the broadcast screen, they will also see the "president" Wu Xiangdong. Because in the past six months, he has been training with our team in Yunnan. So when I learned that he was using this Xia horse as a "training run", I sent him an "invitation" - your training intensity is not very strong, it is good for me, why don't you take me with you?
In the past, I was running alone after almost 10 kilometers, and I was very tired and physically tired. Although the wind was also strong this time, Xia Ma had a "president" belt, and his speed has been very steady, and he felt relatively easy to run down. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to finish third in the international category, and I might have retained the domestic championship.
▲Zhang Deshun kicked off the prelude to 2024 with a victory
After running out, I never followed the foreigner. During the run, I have been holding back and not daring to cough, because I always feel that there is phlegm that I can't cough out, and I am afraid that I will cough and vomit it out.
At 5km, I felt like I was still in the top five or six.
At 13km, I didn't have any idea about the top three. Wu Xiangdong also asked me: Do you still want to follow? I replied to him: Forget it, don't follow, let them run, give them some chance. Let's still run at the original pace.
When I turned back, I saw that there were only three people in front of me, and the third place was more than 100 meters away from me. At that time, I thought: I will win a domestic championship, and I won't fight with them. But the presence of a third figure gives me hope — that I feel like I can catch up with her. So I told Wu Xiangdong, add a little more, and chase forward. But I was afraid that he would add too much, so I told him: "Add a few seconds and a few seconds, don't add too fast, or I will collapse in a kilometer or two." ”
There was a small uphill at about 28km and I couldn't run a bit. Wu Xiangdong said to me, "Hurry!" I replied, "Forget it, I can't bear it, I want to take it easy." At that moment, while thinking about giving up the chase, I also felt hopeful, and my heart kept swaying and fighting. At 32km, my pace dropped to 3 minutes and 46 seconds, and I wanted to give up again. I thought I was tired, and I really couldn't run. I'm constantly making excuses, thinking of what excuses would be right for me.
It wasn't until 37km that I finally caught up to the crooked nut in front of me and made myself third, with another 3:30 pace up! I thought, "No!" people can catch it back all at once. Sticking to this part doesn't give me hope and disappoints me. So, he accelerated two kilometers hard and retained third place.
After crossing the finish line, I couldn't help myself and coughed wildly. When I looked up and saw the result of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds, I was surprised and happy.
Director Zhang's reaction to my performance this time was relatively calm. He probably knows my level as well. If you want to talk about accidents, he is the one who called me an accident when I started last year (2 hours, 28 minutes and 16 seconds). Because I only prepared for that game for 18 days. After I finished running, Director Zhang sent me a message - "It's really hard for you to run such a result."
I care more about finishing third in the international category than winning the women's championship in Xiamen, which makes me more excited and proud. I also checked it after the run, and there are only 14 platinum labels in the world. On such a difficult course, with such a strong wind and not in the best physical condition, it is not easy to stand on the podium of the international category!
For me now, I can't take a domestic championship for myself, it's just my minimum standard. My bigger goal is to be on par with these high-level international players, and to break through myself in terms of results or in the process of competition. In every game, whether it is the state or the ranking, only by breaking through yourself can you gain more competition experience.
Frankly, the opening battle of Xiama has strengthened my confidence in the new year. It makes me believe that I can do better during winter training and have higher expectations for the whole of 2024. I will try my best to achieve the PB of 2 hours, 24 minutes and 05 seconds set in Nagoya.
The highlight of 2024 is the Paris Olympics. The last Olympics in Tokyo was the third marathon of my career. After two competitions, Macau and the Trials, I went to Tokyo to run the Olympics. At that time, I didn't know much about my own state and the rules of marathon sports. At that time, the goal was to finish the race, and it was not a special feeling to finish the race.
Now I have participated in more than a dozen marathons, both large and small, and I have improved in all aspects such as race experience and skills and tactics. That's why I told myself that I could only do better than Tokyo in terms of results and rankings at the Paris Olympics. If I have the chance, I would like to break through in the rankings.
I wanted to relax a little bit in the first half of this year, and after the trials, I officially entered Paris to prepare for the competition, and I began to systematically improve my ability. In the second half of the year, I gave myself another chance to make a breakthrough and chose a foreign event to get the best result. Whether it's the six Grand Slams or Valencia, they're willing to try it, after all, some of the best results in the world have been created on these tracks.
Editor's note: "Brother Dong" is Dong Guojian, a member of the Chinese men's marathon team. "Brother Hui" is Yang Shaohui, a member of the Chinese men's marathon team and the current national record holder. "Zhang Dao" is Zhang Guowei, the Chinese marathon coach.
-END-