Will miracles happen?
No one knows.
On October 19, 2018, a sleek figure carrying luggage to the Laoshan Sports Base in Beijing's West Fifth Ring Road reported that it was once a training area for cycling and fencing projects, and now it is also the base camp for cross-country skiing.
Chen Penbin, who is known as an "extreme marathon champion runner", in the next three years, his new identity is "cross-country skiing 50 km athlete", which is also the first time that he has been related to the "national training team" after he became famous for many years.
Chen Penbin conducts cross-country skiing land training in Laoshan Mountain
In the Laoshan athletes apartment building, Chen Pengbin has a single dormitory, he gets up at 7 o'clock every morning, eats three meals a day in the athlete canteen, trains on land in the morning, physical training in the afternoon, and will learn cross-country skiing knowledge in the evening, and rest one day a week, which is the simple life of athletes in the national system.
"Thanks to the care of the leaders, many other people are still between two people," he said to Lazy Bear Sports in the lobby after the training. Due to the perennial outdoor exercise, Chen Pengbin has a dark complexion, looks very lean, and several horizontal stripes on his forehead reveal a sense of age. Since 2015, he has deliberately kept an Forrest Gump-style short hair, wearing the sports cotton suit of sponsor Anta, facing reporters, people are very humble, there is no "star athlete" shelf, there are questions and answers, and the performance is sincere.
"The canteen is very good with meals, the meat and vegetarian are well matched, and they will pay more attention to nutrition than their own home," As a Zhejiang native, he does not care about not being able to eat hometown dishes, "As an athlete, playing all over the world, you must learn not to pick!" ”
"I'm very good at suffering myself. If you choose, you have to adapt. ”
40 years ago, Chen Penbin, who "can endure hardships", was born into a fisherman's family in Beishan Village, Jishan Township, Yuhuan County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. Jishan Township is an island township that takes 30 minutes by boat from Yuhuan County. People in the village make a living by fishing, and after graduating from primary school at the age of 14, Chen Pengbin became one of them. At the age of 17, he went to sea with the fishing boat, encountered wind and waves on the way, the ship's motor was broken, seven or eight people drifted in the sea for two days and two nights, ran out of fresh water, and relied on drinking seawater to survive until the arrival of the rescue ship.
Because of these experiences, he is very satisfied with the life he now does not have to think about life and death, food and clothing.
"We fishermen don't have any ideas, we can only follow the fate. Fishermen's life is always in the sea, never knowing the future, because nature is very terrible and can only be resigned to fate. I am lucky, I also have friends who were buried in the sea because of an accident. Time passed, and when Chen Penbin talked about this topic to Lazy Bear Sports, the word order became slightly confused and his voice became deeper.
For ordinary fishermen who only have a primary school education, it is not easy to get away from the life of their ancestors, and Chen Penbin's way is very unique - challenging Guinness.
After winning a push-up competition in town, Chen Pengbin borrowed 200 yuan from his uncle in 2001 to pay for the trip and went to Wenzhou TV to participate in "China Tv Guinness". After that, he did a lot of things that ordinary people could not imagine, such as running a marathon in leather shoes, climbing 220 steps with a 150-kilogram sandbag, and walking around the 240-meter-long playground with 20 kilograms of mineral water, etc., and became a local celebrity. He became the first national mountain outdoor champion in 2007 and even won a torch relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In 2009, he began his global campaign at the Mont Blanc Challenge in France, starting with the 250 km extreme marathon at the Gobi Race in Xinjiang, Asia, in June 2010 and ending with the 100 km extreme marathon in Antarctica in November 2014, completing the Challenge of the Seven Continents Extreme Marathon, a feat that was once on TV news.
In 2014, Chen Pengbin won the 100km extreme race in Antarctica
However, what really made his name spread across the country was the "Challenge 100" in 2015, which ran 100 marathons in 100 days.
At that time, Chen Penbin, under the planning of the agency Shengli Family, wanted to try such an action to challenge the Guinness Book of Records, they found LeTV Sports to broadcast the whole video live, and Amway Nutrilite and ANTA became sponsors. The journey runs through China from south to north, starting in Haixinsha, where the opening ceremony of the Asian Games was held in Guangzhou, and ending at the Wukesong Gymnasium, the venue of the Beijing Olympic Games. For 100 consecutive days, Chen Pengbin needed to run 42.195 kilometers a day, a full marathon distance.
"People have to learn to be satisfied in order to have a sense of happiness, right?"
In April 2015, under the Haixinsha and Canton Tower, Yao Ming practiced for him, and that challenge carried the banner of "helping to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics" and was paid attention all the way.
Only ten days after the start, Chen Pengbin's body had a series of problems, such as body swelling, joint swelling, etc., Chang Xi - is his current physical coach in the national team - as a physical rehabilitation engineer on the 11th day of the line of fire, emergency support Chen Pengbin. In the following 90 days, Chang Xi gave Chen Pengbin rehabilitation treatment and nutritional replenishment, ensuring the whole process of the activity. "He was very strong, a few times the nails of his feet were worn out, the socks came off, the flesh and blood were blurred; the foot bones had been somewhat deformed, but he still persevered," Chang Xi recalled the situation at that time, in his opinion, for 100 consecutive days, running a full horse every day, the fault tolerance rate was very low, after all, as long as it stopped for a day, it was a challenge failure. But Chen Penbin did it, and his ability to withstand pain was much stronger than that of ordinary people.
Chen Penbin has a nickname of "Chinese Forrest Gump"
With the success of the "Challenge 100" in 2015, Chen Penbin was touted to the top, and his advertising film for ANTA was broadcast on CCTV-5, which was the most famous runner in China at that time. However, after the outside world was dubbed "Running God", "Chinese Forrest Gump" and other titles, he himself did not flutter, but sank more.
"I know that although I am famous, I am not a big ordinary person like many people, I am not great, just a little harder than others. No matter how successful you are, you are just an ordinary person. You have to have greater value and responsibility for this society. ”
From the grassroots of spontaneous training to the stars, Chen Bonbin has not come easy all the way. In 2003, when he went to Shanghai to participate in the international triathlon, he used a 500-piece bicycle, and when he heard that other runners' cars cost tens of thousands of pieces, Chen Pengbin did not dare to imagine it at all. That year, in order to raise funds for the competition, Chen Pengbin thought of more enterprises in Wenzhou, and deliberately found a local advertising yellow page to call the sponsors one by one, which was completely ineffective. Later, because of the introduction of relatives and friends, he met the kitchen and bathroom brand Suber, entered the company to work, and at the same time received six figures of the annual competition funds, so that he could compete around. "I'm still an employee of Suber, and they pay me every month. Special thanks to Chairman Su Xianze, if it were not for them, there would be no me today, and I have always remembered this kindness. Chen Pengbin said. During the competition, Chen Pengbin will deliberately add a Su Boer LOGO in addition to Anta, which he himself found a merchant in Taobao.
After completing the "Challenge for 100 Days" in 2015, Chen Penbin was grateful for the successful business operation of the brokerage company Shengli Shijia and also took the initiative to sign a 10-year long contract.
"As a private player, it is an honor to have the opportunity to play for the country."
In the past two years, in addition to training and running, Chen Pengbin has been doing two things wholeheartedly. The first is to learn photography, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a lot of equipment, take more photos for themselves, parents and family, hoping to leave some records of life; the other is to go to school to promote running, he contacted the Sports Bureau and the Education Bureau in Yuhuan County, and went to many township schools to teach students what is the right running. "There are a lot of people running now, many people are running with their legs open, but this is not right, it is very stimulating for the knee joint, and the chance of injury is high." In the long run, spread from school, so that children know the right technology from the very beginning. He is a deputy to the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress, hoping to influence generations to receive correct and scientific training from the beginning of the school.
In 2017, Chen Pengbin and his wife and daughter lived in Beijing for more than half a year, in order to facilitate the daily run in the Olympic Sports Park, he rented a house on Datun Road, but finally chose to return to his hometown in Yuhuan. "Beijing has many resources and a big city, but the pressure is also very large, I still prefer to be in my hometown," said Chen Pengbin, who has more mountains in his hometown, and he goes to train and run mountains every morning, goes home to eat at noon, and has to practice a long distance of seventy or eighty kilometers once a week.
He does not smoke or drink and is not paid, and although he used to be outside the state system, he has always demanded himself by the standards of a professional athlete. Because of this, after turning 40, he can still win the championship in the G2G extreme race in the United States, and he is willing to step into the completely unfamiliar track of "cross-country skiing". Although a southerner, Chen Pengbin had never seen snow before he became an adult, let alone skied.
Chen Pengbin has been put into cross-country skiing basic training
In preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the original weak foundation of ice and snow sports began a large-scale cross-border talent selection this year. Because the cross-country skiing 50 km event is known as the "snow marathon", star runner Chen Pengbin was mobilized by the General Administration of Sports this summer to transfer the project.
"Without much hesitation, I decided," Mr. Chen said.
Before that, in addition to participating in the competition, Chen Penbin spent more time in his hometown in Yuhuan County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. Seven or eight years ago, he built a small 4-and-a-half-story building in Damai Island, where he lived with his parents and brother's family. Two years ago, he became a father and had a daughter Yinuo. When he's not racing, he trains at home every day, running outdoors and doing workouts in his gym.
His life in the small town is very simple, there is no socializing, so he is very accustomed to the current life of athletes, and he will feel that it is more lively because of the team. There are 20 or 30 athletes training with Chen Pengbin, they are all young, most of them are "post-90s" and "post-00s", and the 40-year-old Chen Pengbin is more like their elders in terms of age.
Because cross-country skiing lacks a project foundation in China, the national team has found foreign teachers from Finland to lead the team, and the entire project belongs to the temporary formation stage, and many runners have transferred from long-distance running and other projects. In this training team, the foreign church examines the potential and adaptability of athletes from all aspects, and almost every day people leave.
But Chen Penbin is an exception. Without formal training, he can maintain the ability to compete for the championship in extreme competitions, and his athletic ability and fame are valued by this project.
As a star player in the "cross-border" transfer, Chen Penbin also got some "privileges": the State General Administration of Sport sent his old acquaintance and physical fitness coach Chang Xi in mid-November to ensure his training, and at the end of the daily routine training, Chang Xi would guide him to do full body stretching and relaxation.
"After Changxi came, the body relaxed better, stretched well, and some movements that could not be done can now be done," Mr. Chen said.
Physical fitness coach Chang Xi (second from left) accompanies Chen Pengbin in training
Chang Xi, who was originally the physical training coach of the Chinese taekwondo national team, went to Atlanta in the United States for four months to learn the knowledge of winter sports and the physical knowledge required in the context of comprehensive preparation for the Winter Olympics. Not surprisingly, in the next three years or so, he will sprint with Chen Penbin to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
"Bingo's biggest advantage is perseverance and strong will quality; the weak link lies in unfamiliarity with the project, old age, muscle stiffness, and inflexible joints. We did the math, it's only over 1100 days, and the challenge is great. Chang Xi said to Lazy Bear Sports.
"Learn to wrestle first, then learn to move"
In Laoshan, on an ordinary Saturday, in the morning, after completing the land training with pulley tools, in the afternoon, after completing the physical training class, Chang Xi helped Chen Pengbin to do stretching and massage. They relax the soles of their feet with fascia balls, stretch the legs with foam rollers, and relax the whole body with a massage gun. These instruments were brought by Chen Pengbin himself, but they were not easy to use, "With Changxi, these instruments are like kitchen knives turned into treasure knives." Chen Pengbin said very easily.
After a month of training, he has just mastered the essentials of skiing land training and basically can't wrestle.
Starting training with pulley tools on land, he had to wrestle six or seven times a day. "To learn wrestling first, and then learn the action", although Chen Penbin lamented that the technical difficulty required for this project exceeded his imagination, but with the same humility as always, Chen Penbin's perspective was particularly positive and positive, "For our folk players, our training is not scientific, and there is such formal training in the national team, team cooperation, dietary conditioning, and the overall is very good." ”
The cross-country skiing 50 km event he hopes to participate in is the last event of the Winter Olympics. Although it is called "snow marathon", in fact, it is very different from marathon and even running:
First of all, running does not require any equipment, while cross-country skiing requires snowboards and poles. When skiing, athletes need to use physical strength to control the equipment to achieve the fastest speed to achieve the best results.
Secondly, it is different from the power point of running and the movement of technology. Running is more with the strength of the hip joint and even the lower limbs to run, the main point of power of skiing is in the position of the core of the torso, followed by the upper limbs, the proportion of lower limb strength is not large. For runners, upper limb strength and core strength are a relatively large defect.
Chen Pengbin, who just won the G2G cross-country championship in the United States in September this year, hopes to create miracles again in cross-country skiing
But at the same time, the cross-country skiing 50 km event requires very strong cardiovascular and lung ability, which is very similar to long-distance marathons, especially cross-country running. In addition, trail running and cross-country skiing are on outdoor paths, uphill, downhill, altitude and altitude are very similar. Therefore, many excellent cross-country skiers in the world will choose cross-country running and variable speed running in the summer to maintain cardiopulmonary ability.
For Chen Pengbin, his biggest challenge is skiing skills. Cross-country skiing of 50 kilometers is a very important event that requires snow and skill accumulation, testing long-distance endurance, in this project, 33-35 years old is the golden age for achievement. From a physiological point of view, the 40-year-old Chen Pengbin is not in the best condition. But he must use his willpower and spirit of not being afraid of suffering to make up for the gap in age and skill.
It's a challenge of only 1100 days. Chen Pengbin will arrive in Wokati, Finland, in December for training at an overseas training base for cross-country skiing in China. There, he will actually start snow training for the first time. Now, Chen Pengbin's first job is to learn to ski, practice his skills for more than a year, and then start competing for world ranking points in 2020 and trying to qualify for the Beijing/Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics.
There is not much time, "fight" is his idea, "if you can stand on the field of the Winter Olympics, it is victory!" Through hard work, it may be possible to create a miracle again. ”
Extended Reading:
The C round received nearly 100 million US dollars of investment from the Chinese, and the Shengli family with Zou Shiming and Chen Pengbin made efforts to create the event IP
Running 30,000 meters a day, the ascetic life of "King of Marathons" Kipchog