Chapter 39: This Is the Power of Scientific Training

A sibling rivalry match.

It held quite a strong appeal, especially in 2004, when the absence of smartphones meant there was nothing to help "raise the threshold of stimulation." Any small novelty was enough to get these hot-blooded young men worked up.

Zhou Tao agreed to the race primarily because he truly wanted to see if his little brother could actually run under 10.90 seconds. He clearly remembered hearing Gou Zhiqiang mention at the end of last year that Zhou Bing was still struggling to consistently break the 11-second barrier.

Breaking 11 seconds was one thing, but once you crossed that threshold, every 0.05 seconds became a major hurdle. It wasn't that easy to overcome. If Zhou Bing could really clock a 10.90, wouldn't that mean his little brother had leveled up twice in just a few months? And these were two levels within the 10-second range—that would be simply incredible.

During the Chinese New Year, because the provincial team had competitions, Zhou Tao hadn't stayed long and hadn't had a chance to have a heart-to-heart with his brother. In his mind, it was already quite an achievement for Zhou Bing to consistently stay under 11 seconds. Breaking 10.90? That seemed a bit far-fetched. The sub-11-second territory wasn't exactly common; not many people could reach it.

Zhou Bing was initially a bit "reluctant," but under Su Shen's insistence, he "half-willingly" agreed to this "brother-on-brother showdown."

"Bing, take it seriously! Run hard and let me see if you've really grown this much." Seeing Zhou Bing's attitude, Zhou Tao reprimanded him. It seemed to be a conditioned reflex; Zhou Bing quickly settled down, nodded, and agreed to start.

Su Shen believed that Zhou Bing had to clear this hurdle of his older brother himself. After this period of "scientific training," Su Shen was certain that Zhou Bing could improve by at least one level from his personal best of 10.95.

Although it was only a hand-timed race without a starting pistol, starting blocks were common in the sports school. Once both men stepped onto the blocks, someone volunteered to act as the starter, raising their hand and shouting loudly:

"On your marks."
"Set."
"Go!"

Both men dashed out quickly. Clearly, Zhou Tao wasn't going all out. Perhaps he, too, wanted to see if his brother had truly made progress; otherwise, his current strength could be described as crushing Zhou Bing. But keep in mind... it was precisely this holding back that almost caused him to capsize in the gutter.

After sprinting out, Zhou Bing saw that he wasn't far behind his brother, and remembering what Su Shen had told him, he suddenly felt invigorated. When there's a chance, a person's state changes completely. As an athlete, no one ever truly wants to lose.

He ran the first thirty meters well, without wasting any time. His technique was solid, but... it was still too slow. At this speed, it was impossible to run under 10.90! This was Zhou Tao's assessment. As a member of the provincial team, he was clearly confident in his own ability, as he still had the mental bandwidth to observe and judge. If he had time to speak, he would certainly have said: "Is that it? That's all you've got to tell me you can run under 10.90? I don't believe it."

Just as everyone was preparing to mock Su Shen and Zhou Bing, Zhou Bing suddenly... sped up.

What was going on? How could he suddenly be so much faster at this point? And his rhythm and athletic form seemed as if he had effortlessly brought everything to the next level at once. Seizing a moment of inattention from Zhou Tao, Zhou Bing surged forward, suddenly taking the lead by half a body length.

He had established an advantage for the first time.

Truth be told, this was the first time Zhou Bing could remember ever surpassing his own older brother. Even if it was just by this small half-length, it was a complete and utter first.

It filled him with sudden, surging motivation. Yes, boys are sometimes just that single-celled; a tiny thing is enough to set them off.

"Come on! You can do it!" Su Shen's cheering came at the perfect moment, making Zhou Bing feel completely refreshed, as if he had been injected with adrenaline, sprinting with all his might toward the finish line.

It would be embarrassing to lose this. While a little bit of leniency was fine, Zhou Tao didn't intend to lose the race—how else could he maintain his authority as the big brother? But by now, Zhou Bing had entered a state of "extreme excitement." He didn't care what anyone said; he just wanted to beat his older brother once, even if he knew Zhou Tao hadn't been going all out from the start.

Once this thought took hold, it generated such powerful inner drive that Zhou Bing found it incredible even in hindsight.

Zhou Tao couldn't figure it out at all. How could Zhou Bing suddenly accelerate from such an advanced position? That state and rhythm were just like what the provincial team coaches described—the intersection of the point of maximum human speed explosion and the point of maximum energy output. The better the combination, the faster the speed.

This was a question Zhou Tao had never been able to resolve, and he had secretly asked other seniors on the team, but hardly anyone understood it. So, how did his "good-for-nothing" little brother manage it? Was it a coincidence? Did he just happen to hit it by chance?

In reality, there was no coincidence. This was the maximum effect of the "Six-Second Law." Because the "Six-Second Law," determined through scientific research, is the optimal time window where the peak of human explosive speed and the peak of energy output converge. Trying to find this optimal combination point throughout the entire 100-meter dash was too difficult. When it happened occasionally, it was impossible to grasp, just a flash in the pan.

Now, by focusing on the "Six-Second Law," one naturally finds this intersection more often, building more muscle memory. Once the time was condensed into a fixed number and professional athletes practiced it repeatedly, it was infinitely more efficient than blundering about like a headless chicken.

After the New Year, Zhou Bing hadn't tested his limits much, but he had consistently followed the training regimen set by Ning Debao and Su Shen. Even if his brain couldn't fully comprehend it, as long as his body remembered, that was enough.

After six seconds, Zhou Bing's burst of speed was more sustained and astonishing than Zhou Tao had imagined. Zhou Tao began to chase with all his might. Otherwise, he really might lose this race. Both were stride-type runners, so the late-stage confrontation was crucial. Here, Zhou Bing's lack of raw, deep-seated strength became apparent, and Zhou Tao began to catch up aggressively.

Only right before the finish line did Zhou Tao manage to overtake him, narrowly avoiding a "careless defeat." Although he didn't win, the back-and-forth chase forced Zhou Tao to exert 120% of his energy. This was the closest Zhou Bing had ever been to his "great big brother" in his life. He had come within a hair's breadth of winning.

Despite the regret of the final defeat, thinking about the minuscule gap made Zhou Bing happy again. It seemed that in the future, he really might be able to catch up to Zhou Tao.

After jogging back after the finish, they looked at the stopwatch, and Zhou Tao was stunned.

Zhou Tao: 10.62.
Zhou Bing: 10.64.
A difference of only 0.02 seconds.

Even with hand-timing, which has an error margin of about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds, taking the median value of 0.25, Zhou Tao’s adjusted time was 10.87, and Zhou Bing’s was 10.89. If there was no mistake, this was definitely breaking the 10.90 barrier, and certainly not the level of someone just struggling to break 11 seconds.

"Well done."
"I knew you were no worse than your brother."
Su Shen came over to high-five Zhou Bing in celebration. This was science. It allowed human potential to be realized to a greater extent.

...

Although he ultimately lost, this was definitely no loss for Zhou Bing; on the contrary, it was highly beneficial. His confidence had multiplied overnight. He was in such a great mood he could have turned into a werewolf and howled at the sky. This round of the "brotherly duel" had at least made one thing clear: facing his genius brother from the provincial team, he was no longer a "nobody" without a fighting chance. In fact, in the future, he might even have the opportunity to face him in a fair fight.

Zhou Tao looked at the results. His first reaction wasn't to throw a fit, but to ask, "Bing, how did you do that? Why did you suddenly speed up so much during the mid-race?"

What could he expect from his "dim-witted" brother? Zhou Bing, still buzzing from the "narrow defeat," subconsciously replied, "I don't know, I just follow Coach Ning's training every day. I don't really know what's going on. It seems like Coach Ning wrote an article about something called the Six-Second Law, but I don't really know what it means."

"The Six-Second Law???"

Zhou Tao was completely bewildered. He had never heard of this theory. And most importantly, this meant his previous assumption was wrong. His little brother's explosive acceleration during the mid-race wasn't a matter of luck—it was trained.

Zhou Tao felt a bit dazed. He wasn't even sure if he should believe Zhou Bing.

"Brother Tao, don't underestimate your brother. Maybe one day he'll join me in the provincial team," Su Shen said. This statement shocked Zhou Tao even more. After the incident with Zhou Bing, he didn't dare to look down on Su Shen anymore; instead, he studied him seriously.

He felt that this guy, whose build and height were "non-mainstream" for a sprinter, didn't seem to be fantasizing or longing when he said that—he was simply stating a fact. As if the provincial team, which he had broken his head trying to get into, was for Su Shen... just a mandatory stage, like "compulsory education."

Thinking back, Su Shen had only been here for two months, and he had already been taken to an invitational where he defeated the recovering Yi Xiaoqiang. Even with all the excuses, could someone with average talent beat Yi Xiaoqiang?

Zhou Tao seemed to gradually understand why his brother refused to go back at all costs. With this kind of speed increase, who would leave? If it were him, he wouldn't go back either.

Zhou Bing had improved so much, so what about this Su Shen, who had broken his own "recruit camp" record? Could it be that he was... even faster than Zhou Bing?

If he knew that Su Shen was planning to represent the national team in the World Youth Championships next year, his jaw would probably hit the floor.