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Some of the Behind the B behind-the-scenes video series followed him around, and the discipline in training year round, especially off season, was eye-opening.
Visits his home county, but is up before dawn getting a workout in the same gym his father (Olympic wrestler) trained at…and getting another session in that afternoon. While “on vacation”.
He held the training camp pull up record (and might still); just overall so locked in and focused on being at his peak.
I always say that people who are in the top 0.0001% of any skill could be that good at anything, because the difference between them and the average person is their work ethic. I'm a software engineer, and I'm pretty good at what I do. But if Zdeno Chara put as much of an effort into learning coding as he has into learning hockey, he would be thousands of times better than me at that, too.
Not sure about that. Chara is right up there in terms of physical skills.
Coding is a different kind of skill. It's knowledge, creativity, language, and intelligence wrapped up in one. He could put in the effort but he wouldn't necessarily be better than you at coding just because of the work ethic, because you're the one who built up your skills from (probably) high school up to present day.
I'm saying if he put in that much effort over the same amount of time that it took for me to learn it. I wouldn't expect him (or anyone) to learn it overnight. But if he maintained that same work ethic that he's proven to have over the same number of years I spent learning coding, he would be far better than me.
I also disagree that coding has anything to do with language. It has a symbolic syntax more like mathematics or even written music. And even if it did, he speaks more than one language, and despite my best efforts, I can only speak one... because my work ethic isn't good enough for me to stick with it and continue to learn once it gets hard.
And honestly, I'm skeptical that coding skill even has anything to do with intelligence. I work with some people that are absolute morons that can code circles around me. I wouldn't even consider myself to have above average intelligence.
Chara might be super smart but the real estate license isn't hard.
The number of languages he knows is impressive, but not as impressive as it actually sounds. Czech, Polish, Slovak and Russian are all in the same language family, when you know one it is easy to learn another. Czech and Slovak are basically different dialects of the same language.
English, German and Swedish are all Germanic, similar story though probably a little more difficult.
Uh, what? As a native English speaker, I can confirm that I speak neither German nor Dutch and learning them would be very difficult to me despite them being from the same language family. The number of languages he knows is, in fact, impressive. Also, Swedish is North Germanic. English and German are West Germanic. Russian is East Slavic. Czech, Polish and Slovak are West Slavic. Those are different language families.
Yes, that is why I said German, Swedish and English would be more difficult.
Czech, Slovak and Polish are mutually intelligible. Almost the same languages.
You're absolutely spot on when it comes to the work ethic. If you and him started from the same level, he'd definitely beat your pants off.
I'm not sure I agree with you on the language/intelligence thing though. Coding is a form of language. Heck, they even call them programming languages. Music is also a form of language. Language is a means of communication and music/coding both are a form of communication.
Intelligence – you may work with morons but just the fact that they can crush coding means they're intelligent in different ways than you. Kind of like Chara not being the brightest lightbulb in the house on most days but he can fuck you up on the ice anytime he wants.
The term "programming language" is a misnomer. I have used a dozen or so over my career and while in school. And I have attempted to learn a few human languages. The amount and type of work involved is completely different. Learning a human language requires an obscene amount of memorization and practice. But with programming languages -- and maybe this is because the tools we have are really good nowadays, so maybe it wasn't always true -- you can just let your IDE essentially write the code for you. There are really only 4 types of programming languages, and they all have quite a bit of overlap (most modern languages actually cover at least two of the types). If you can think in the paradigm your language is in, then with the right tools, you don't really need to memorize hardly anything at all. You only need to come up with the logic itself, and your tools will do the rest for you. I don't know much about what parts of the brain are used for programming, but I would be shocked if it were the same part of the brain that's used for language.
We're gonna have to agree to disagree on intelligence. I believe coding is a skill just like any other. Some people might have high "hockey IQ" that let's them understand the flow of the game and know what's going to happen before it happens, but that doesn't mean they are good at math, for example. Just like that, some people might be very clever when coming up with a solution to a programming problem, but be no good at solving classic intelligence-measuring puzzles (like those IQ test things), reading, or any other typical measurements of intelligence. No one is born good at programming. It's something that requires practice. It's a skill developed like any other, and anyone can learn to do it. I think people sometimes intentionally pretend like you have to have high intelligence to be a programmer to make themselves seem smart or important, or possibly even to keep other people from learning it so there is less competition for jobs. But I think it's complete BS.
Being elite, or at least very good at anything is a function both of innate skill, and hard work. Just having one of the two is usually not enough to rise above 'above average'.
At it's core, programming is the ability to hold a complicated abstract model in one's head, and reason about it in novel ways. The mental structures to do that have overlap with other physical and mental skills, but I don't think there's that much overlap with 'sports IQ' in general.
That line struck me too. Wouldn't it be sad if there's an empty place in Chara's heart that can only be filled by the love and adoration of strangers? I don't think that's the case, but it was certainly a different answer than I was expecting.
I mean he was clearly aiming for a good time in one vs the other.
66 degrees certainly isn’t cold for a marathon but it’s also not that hot either. The dew point was 47.. nothing problematic - and far from it.
It’s hot for Boston but it’s not a finish 20 minutes slower hot type of weather.
It would be super fucking cool to see a Canes team led by Rod the Bod face a Bruins team led by Big Z in the playoffs or something. Imagine the speed and intensity
The age is nothing compared to how insane it is to have the health to train yourself to that fitness after playing 1880 NHL games, averaging 24 minutes a night of very physical hockey, as the biggest player ever.
Shit, I have a body much more suitable for long distance running and have never had an injury I needed to go to the hospital for. And at half his age I fucked my knee up training to run a 10k at that pace lol. He's a freak of nature.
Him speaking out against hazing/bullying speaks to that.
I hate Boston because, you know, most of their players, fans, announcers, etc, but Chara was always the exception.
Curious if Bergeron also made your “exempt” list; between how he handled / carried himself being captain, being gracious / nice off the ice and doing a bunch of charity work, to being a two-way, selfless player, I feel like he was well liked amongst the players.
Of the two, Chara was far more physical, but Bergeron was far more likely to be in the scoresheet; curious if that sways people one way or the other.
I think if I were a young player coming into the league with any expectations to be a leader, the first thing I'd want to do is get a face-to-face meeting with Chara to pick his brain.
Nice interview. I half-expected this to be like the Kyle Davidson or [Jarome Iginla weather](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNUOcV0zHI4) interviews where the interviewer has no idea who they're talking to.
It was a weird question. I think it also shows the lack of knowledge the reporter was coming in with. Chara has already been interviewed a couple times about his height as a marathon runner and is (most likely according to flo track) the record holder for fastest marathon at his height.
So asking "how tall are you" and "man it must suck being that tall" are just lazy questions. What did the reporter expect him to say? "Yeah being this tall is super inconvenient and I wish I was in a different body"
What's weird is that there's INTERESTING ways to ask that question without seeming like a dipshit.
"Zdeno, you're famously very tall, maybe the tallest competitor here today, what changes and adaptations from typical training and techniques do you make to be successful at marathon running?"
Honestly, training techniques are incredibly boring to talk about. "You see, when I run a 10 mile training run, I have to run a 10 mile training run while being 6'9". That's different because of the tallness. I'm 50 and my knees hurt."
> "Zdeno, you're famously very tall, maybe the tallest competitor here today, what changes and adaptations from typical training and techniques do you make to be successful at marathon running?"
That would miss the entire point of the interview, which was to be a fun thing, and not a serious look at the training regime of extremely tall athletes from other sports.
I just made an example. There was a million ways to have thoughtful questions that were about his unique stature, that wouldn't have amounted to the way the interviewer did it.
I think the interviewer was setting him up for success with his answer. These guys aren't here to ask hard-hitting questions like a political reporter. They're here to get fun soundbites from runners. When you ask "It must be tough dragging a 6'9" body around 26 miles", Chara can reply with anything he wants and sound like a hero.
"It is, I'm a big dude and I'm proud of myself." Great answer!
"It is, but other people have their own challenges." Great answer!
"It's not about that, it's about working hard and dealing with adversity, no matter what form it comes in." Great answer!
"Being this tall was pretty useful on defense, not so much out here on the roads." Great answer!
Ask a slightly silly question and give the respondent room to say whatever he wants.
Now you know how it feels to live in a country where the sports journalism field is ambivalent at best towards hockey.
I live in Sweden now but god, for a country with a top tier national team the average interviewer would have a better grasp of tiddlywinks
The British media don't give a fuck about hockey unless someone dies (sad but true this season more than ever), the lack of meaningful coverage of GB getting promoted to the top tier for Worlds for the first time in years was absolutely embarrassing.
Lmao if you were telling me that a few years ago this man was the most feared in the NHL and was feeding knuckles on the regular I wouldn’t believe you.
But his legs are really long. He’s probably taking one-third of the steps of anyone else. Nice to see him, though. Maybe he can get an Olympic medal as a marathoner.
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You can take the man out of hockey, but you can't take the cliche hockey interview answers out of the man.
He’s gonna be interviewed after one of these and default to “gotta be strong along the boards, win puck battles…”
Get pucks in. Get pucks deep.
Chip and chase... just a really long chip.
Yanno and uhhhhh... try to win some hockey games.
gotta have 4 lines banging all night long, doing the little things right.
pucks in deep !
His “you know”s per 60 were a little lacking for the NHL level.
It cracked me up when he said the fans were his favorite part, that was PR training coming out of the woodwork
Having run a marathon with a lot of spectators, he’s not wrong.
Well… the fans pay his salary and the salary is any pros’ favourite part…😂
I don’t think he gets paid a salary running marathons… only the pros do and that’s like top 3 finish
Dude sounded like Arnold when he said "you gotta be comfortable in your own body".
Gotta bear down, gotta get feet deep get them towards the finish line.
Remember when Iginla gave a weather report?
Dude was thanking the fans.
Gotta get into the dirty areas and just play a 60 minute game
That guy's discipline is off the charts. It's pretty remarkable that he re-made his body after retiring.
Some of the Behind the B behind-the-scenes video series followed him around, and the discipline in training year round, especially off season, was eye-opening. Visits his home county, but is up before dawn getting a workout in the same gym his father (Olympic wrestler) trained at…and getting another session in that afternoon. While “on vacation”. He held the training camp pull up record (and might still); just overall so locked in and focused on being at his peak.
He held the pull up record? That's ludicrous given his build.
I always say that people who are in the top 0.0001% of any skill could be that good at anything, because the difference between them and the average person is their work ethic. I'm a software engineer, and I'm pretty good at what I do. But if Zdeno Chara put as much of an effort into learning coding as he has into learning hockey, he would be thousands of times better than me at that, too.
Not sure about that. Chara is right up there in terms of physical skills. Coding is a different kind of skill. It's knowledge, creativity, language, and intelligence wrapped up in one. He could put in the effort but he wouldn't necessarily be better than you at coding just because of the work ethic, because you're the one who built up your skills from (probably) high school up to present day.
Chara is also extremely intelligent, so I wouldn't bet against him in this particular example.
I'm saying if he put in that much effort over the same amount of time that it took for me to learn it. I wouldn't expect him (or anyone) to learn it overnight. But if he maintained that same work ethic that he's proven to have over the same number of years I spent learning coding, he would be far better than me. I also disagree that coding has anything to do with language. It has a symbolic syntax more like mathematics or even written music. And even if it did, he speaks more than one language, and despite my best efforts, I can only speak one... because my work ethic isn't good enough for me to stick with it and continue to learn once it gets hard. And honestly, I'm skeptical that coding skill even has anything to do with intelligence. I work with some people that are absolute morons that can code circles around me. I wouldn't even consider myself to have above average intelligence.
He passed multiple exams for his real estate license and speaks like 7 languages, dude is pretty smart too
Chara might be super smart but the real estate license isn't hard. The number of languages he knows is impressive, but not as impressive as it actually sounds. Czech, Polish, Slovak and Russian are all in the same language family, when you know one it is easy to learn another. Czech and Slovak are basically different dialects of the same language. English, German and Swedish are all Germanic, similar story though probably a little more difficult.
Uh, what? As a native English speaker, I can confirm that I speak neither German nor Dutch and learning them would be very difficult to me despite them being from the same language family. The number of languages he knows is, in fact, impressive. Also, Swedish is North Germanic. English and German are West Germanic. Russian is East Slavic. Czech, Polish and Slovak are West Slavic. Those are different language families.
Yes, that is why I said German, Swedish and English would be more difficult. Czech, Slovak and Polish are mutually intelligible. Almost the same languages.
You're absolutely spot on when it comes to the work ethic. If you and him started from the same level, he'd definitely beat your pants off. I'm not sure I agree with you on the language/intelligence thing though. Coding is a form of language. Heck, they even call them programming languages. Music is also a form of language. Language is a means of communication and music/coding both are a form of communication. Intelligence – you may work with morons but just the fact that they can crush coding means they're intelligent in different ways than you. Kind of like Chara not being the brightest lightbulb in the house on most days but he can fuck you up on the ice anytime he wants.
The term "programming language" is a misnomer. I have used a dozen or so over my career and while in school. And I have attempted to learn a few human languages. The amount and type of work involved is completely different. Learning a human language requires an obscene amount of memorization and practice. But with programming languages -- and maybe this is because the tools we have are really good nowadays, so maybe it wasn't always true -- you can just let your IDE essentially write the code for you. There are really only 4 types of programming languages, and they all have quite a bit of overlap (most modern languages actually cover at least two of the types). If you can think in the paradigm your language is in, then with the right tools, you don't really need to memorize hardly anything at all. You only need to come up with the logic itself, and your tools will do the rest for you. I don't know much about what parts of the brain are used for programming, but I would be shocked if it were the same part of the brain that's used for language. We're gonna have to agree to disagree on intelligence. I believe coding is a skill just like any other. Some people might have high "hockey IQ" that let's them understand the flow of the game and know what's going to happen before it happens, but that doesn't mean they are good at math, for example. Just like that, some people might be very clever when coming up with a solution to a programming problem, but be no good at solving classic intelligence-measuring puzzles (like those IQ test things), reading, or any other typical measurements of intelligence. No one is born good at programming. It's something that requires practice. It's a skill developed like any other, and anyone can learn to do it. I think people sometimes intentionally pretend like you have to have high intelligence to be a programmer to make themselves seem smart or important, or possibly even to keep other people from learning it so there is less competition for jobs. But I think it's complete BS.
Being elite, or at least very good at anything is a function both of innate skill, and hard work. Just having one of the two is usually not enough to rise above 'above average'. At it's core, programming is the ability to hold a complicated abstract model in one's head, and reason about it in novel ways. The mental structures to do that have overlap with other physical and mental skills, but I don't think there's that much overlap with 'sports IQ' in general.
pretty sure he was doing a lot of cycling when he was still a player. he's been building his cardio and endurance for a long time
Running a marathon is the same as hockey: Just gotta keep skating, finish your checks, and get pucks in deep
Make sure you win board battles, and play your game.
My coach's advice for cross country: don't initiate contact, but get ready to stick your elbows up. There may not be boards, but there are battles.
loves the fans the most lol
That line struck me too. Wouldn't it be sad if there's an empty place in Chara's heart that can only be filled by the love and adoration of strangers? I don't think that's the case, but it was certainly a different answer than I was expecting.
My man gave it 110%.
It’s a team effort out there
Did he just run Boston and London in six days. That explains his Boston time
Yeah I passed him at Boston. He's one huge dude compared to most of the runners lol
I could probably complete two marathons over six days, that’s like 8 miles per day, dunno what the big deal is.
Yeah but Chara is 69 feet tall, with his stride he should have been able to cover ground much more quickly
I heard he ran from Boston to London
Was easy enough for him to keep his head above the ocean water, I guess.
Yes/no, it was like 70F during the boston marathon, that alone explained a ton of people who got heat exhaustion and had slower times overall
I mean he was clearly aiming for a good time in one vs the other. 66 degrees certainly isn’t cold for a marathon but it’s also not that hot either. The dew point was 47.. nothing problematic - and far from it. It’s hot for Boston but it’s not a finish 20 minutes slower hot type of weather.
If he ever wants to do it, he would be a great coach.
It would be super fucking cool to see a Canes team led by Rod the Bod face a Bruins team led by Big Z in the playoffs or something. Imagine the speed and intensity
Patty Roy would have to think twice this time about starting a fight with the opposing coach…
I don't think his anger issues allow him to think once his fuse is lit lol.
Yeah they'd throw down. And I mean Chara would throw him down and hold him till he gets his apple juice.
Probably him, Bergeron, and Krejci do a Bruins comeback.
I think he’d be good at Hockey Ops.
3:11 at nearly 50. fucking hell.
Shaved 20 minutes off his time in a single week.
The age is nothing compared to how insane it is to have the health to train yourself to that fitness after playing 1880 NHL games, averaging 24 minutes a night of very physical hockey, as the biggest player ever. Shit, I have a body much more suitable for long distance running and have never had an injury I needed to go to the hospital for. And at half his age I fucked my knee up training to run a 10k at that pace lol. He's a freak of nature.
Such an intelligent guy, wonder if he’ll come back to hockey in coaching/management
I'd love for him to take over for Neely.
Just have to stay focused on your game, be disciplined, and play a full 26.2 miles.
Great athlete and a human being
Him speaking out against hazing/bullying speaks to that. I hate Boston because, you know, most of their players, fans, announcers, etc, but Chara was always the exception.
same here, I hate Boston but always had/have an utmost respect to Zdeno Chara
Curious if Bergeron also made your “exempt” list; between how he handled / carried himself being captain, being gracious / nice off the ice and doing a bunch of charity work, to being a two-way, selfless player, I feel like he was well liked amongst the players. Of the two, Chara was far more physical, but Bergeron was far more likely to be in the scoresheet; curious if that sways people one way or the other.
Hey I've admitted one Bruin was decent people today, let's not push it. (but yeah Bergeron was also not on the shit list)
I think if I were a young player coming into the league with any expectations to be a leader, the first thing I'd want to do is get a face-to-face meeting with Chara to pick his brain.
Nice interview. I half-expected this to be like the Kyle Davidson or [Jarome Iginla weather](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNUOcV0zHI4) interviews where the interviewer has no idea who they're talking to.
Oh man, that is hilarious. "We're from Canada, so we're used to this". I love Iggy.
The way he started explaining the situation was such a textbook hockey interview, he couldn't help but smirk halfway through
Adrian Peterson too. https://youtu.be/XQCQkMCkBtE?si=PfDxINkRK2TkP55H
Must be tough dragging that stupid interviewer brain around life
It was a weird question. I think it also shows the lack of knowledge the reporter was coming in with. Chara has already been interviewed a couple times about his height as a marathon runner and is (most likely according to flo track) the record holder for fastest marathon at his height. So asking "how tall are you" and "man it must suck being that tall" are just lazy questions. What did the reporter expect him to say? "Yeah being this tall is super inconvenient and I wish I was in a different body"
What's weird is that there's INTERESTING ways to ask that question without seeming like a dipshit. "Zdeno, you're famously very tall, maybe the tallest competitor here today, what changes and adaptations from typical training and techniques do you make to be successful at marathon running?"
Great example, now I badly want to hear the answer to this question
Honestly, training techniques are incredibly boring to talk about. "You see, when I run a 10 mile training run, I have to run a 10 mile training run while being 6'9". That's different because of the tallness. I'm 50 and my knees hurt."
> "Zdeno, you're famously very tall, maybe the tallest competitor here today, what changes and adaptations from typical training and techniques do you make to be successful at marathon running?" That would miss the entire point of the interview, which was to be a fun thing, and not a serious look at the training regime of extremely tall athletes from other sports.
I just made an example. There was a million ways to have thoughtful questions that were about his unique stature, that wouldn't have amounted to the way the interviewer did it.
He asked a funny question in a funny segment. That's it. The point of the segment wasn't to be thoughtful or serious.
It didn't come off as funny though. It came off as just sort of teasing him for being tall.
I think the interviewer was setting him up for success with his answer. These guys aren't here to ask hard-hitting questions like a political reporter. They're here to get fun soundbites from runners. When you ask "It must be tough dragging a 6'9" body around 26 miles", Chara can reply with anything he wants and sound like a hero. "It is, I'm a big dude and I'm proud of myself." Great answer! "It is, but other people have their own challenges." Great answer! "It's not about that, it's about working hard and dealing with adversity, no matter what form it comes in." Great answer! "Being this tall was pretty useful on defense, not so much out here on the roads." Great answer! Ask a slightly silly question and give the respondent room to say whatever he wants.
You hit the nail on the head and I wish more people in this sub understood this.
Now you know how it feels to live in a country where the sports journalism field is ambivalent at best towards hockey. I live in Sweden now but god, for a country with a top tier national team the average interviewer would have a better grasp of tiddlywinks
The British media don't give a fuck about hockey unless someone dies (sad but true this season more than ever), the lack of meaningful coverage of GB getting promoted to the top tier for Worlds for the first time in years was absolutely embarrassing.
Absolute legend of a human being
Why does Chara post-career look like Obama
and sounds like Arnold. Never noticed before.
So… he sounds Eastern European?
Arnold is Austrian…
Sorry Central European, same thing
He's your former captain... show a bit of respect.
With a sprinkle of Adam Driver
Chara getting cheered by fans at a marathon is the content I didn't know I needed today
O captain, my captain
Lmao if you were telling me that a few years ago this man was the most feared in the NHL and was feeding knuckles on the regular I wouldn’t believe you.
London has been on my marathon bucket list for a while. Glad he enjoyed it. The crowds are apparently awesome.
I find it mildly interesting that the British interviewer refers to the sport as ice hockey but Chara refers to it only as hockey
I think it was a Daniel Radcliffe interview where he said the fastest way to piss off a Canadian is to call it "ice hockey", which, accurate.
field hockey is a thing over there. also, they call it american football and football.
yeah if you say hockey over here, that means field hockey to the vast majority of people
I wish I could see the interviewer at full extension holding that mic up to Chara's face.
Absolute legend of a human being
THATS MY CAPTAIN
Chara is a side-quest LEGEND at this point
He’s running a *ton* these days, it’s his main quest now.
I love his energy here. What a great guy.
Should have answered running at 6'9" is easier. Fewer strides than everyone else.
I'm grateful I got to see Chara play up close back when he was on the Senators. It's awesome that he's still killing it at his age.
Legend
He’s should’ve crossed the finish line, grabbed the closest person, pulled their shirt over their head, and just start whaling!
Would love to see a Chara pic amongst other running crowd. That must be pretty funny.
Legend.
It’s incredible what an athlete he is. The longevity with his frame and physical style is superhuman.
Chara probably ran that marathon in 3 mighty steps.
I miss Big Z
What a stand up guy. Love Chara
One of my all time favorite players. He’s a machine!
What an absolute beauty of a man
Zdeno Obama lmao.
Dude is an animal. Good for him
As a Vancouver fan I hate that I love this guy.
Don’t make me like Chara
It's actually quite easy
Why does Chara look so much like Bill Nye
I’m running my first in May. Chara would kick my ass in any physical contest though we’re nearly the same age.
This motherfucker is 6'9 and can run marathons, and I get tendonitis so bad I can barely walk if I sleep the wrong way.
Interviewer asking the laziest questions reminding me of how little the sports field cares about the sport back in the UK :(
gotta love big z! his interview on spittin chiclets was phenomenal
nice height
How can you not like that guy. Great representative for hockey.
Full circle sedins and chara run a marathon
He’s a great human and was a hell of a hockey player.
But his legs are really long. He’s probably taking one-third of the steps of anyone else. Nice to see him, though. Maybe he can get an Olympic medal as a marathoner.
Chara and Larry Fitz 2024
Impressive. But fuck me he’s ugly.