Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 201: The Day of the Takamatsu Palace Cup

It was the day of the Takamatsunomiya Cup. As one of the only high-level prize events in July and August, Chukyo, which was usually much less popular than the Tokyo venue, became bustling with people.

As usual, such a high-prize event was scheduled for the penultimate race in the afternoon, so the team had plenty of time to prepare.

"I didn't expect that after accidentally chatting with the younger generations like the Emperor of the East Sea, it would bring about such a change in Inari."

On the way to the contestant preparation room with a pile of information, Yusuhara casually expressed his feelings about the changes in Inariichi during this period of time.

"In the past, she wanted to run for everyone in the Oi neighborhood, and this belief also supported her in winning many competitions."

"Now, she hopes to show a better image to her younger generations, not only for her family members."

"This is in line with her competitive personality. If she had been encouraged in this regard earlier, perhaps the preparations during this period would have gone more smoothly."

The object of Yusuhara's emotion was Kitahara. The two of them followed the team heading to the lounge and fell behind.

After hearing what his colleagues said, Kitahara thought for a moment and explained, "This is something that the Emperor and the others could only discover after participating in this training."

“Training with partners of the same age is really helpful in improving my abilities.”

"It's just that for Inari and the others, they are not only training partners, but also competitors. There may be many things they can't say so freely."

"At times like this, maybe talking to the younger generation about their concerns can really help change their mentality a lot."

The two were talking about the changes in Inari's training before the game.

The interactions between horse girls can improve training and competition in many subtle ways.

With younger generations as their mentors, seniors such as Oguruma, especially Inari Ichi who will soon face the Takamatsunomiya Cup, have seen their training results significantly improved, and the trainers have gradually noticed this.

This made Kitahara and others very happy, especially Inariichi's condition was obviously much better than before.

In the current special training for the Takamatsunomiya Cup, the horse girl was able to receive training some time ago, but after Oguruma and other companions deliberately changed their running rhythm, her emotional changes were clearly felt.

If this situation continues, even if the basic capabilities have sufficient advantages, there will still be certain risks in actual performance.

Naturally, this situation needs to be avoided, and the trainers spent a lot of time thinking of a solution.

For example, you can increase the number of sparring sessions, so that you can use the idea of ​​"desensitization therapy" to enhance adaptability. As long as you have enough contact, you will be more adaptable in actual competitions.

Or you can relax the day before the competition and stay in good condition for the next day's competition.

Or they could make adjustments during the game schedule to ensure that they can maximize their strength advantage even if they are affected by their opponents.

However, Inari's training condition is getting better and better. Even if Oguruma and the others target her like before, she can still complete the run with excellent results.

In this case, there is only one final arrangement left to make.

"In short, I have more people to communicate with and my mentality has changed. This is a pleasant surprise."

Kitahara added: "Perhaps not only Inari, but also Oguruma and the others will communicate more with Emperor and McQueen in the future, and there may be many unexpected changes."

"Yeah, I think so too. After all, no matter what kind of horse girl she is, her competitive spirit is very obvious."

Yuhara smiled and agreed, "Then it is only natural to want to perform better when facing the younger generation."

"This may help them achieve better results in future competitions."

As they were talking, the two had already followed the members in front of them to the lounge, where the materials and tools needed before the game had been prepared in advance according to the team's previous habits.

The only difference from the previous preparation process is that younger generations such as Oguri Roman and the East Sea Emperor were specially arranged in the audience seats.

The seats are next to the door and against the wall, and there is a row of desks like for lectures.

Oguri Roman and the others also sat behind a desk just like they did in class, with papers on the desk and pens in their hands.

Not only do they have to listen to the pre-match arrangements, but they also have to record questions and responses during the process, and carefully review the game after it's over.

Aside from Eisei, no other team or trainer has coached Uma Musume like this, especially those who haven’t debuted yet.

For trainers like Kitahara, this is a kind of exploration, but for Oguri Roman and others, this method, which is different from usual classes and closer to actual combat, makes them feel full of novelty.

Especially someone as lively as the Emperor of the East China Sea, who couldn't help asking questions as soon as he came in, before he even had time to sit down.

"Uncle, I heard from many people that Yongshi's pre-match arrangements are very special, so they can have such outstanding and unexpected performances like our predecessors."

She raised her hand and asked curiously, as if she was asking a question in class, "But it feels like the preparation method here is no different from that of other trainers."

The members of Eternal World were more or less familiar with her positive personality, and upon hearing that, Kitahara responded casually.

"What outsiders say is just their guess. In fact, many of our practices are nothing special."

"Your Majesty, don't be so anxious. Just sit down and listen slowly." He waved his hand, signaling the Emperor of the East China Sea to sit down.

But the Emperor of the East China Sea did not sit down. Instead, he was stunned for a moment and then showed an embarrassed expression. The other horse girls were also stunned for a moment and then covered their mouths and laughed.

Beiyuan also reacted after he finished speaking, and quickly coughed and changed the topic: "Well, if it's not convenient to sit, then...then stand."

"You will understand your question if you listen carefully."

He remembered that the Emperor of the East China Sea had been having problems with his hip recently, making it inconvenient for him to sit.

This was something that made him feel a little amused and helpless. The reason for this was that during the special training period, special emphasis was placed on hip strength training for the horse racing ladies.

This kind of training does not require too high intensity for Oguruma and the others.

The essence of hip training is to reduce the pressure on the legs. As a part with a higher muscle weight, the hips can provide much more power and speed for race walking than most people imagine.

If you can improve it in a targeted way, your legs will move more easily during training and competition, and your leg muscles and joints will suffer less wear and tear.

With long-term nutritional conditioning, the strength base of the seniors in the team is guaranteed, and even with special training, they do not need to spend a lot of time and energy on improving the level of their hips.

However, the Emperor of the East China Sea and his men were not like this.

Considering the level of most trainers at Japan's Tresen Academy, their skills are not as refined as Yongshi's.

Even in the anime's timeline that is closer to the future, the trainers of the East China Sea Emperor and his companions rarely emphasize muscle training other than the legs, at least there is no corresponding content in the pictures shown.

Therefore, when assigning tasks to these little guys, trainers such as Kitahara took into special consideration the overall level and increased the emphasis on core strength and hip strength training.

Especially for the Emperor of the East Sea and Mejiro McQueen.

In Kitahara's memory, these two horse girls in the parallel dimension were professionals with leg diseases and fractures.

He had no idea why this situation occurred in that world.

However, the analysis results of this world show that if the strength of muscles other than the legs can be improved, the misfortunes in the other world can be avoided to a large extent.

This is a different idea from the training plan for Super Bay and Mejiro Aldan. These two predecessors had a long recuperation period and could spend enough time to maintain their legs.

For the two younger players who want to ensure training, transferring the pressure on the legs to a more "tough" position is obviously a more ideal choice.

However, the trainers thought it through clearly, but inadvertently overlooked some of the personality traits of the horse girls themselves.

The Emperor of the East China Sea is too aggressive or too competitive.

If she had followed Yong Shi for a long time, she would know that the amount of training here would be arranged within the tolerance limit of each horse girl, neither more nor less.

If you continue to train at this level, it will not only have a negative impact on yourself, but will also delay subsequent training.

The Emperor of the East China Sea did not know enough about this and did some additional training on his own.

This resulted in that after participating in the training, Roman Oguri, Mejiro McQueen, and Shirahito Narita were able to recover within the planned time, but she needed extra rest time.

Not only does she need rest, but since her training during this period was targeted at her buttocks, her additional training naturally also focused on this aspect.

Due to the excessive intensity, her hip muscles and nerves have not recovered for two or three days, and even sitting and sleeping have become problems.

Even Kitahara had no choice in this situation. He could only emphasize again that "you must follow the training arrangements" and asked Mejiro McQueen to help watch over this overly active friend. Now he told her to just "stand and listen."

After a little episode, Kitahara coughed again and directly played a 3D track diagram on the projection equipment in the lounge.

There are two obvious ovals on the diagram, the outer one is filled with light green, and the inner one is light brown. The light green represents the grass track, and the light brown represents the dirt track.

Compared with the tracks the team has commonly seen in the past, the ones displayed this time are obviously much smaller. It’s not that the difference is in size, but in the number of tracks.

Stadiums like the Tokyo Stadium and the Hanshin Stadium, which are more familiar to Oguruma and her friends, each have at least four lanes.

The innermost layer is often the light blue "obstacle race track", the outermost layer is the dirt track, and the outer two layers are the inner and outer lanes on the grass.

What is being displayed now is the Zhongjing Stadium, which has the fewest tracks and the smallest venue among the major stadiums directly under the URA.

"The track conditions at the Zhongjing venue are relatively simple, with more than 60% of the surface being flat."

Holding a laser pen, he turned counterclockwise along the upper left corner of the runway displayed on the projection screen, and said in a deep voice:

"But there are some troublesome spots, such as the 'sunken' area between the third and fourth turns."

The red dot of the laser pointer pointed to the lower left corner of the runway displayed on the screen.

Because it is a 3D stereoscopic diagram, the remaining runway has a "columnar height" visible to the naked eye.

When it came to the part where the laser pointer was pointing, the track suddenly "collapsed" and the height of the track suddenly dropped by three-quarters. The length of the "depression" occupied about one-quarter of the entire track.

"Before this 'sag' is a gentle uphill slope, and the effect of the slope on speed and power requirements is negligible."

Kitahara continued, “But when you first reach the third turn, the track suddenly drops 3.5 meters in height.”

"After the fourth bend, there is about 350 meters left on the straight section, and there will be an uphill slope with a height difference of about 2 meters."

"Once this uphill climb is over, the rest of the run will be as smooth as the start."

"In other words, the most important part of this game is the 'sunken' position."

“If it’s just uphill and downhill, it’s not a big problem. The handling of this kind of track mainly depends on strength.”

"And as for strength, Inari has no shortage of it."

As he said this, Kitahara looked at Inari with great satisfaction.

"Ha! There's definitely no problem with strength!"

He suddenly spread his legs apart and assumed an exaggerated horse stance, with his hands on his knees, like a sumo wrestler doing warm-up exercises, and then he assumed a posture of pouncing forward with a fierce look in his eyes.

"As long as you control your strength a little bit when going downhill this level, you won't lose balance. As for the 2-meter uphill..."

"It's only 2 meters, it went up in no time!"

"There is no problem!"

Similar words were expressed by Inari Ichi when analyzing the game before. At that time, not only her, but also Kitahara and others felt very confident about this.

Contrary to popular belief, running downhill in a race walking event actually requires more strength than running uphill.

When going downhill, the speed will naturally increase due to the effect of gravity. If you do not have enough strength to control your body at this time, it will easily lead to imbalance and deformation of running posture, and your knees will also be subjected to greater impact force.

Therefore, you need to change your pace and maintain your body posture by stretching your arms, controlling your body to stand upright, adjusting the state of your shoulder muscles, and touching the bottom of the middle and front of your feet at a suitable angle.

This way of running requires you to fight against ground resistance, the forward tendency of the body's center of gravity, and gravity at the same time. Compared with fighting against resistance on flat ground and fighting against resistance and gravity uphill, it requires more powerful strength.

And Inari's strength level is among the best among the current active players in Japan.

Even though her sumo stance isn't very professional now, if she were to compete with sumo wrestlers, in terms of strength alone, it would be impossible for four or five opponents to compete with her.

But in this game, strength alone is definitely not enough.

"Well, we know you have no problem with strength, but as for the specific idea, it's still as we said before. Don't use your full strength in this part."

After nodding his head to confirm Inariichi's momentum, Kitahara looked at Yusuhara and Komiyama respectively, then looked back at the former and said in a deep voice:
"As long as you can maintain an advantageous position at this stage, that is, a familiar position or a chasing position, it will be enough."

“Save the energy and fully utilize it on the final straight line.”

"Besides that, we need to confirm the location of Comet Cosmic Dream and Comet Gu Shui."

"If they regard you as their strongest opponent in this competition as they expected, then if you handle the uphill and downhill positions like this, they will probably shift their attention to each other."

"Then it will be much easier for you in the next stage."

Such an arrangement had been mentioned in the previous game analysis, and corresponding arrangements had also been made in the advance rehearsal training. Inari was not surprised and nodded quickly.

However, the horse racing ladies who were listening in on the action began to voice their doubts.

"Hey? Uncle, can you even guess your opponent's thoughts?"

The East China Sea Emperor was still in an active temperament, but this time after she asked, Mejiro McQueen and others beside her also showed curious expressions.

"I can't say I guessed it, but I made some assumptions based on my opponent's performance in past events..."

After giving a brief explanation, seeing that the Emperor of the East China Sea and the others were still somewhat puzzled, Bei Yuan thought for a moment, then looked at the time displayed in the lower corner of the projection screen. He felt that he could explain it in detail, so he operated the projector for a while.

Soon, a video of the game appeared on the projection screen.

"This is this year's Oaks Competition, and the champion is the Cosmic Dream we just mentioned. Inari and the others have seen it many times before, so now I will explain it specifically to you, the Emperor."

Kitahara added: "Just a good reminder for you guys."

"In any game, it is not enough to just focus on your own condition. You also have to understand the opponent's condition."

"You should have heard from your seniors that Inari's opponent in this Takamatsunomiya Cup is quite troublesome. Her running style and tactics are not conducive to her normal performance."

"That's why we spent a lot of time on adaptability training for her during the previous special training."

"In addition to training, the possible performance of the opponent in the game has also been analyzed."

"Watch this game of Cosmic Dreams and see what you can discover."

When motioning the Emperor of the East China Sea and the others to watch the video, Beiyuan suddenly felt a little funny.

Regarding investigating the opponent's situation, the Emperor of the East China Sea had some interesting performances in the anime.

After her trainer suggested an investigation, she dressed up in a very exaggerated way as a secret agent with a black top hat, black sunglasses, and a black suit, and followed her opponent in the next game everywhere.

Then, because of this special outfit, she was easily discovered by her opponents, which was really ridiculous.

After all, when everyone was wearing the blue and purple uniform of Central Tress Academy, her dark outfit was too conspicuous.

Of course, at the moment, when using the video for analysis and investigation, there is no need to worry about whether the opponent will find out, because URA has ready-made videos of all major competitions.

Whether obtaining it through the media or retrieving the archives of the Board of Directors or the Student Union, it is easy to obtain, especially for such a heavyweight event as the Oak Competition.

The Yongshi team uses the official version, which has high resolution and frame rate, so the athletes can see every scene from the start to the finish line clearly.

However, after watching the entire race, the younger horse racing girls who were listening in fell into deep thought, each of them pinching their chins, frowning, and remaining silent.

Seeing this, Kitahara was not in a hurry. He suddenly thought of letting them watch the video, which was itself a form of guidance.

It would be best if they could figure out the key points themselves, which would be helpful for their competitions and daily training after their debut.

Even if you can’t see it, it doesn’t matter, I will explain it later.

"Just think about it slowly first, and feel free to tell us if you find anything."

Of course, they couldn't just sit there and wait for the East China Sea Emperor and the others' answers regarding the arrangements for the competition, so after giving some instructions, Kitahara looked at Inari.

“So apart from the uphill and downhill parts of the track, you don’t have to worry too much about your opponents making any moves on the rest of the track.”

“The overall plan is still to stay in the middle and back of the team in the first half and pass the slope in a less conspicuous state.”

"When you enter the second half in this state, not only can your basic abilities be maximized, but you can also enter the field normally."

"If everything goes well, you can perform even more exaggeratedly than Xiaoyu did in the Takarazuka Kinen in this Takamatsunomiya Cup."

(End of this chapter)