Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 131: The Ups and Downs of the Japanese Derby

"Just covering a long distance isn't enough, or rather, the purpose of this kind of training isn't to run farther."

Recalling the training schedule, Yasui Zhen walked to the wall, opened his travel bag, and explained:
"Instead, it's used to train vertical displacement, body coordination, center of gravity and strength control.

"So in the following training, how far you can run on the wall is secondary.

"Whether you can run as required is the key."

As he spoke, he had already taken out the tools he needed for training from his bag.

"Put these on first."

"What is this...?" Beibu Xuanju came over obediently, looked at the thing in An Jingzhen's hand curiously, and asked subconsciously.

"As you can see, there's a helmet, a cushioning vest, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards."

While explaining casually, Yasui Shin put a helmet with ears on Kita no Xuanju's head.

“I told you before, real extreme stunts are dangerous both in training and in performance.

"Take 'horizontal wall running' for example. In the formal performance, there are prescribed movements required during the running process. Sometimes there are also such requirements for starting and landing, and the landing movements have more requirements.

“Although you don’t have to practice those complicated movements, the height and arc of your running will be much more complicated than before.

“When you first start practicing, you are likely to fall, so these protective measures are necessary.

"And then there's this."

After helping Kitaguchi Xuanju put on various protective gear, An Jingzhen pulled out a stack of thick plastic straps and something like a hair dryer from the bottom of his backpack.

Then, under the curious gaze of Beibu Xuanju, he laid the plastic tape along the base of the wall and connected a hair dryer to the end.

After a whooshing sound, the plastic bag expanded into a cushion more than one meter wide and six or seven meters long.

When Kitaguchi Xuanju first heard Yasui Shin say that the special training would be different and dangerous, he didn't feel anything.

Now fully armed from head to toe and seeing the thick cushioning pad, she somewhat understood the extent of the changes and dangers that An Jingzhen had mentioned, and she felt a little nervous unconsciously.

She touched her chin which was tied by the helmet strap, looked down at her waist and abdomen wrapped in the cushioning suit, and the cushioning pads at her feet. She was about to speak when she suddenly saw An Jingzhen start writing and drawing on the wall with chalk.

"Generally speaking, the Japanese derby is a test of both explosiveness and endurance."

Marking the different heights, Yasui Zhen tilted his head to look at the northern Xuanju, "And this requirement is due to the 'multi-section undulation' feature of the track.

"After exiting the gate, there is a long downhill slope with a height difference of 1.9 meters. After this slope continues for a while, there will be another downhill slope of about half a meter.

“The entrance before the third bend is a 1.5-meter uphill slope, and the middle of the bend is also a downhill slope of about half a meter, but this time it is much steeper.

“Before the last bend, it becomes an uphill slope again. The height difference at this location is 2.4 meters and it is very long. After this slope is the final straight line.

“Compared to other races, the slope of the Japanese Derby is quite gentle, but the total drop of more than 5 meters throughout the race still consumes a lot of physical energy.

"Because of the segmentation, it is easy to disrupt the overall rhythm if you don't adjust in time, which can lead to fatigue in the latter part of the race.

"So now you should understand why I just said your practice wasn't enough."

As Yasui Shin explained, several marks of different heights appeared on the wall.

Looking at those marks, Northern Xuanju became even more nervous.

In the horizontal wall running she had practiced before, no matter how far she ran, the path was a smooth parabola.

However, judging from the marks drawn by Makoto Yasui, the slopes of the Japanese Derby were so high and low that they were broken into pieces, making it impossible to just run over them casually like before.

At the same time, she also understood more clearly the difficulty that Yasui Zhen mentioned.

If she were practicing these slopes on flat ground, whether uphill or downhill, she wouldn't have to worry about the height difference; she could just run normally according to her previous training. But if she stripped out the vertical distance of the height difference, it would be impossible to challenge it all at once.

Once a mistake occurs, you will naturally fall off the wall. If you don’t have protective gear on your body and the cushion on the ground, you will definitely get injured.

But after a while of tension, she began to understand a little.

When she first started doing extreme stunts, Yasui Makoto told her that if she could walk on a straight up and down "road" as if it were flat ground, then on real flat ground, it would be much easier to run on any slope.

The subsequent training clearly showed this principle.

The ramps in the Japanese derby are indeed complex, but if she can handle the drops on the wall, she will definitely be able to handle it with ease in the real competition.

"...Let's get started, trainer."

Pinching the wrist guard and moving the joints, she looked at An Jingzhen.

"I told you, I'm totally ready."

He originally wanted to give a few more instructions, but after hearing this, An Jingzhen couldn't help but smile.

"Okay. Then start with the 1.9-meter height. The requirement is simple: run up the wall to this height in the shortest possible time and maintain it for as long as possible."

After briefly stating the requirements, he stepped back and held up the timer.

At this moment, the Northern Black Horse took a starting position, its tail stood up and then fell down.

This was a little trick she did every time during special training and after entering the gate, but at this moment her imaginary enemy and opponent was not any horse racing girl, but the high wall in front of her.

"Well... let's start." Seeing that the girl was ready, Yasui Makoto nodded and pressed the stopwatch.

With a running start, the moment his feet hit the wall, Northern Black Horse gritted his teeth.

She didn't expect that simply adding a height requirement would make the familiar training so much more difficult.

On her first attempt, she completely failed to meet An Jingzhen's requirements.

Seeing her foot stepping below the number "1.9 meters", she was a little panicked and subconsciously wanted to adjust the height.

However, vertical force and vertical force are two completely different things. Compared with the former, the latter gave her a feeling of being out of control.

As soon as I noticed my toes twisting against the wall, the muscles in my thigh against the wall started twitching, and then I felt a loss of control.

He instinctively twisted his waist and swung his arms, and tried to draw an arc with his other leg, trying to find a new support point, and the rough wall became extremely slippery.

I only had time to adjust my center of gravity before the next second, the scenery in my sight was spinning wildly, my shoulders felt the straps of the cushioning jacket suddenly tighten, and then my back fell onto the bulging cushion.

...This is a failure?

Just as she realized what was happening and blinked blankly, she heard an aggressive pecking sound from the helmet.

Then, with a strange smirk on his face, Yasui Makoto's face turned upside down came into view.

"Well, didn't I say you haven't practiced enough?"

Squatting on top of Kita no Xuanju's head, tapping the girl's helmet, and after making an uncontrollable teasing, Yasui Shin turned serious.

"So treat it as the first special training session and start over.

"Remember what I said, extreme stunts don't rely on brute force, but on the free and unrestrained use of every part of the body.

"This time, try to correct your foot placement angle, bring your feet in a little more, and also drive your ankles earlier when you go up the wall."

(End of this chapter)