Snow Fate: An Uma Musume Fan Story

6. Junior Year - A New Plan

December - Week 1

Sunday

A cold morning was fulfilling the first day of December, the more the winter was approaching, the more people were getting excited for the last races of the year and I wasn't any sort of exception. Soon I'd know when my first race would be and it could be probably right at the end of the year.

- Hey! Have you heard about the next Arima Kinen?

- Yes! They said that both Narita Coffee and Highlander were chosen!

- Oh... so Toro will be against them? It will be a tough race.

Many horse girls were commenting about the next Arima Kinen, after Toro's great loss in Japan Cup to Victoria Luz people were excited to see if someone else would be able to beat the Superchampion. There were also a lot of expectations towards the new generation as all the attention was focused on Merry Holiday's Asahi Hai and Mejiro Pretty and Blue Sundae's Hopeful Stakes. But for me, all the spotlights were completely off, not that I was expecting any interest from the public, actually I had a few fans like my mother, my trainer, Mejiro Pretty and a few people from my hometown that wanted to support me on my way to my first victory.

- Ayaka? You are spacing out again.

The voice of my trainer snapped me out of my daydream. As I looked around, my trainer was looking at me a bit worried with his arms crossed. Clearly I missed something important.

- S-sorry, trainer.

He walked towards the bench where I was seated, seating at my side with both hands on his knees.

- Listen... I know that things never worked well for you, so I'm here to help you on your path, okay?

- Y-yes.

I nodded at him slowly, paying attention to his words.

- From now on, we are going to work on a plan for your race. If you really want to win, we need to work on the end of your freestyle and find the proper race plan for you.

As he stood up, I did the same. His steps started to go through the training area and I decided to follow him to keep listening.

- So... I rewatched some of your races and used my analysis towards your selection race to make an initial training plan for you, in order to find your proper race style.

- Oh, so... I have a special training menu for this start?

I asked him as my eyes quickly glanced at his barely open notebook in his jacket pocket.

- Yes, mainly because of the previous reasons, but also because we need to work on your form. So starting with that... please do a 2 lap run, right now. Run as you wish and we talk again when you finish.

- O-okay!

That got me in surprise, but suddenly I got excited. I was finally working again after a month away and nothing was seeming to stop me from working as hard as I could in order to prove myself. Then at the moment that my steps left the ground, I quickly ran around the course following my trainers instructions, but also feeling something strange during my quick run. I only stopped feeling that when I ended the laps and stopped right in front of my trainer.

- Hmmm... okay.

He was doing some notes, writing it quickly with fast and technical calligraphy. He closed the notebook and looked at me as he was analyzing me.

- So... what you wanted to see, trainer?

- Your movements during running are too stiff, your strides are long... but they are getting too long, making you lose some balance and slowing you down. Also your posture is a bit too harsh at uphills.

My head was spinning a little bit, because I never heard such detailed feedback before.

- Going positive... you clearly have good things in mind. For example, your positioning is almost perfect... never got blocked, for most of the times you had a clear way ahead for you, when you got boxed on your last race you saw a way that very few could see...

His eyes went from me to his notebook and then it got back to me. Without noticing, he hit me in the head with his pen without hurting me.

- Ouch!

- I don't know how you got that, how you didn't notice that or even how nobody besides your mother saw that... but your stamina is quite high even for a senior. I think that I might be exaggerating, but only testing to see the real extension of your stamina.

- O-ok, hold on a moment, trainer. How exactly does this help me to find my ideal race plan?

- It is pretty simple actually... Since your top speed is quite slow, we are going to train your stamina spending while correcting your movements.

- Right... This means that probably my next race will take longer, right? Since the longer races only happen at the end of my classics year...

I asked him a bit sad, I didn't want to wait so long, but if I had to in order to win I would.

- What? No! Your next race is at the end of this month if you show some progress.

- Huh? But aren't we going to train my stamina?

- No... I-I mean yes, but not longer races. We are going to test an idea that I had.

I looked confused at him. I didn't understand what kind of idea he had, because I couldn't see another reason for training my stamina other than for longer races.

- Listen... you have a slow top speed, many horse girls outclass you on this matter, but... what if we create a running style that messes with their pace and favors your high stamina?

- Uh... I-I don't quite understand...

- Ayaka... What we are going to do is to work an early spurt on your running style, planning that early spurt on crucial parts of the race where keeping the pace matters the most. We are going to practice this idea tomorrow with the team, so don't worry about details, but our plan is settled.

At this point, I was understanding why some girls were saying earlier that he was a chaotic trainer. Our plan was settled without even my opinion being counted, but at some point I didn't care about that, since I finally had a clear way to my very first victory... at least I expect that.