Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 311 You're far from enough to make me admit defeat!
This practice match was a last-minute decision, and Yasui Makoto did not bring any equipment as he would for a formal training session.

But after continuous learning and more than a year of training experience, he had a deep understanding of the Northern Black Horse and was certain that he was right.

From a professional perspective, the biggest difference between racehorses on grass and on dirt is the ratio of stride length to stride frequency, and this ratio theoretically has a golden value.

In grass running, the ideal ratio of stride length to stride frequency is 1.6 to 1. Northern Black Horses primarily train on grass and have an excellent rhythm, so they can generally maintain this ratio unless there are unexpected race conditions.

The ideal ratio of mud to soil is 1.9 to 1. This allows for a larger stride, reducing the number of times the body contacts the ground and thus minimizing the "viscous resistance" inherent in mud.

The stride length and stride frequency of the northern black horses still habitually graze towards the grasslands.

While it's certainly difficult to achieve the golden ratio of 1.6:1 on unfamiliar terrain, it's still smaller than the ratio best suited for mud.

This condition will undoubtedly increase the burden on her body, especially her muscles.

Yasui Makoto doesn't need to look at the data to deduce that the shear force her racehorse girl's muscles experience is definitely about 20% higher than during her daily training.

Similar differences include the mismatch between breathing and cadence.

The ideal ratio for these two aspects is 1:1. However, judging from the opening and closing of her mouth, the flaring of her nostrils, and the rise and fall of her chest, her current breathing rate is close to twice her stride frequency.

If you increase this multiple by another 50%, you get the percentage of the final straight-line sprint in a grass race.

In other words, in addition to the muscle load, her internal organs and internal circulation also bear a very heavy load.

Similarly, this situation also has specific manifestations.

Yasui Makoto could see very clearly that Kita Genko's shoulder blades were shrugging higher than they usually did during training and competitions.

From a professional perspective, this is a manifestation of the chest muscles participating in respiratory compensation, meaning that relying solely on the visceral muscles, her respiratory strength is no longer sufficient to keep up with the energy expenditure.

Other indicators include core position and body tilt.

There wasn't time to analyze them all, because Yasui Makoto had another racehorse girl to watch out for.

Once his attention was focused on California Shining, he almost instantly realized just how talented the opponent was in mud racing.

For example, the landing point of the footsteps.

Whether it's a dirt track or a grass track race, to win, you need to maintain a consistently high cruising pace.

Northern Black Horse does this exceptionally well; its sense of rhythm is outstanding, and its speed remains almost unchanged during cruising.

However, California Shining not only performs at the same level on dirt tracks, but it can even do better.

This American racehorse is a bit taller than the Northern Black Horse, and has a better body proportion; correspondingly, her legs are also longer.

This makes it seem, from the side, that her steps are much more coordinated than those of the Northern Black Horse.

"Stability triangle," Yasui Makoto immediately thought of this technical term.

This refers to the distribution of hoofprints left on the ground after a racehorse has run.

This distribution is related to factors such as stride frequency, stride length, and leg length. In short, the most ideal state is that when three adjacent hoofprints are connected, they almost always form a stable equilateral triangle.

Being able to run a "stable triangle" is one of the hallmarks of a top female racehorse.

The longer the "stability triangle" lasts, the stronger the strength.

Yasui Makoto had naturally measured the distribution of hoofprints on the northern black horse. She herself, a racehorse girl, could run a perfect equilateral triangle, but could only do so during mid-range cruising.

The changes in the early and late stages are too numerous. The horseshoe prints are different depending on whether the car cuts into the inside line, exits a corner, or makes a final straight sprint.

However, we've only just passed the opening stage and entered the final stage. Intuitively, California Shining seems poised to establish a consistent "stable triangle" at this point.

Besides this, there's dynamic center of gravity control, muscle recruitment levels, stride length, stride frequency, breathing frequency, and so on...

This racehorse girl performed exceptionally well, to say the least.

Is this the best... no, even the best racehorse girl in the world? Yasui couldn't help but think to himself as he silently analyzed the situation.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but hold his breath and look back at his black-haired girl.

Indeed, challenging her to play in her strongest area is too difficult. Was I... pushing her too hard...?
Just as Yasui Makoto was vaguely feeling worried and guilty, on the runway...

In the eyes of the Northern Black Steed, the first bend suddenly loomed large before him.

Without hesitation, taking advantage of her inside position right after exiting the gate, she suddenly switched her sprinting foot, leaned her body inward, and rushed into the bend.

She could feel the horseshoes beneath her feet carving deep furrows in the unusually soft mud compared to the grass.

At the moment of exertion, I also felt an unprecedented sense of resistance.

This feeling started as soon as she left the gate; it wasn't that she had never run on mud before.

Before their debut, much of their training was on muddy ground, and after their debut, they occasionally ran on muddy ground to improve their adaptability to different terrains.

However, even though it was the same muddy ground, the surface under my feet was noticeably different from the ones I had run on before.

On the muddy ground here, it was as if there were countless invisible hands. With every step she took, those hands would grab her and try to stop her from moving forward.

Running on this kind of muddy ground requires 10-20% more strength and energy for every step forward compared to training on muddy ground in my memory.

Compared to grass, it requires more than 30% more strength and energy.

Although she didn't feel tired yet, she had a vague premonition that if she continued running like this, she would definitely lose strength and speed at the final straight, and even finishing the race would be at risk.

But she has no intention of giving up.

Running on muddy ground raises much more dust than running on grass. Even if you're at the very front of the pack, you can still see a curtain of mud and sand on the other side.

That was the mud and sand that California was constantly stirring up as it ran along the outer edge.

She didn't understand why her blonde-haired, blue-eyed opponent didn't try to cut inside, but she could tell that he was running much more easily than she was.

The opponent seemed to feel no resistance from the mud or even the constraints of gravity, running with extreme fluidity and speed.

As expected... that's impressive, but you think you can make me admit defeat like this...?

Not enough!
For the first time, just as the game entered its middle stages, the Northern Black Horse had already declared its intention to fight.

However, the moment he made that declaration in his mind, the direction of the muddy rain outside suddenly changed.

The golden figure has changed as well.

An extremely smooth and silky acceleration, sprint, and cut inside.

California shines...it's surpassed itself!

Northern Black Horse's eyes widened instantly, but the next second, she couldn't help but squint and turn her head to the side.

The muddy rain that was originally on the side was created by California Shining's kicks. Now that his opponent was running right in front of him, the brown rain naturally fell completely in front of him.

She squinted and turned her head, because the continuous mud and sand were hitting her head and face!
(End of this chapter)