Oguri Cap's first weighted training went very smoothly.
The specially designed weighted gear fit perfectly — the clothing part was light and form-fitting, and the weighted metal plates were thin and securely fastened. While training, her muscles and joints moved freely.
Her training performance had obviously declined. Compared by stages, her current performance in all areas was about 20 to 25 percent lower than when she first enrolled.
That number doesn't look big, but in actual racing, it's a completely different story.
For example, if she were to run a 1200-meter race while carrying the weights against her unweighted self, she would lose by more than 10 lengths — a huge gap.
But that was the very purpose of this weighted training. If she could fully adapt to the 40 kilograms of weight, then once she took off the weights, her ability would definitely improve by a noticeable margin.
There's no way she could improve by 10 lengths compared to her current self — weighted training doesn't have that kind of transformative power. If you truly want a rebirth-like leap in performance, it still relies on steady accumulation over time.
But getting a few meters faster than she is now is absolutely achievable. If this kind of progress can continue, once she enters Central (the top-level competitions), races will definitely go more smoothly.
These were just the basic thoughts after training ended — Kitahara hadn't done an in-depth analysis yet, because Kyoko Miyamura had some suggestions to share.
After dinner, in the trainer's office, Kitahara and Kyoko Miyamura each had a cup of hot milk. Kyoko Miyamura opened the conversation.
"I'd like to suggest that Mr. Kitahara incorporate some medical monitoring methods into Oguri Cap's training."
She went straight to the point: "From the teachers I've learned that Mr. Kitahara has researched international training methods, and has even considered bringing in some — for example, medical monitoring."
This was indeed something Kitahara had thought about long ago. Before heading to Tokyo, he had mentioned these ideas to his uncle, Roppei Ginjiro.
But he knew from the start that this wasn't something that could be done overnight.
First of all, there was his own capability.
Sports medicine was already a highly systematic, interdisciplinary applied science — monitoring health, athletic performance and its influencing factors, preventing and treating exercise-induced illnesses, managing fatigue recovery, injury rehabilitation, and nutritional balance — all of this required extremely specialized expertise.
He understood a little — at best, he knew some medical techniques from a training perspective. Beyond that, he was basically clueless.
Physiology, pathology, pharmacology, anatomy — the "three theories and one anatomy" of medical fundamentals — he didn't know.
Clinical diagnostics, biochemical treatments, psychology — he only had some understanding in psychology.
Go deeper still — bacteriology, virology, microbiology, genetics… he didn't even understand them; he just knew the names.
In his original plan, he had intended to purchase some sports medicine equipment before leaving Tokyo to assist in training, while slowly learning more himself.
But with Kyoko Miyamura's appearance, he changed his mind.
Having this ready-made medical prodigy handle the matter, even take charge of equipment procurement, was clearly the best use of talent.
"That's right, I did have this idea," Kitahara nodded. "From what I know, internationally there are already complete systems in this field, breaking down various metrics into very fine categories, with matching specialized equipment."
"Body morphology metrics, terminal limb strength metrics, respiratory ventilation capacity, abdominal muscle function, heart rate function, flexibility function, the nervous system's dynamic reaction speed, baseline and explosive strength in upper and lower limbs, balance and coordination."
"These are roughly the ones I know. If there's anything incomplete, Kyoko, just correct me — don't hold back."
What's there to correct anymore
You just listed all nine major physiological metrics — if I "correct" anything now…
Am I supposed to make up a new set on the spot?!
Momentarily stunned by Kitahara's level of knowledge, Kyoko Miyamura suddenly felt a little intimidated.
".Mr. Kitahara, since you already know all this, I suddenly feel like my suggestion might be a bit redundant…"
Kitahara blinked, then, seeing the worried look on the girl's face, quickly realized she had misunderstood.
"Not at all."
He smiled and explained, "I only know these terms, at most how they show up in training."
"But as for how to analyze them from a medical standpoint, how to gather the relevant data, how to process it, how to make the analysis results more useful — I know absolutely none of that."
"To be honest, if you asked me to buy the specialized equipment for this, I'd be at a loss for a long time, and in the end still wouldn't buy the most suitable ones."
"...Mr. Kitahara, aren't you being a bit modest?" Kyoko Miyamura looked doubtful.
"I'm not — I really mean it."
Kitahara sighed slightly. "I did look into some companies before."
"Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Siemens, Thermo Fisher Scientific… and many others. These Fortune 100 medical companies all have production lines in this area — many brands, many models."
"If I were to buy, my reference standard would simply be whatever other trainers bought, I'd buy the same."
"But domestic trainers' selection criteria differ from international ones, and different horse girls need different equipment. Even if I spend time learning the basics, I wouldn't necessarily find the best match."
"And it would waste a lot of time."
Kitahara's gaze grew sincere. "In other words, Kyoko, you're the real expert here. The moment I heard you mention this, I wanted to ask for your help in taking charge of the purchasing."
"Of course, I'll handle the expenses — the academy will reimburse some as well."
"I—I see. So I am of some use after all… that's wonderful…"
With that slightly self-effacing line, Kyoko Miyamura's expression grew earnest.
"I'll also put in some money for the purchases — I still have some allowance saved."
"I really like Oguri Cap and the others. Actually, I've always loved the horse girls. Besides having many doctors in my family, the reason I chose to study medicine was because I wanted to do something for them."
"So leave this part to me. This was exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, Mr. Kitahara."
She nodded seriously, then gave a small wry smile.
"But as for my other suggestions, I'm afraid I was showing off a bit — especially now that I see Mr. Kitahara already knows so much about medicine…"
Faced with her praise, Kitahara chuckled casually.
"No need for all that. We're both thinking of Oguri Cap and the others, so Kyoko, just speak your mind."
"No matter what, I'm only one person — I can't possibly think of everything. The suggestions you bring up might help me a lot," he said, with an encouraging tone.
"Is that so…"
Kyoko bit her lip, hesitation lingering on her face for a while. Finally, she pursed her lips, puffed her cheeks a little, and nodded resolutely.
"All right, then I'll speak plainly."
"This set of suggestions is actually about training itself. Maybe Mr. Kitahara has thought of them already, but based on what you just said, I'll still recommend them."
"Parachute sprint training, wind tunnel training, gravity chamber training, biomechanical motion simulation modeling — these international training systems — as well as the OmegaWave, a digital competitive-state integrated diagnostic system…"
"Has Mr. Kitahara considered these?"
(End of this chapter)