The Hitting Zone Chapter 155 Extra Training 3

After Coach wrapped up his ’pep’ talk, he divided us up and sent us away to different assistant coaches. The pitchers and catchers went to the bullpen. Infielders went to practice grounders and turning double plays. The outfielders got to start off with the batting cage off to the side of the field.

"I think we should join the other infielders." Noah said outright.

I nodded in agreent. Instead, we were facing Drew. Andrew. Andrew Vishnevsky. Vishnevsky. Vish. So many nas, but still the sa personality.

Even though he was only average height, he still had a few inches on Noah and more than enough on to make feel short. He grinned down at us. "I heard you two won’t be playing tomorrow so we can obviously have more fun than the others."

"Drew...Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t find training fun." Noah looked my way. "Right, Jake? It’s just a way to get better and improve on the actual ga. What I find fun is playing in gas, making spectacular stops, and hitting in runs."

I nodded. "Hitting is fun."

Drew’s smile didn’t waver. "That’s okay. I’ll teach you so fun training techniques today. Why don’t you boys change into running shoes and et in the parking lot?" He turned away before we could voice anymore opinions.

Noah and I sighed in unison, but did what we were told. We ditched our gloves and cleats in the dugout and jogged out to the parking lot in our running shoes.

Drew pointed to either side of him. "One here, and the other here. You both are going to race up the hill, then jog back down."

I pouted and Noah frowned. As always, he spoke up for the both us. "Race? That’s not very exciting. Plus, Jake isn’t an opponent for ." He caught my glare. "Jake, you know running isn’t your expertise. I wouldn’t want to face you in a hitting competition."

I shrugged. Fair enough.

"Don’t worry about the race itself. Just run your fastest up the hill. It’s about working your muscles differently than your normal training." Drew instructed. "Now line up."

We got on either side of him, facing the 50-yard uphill obstacle. That would almost take us to the JV and freshman fields. Awkward.

"On your marks. Get set. Go!" Drew commanded and we took off.

Noah took an early lead, and his stride lengthened as he reached the top first. He put his hands on his hips as he triumphantly waited for . Whereas Noah stood up proudly, I reached him, gasping for air. Running uphill? It felt like I ran up a mountain. With beside him, we slowly jogged back down, two sharp contrasts of a baseball player. One in excellent shape and had no limits. The other, , already thinking of begging for rcy, wishing I could go back to sliding practice.

We arrived in front of Drew, who had a mini notepad in hand and was writing down so numbers.

Noah peaked over. "What’s this supposed to be?"

"A rough estimate of your tis. It’s a good start. From now on, you’ll have to beat your previous sprint tis."

I was still struggling getting air into my lungs, however, Noah was quick to grasp what was being said. "Our tis? We have to beat them even though now we won’t be in perfect condition? Isn’t that unrealistic? Plus how could you just go off a rough estimate?"

Drew thought about it. "Okay. Let’s do this then. Take off your hats and set them down." We did so. "This will be where you guys start. I’ll go to the top and be the finish line. That way, the tis will be as accurate as possible. Rember that you have to really push yourselves to beat your best tis." He started to jog up the hill himself.

"I can’t believe you had to deal with him every day." Noah gave my shoulder a pat. "I can’t believe he thinks this kind of training is fun and exciting. So dull."

I nodded in agreent.

"Ready?!" Drew hollered from the top of the hill, waving. The two of us got set like before. "Go!"

We pushed off at the sa ti, but once again Noah took the lead. He flew up the hill unfazed as I forced my legs to exert more effort. By the ti I reached the top, Noah and Drew were discussing his second ti.

"A millisecond too slow." Drew grinned. "Now for the fun part. Ten burpees." He turned to as I tried to catch my breath. "Not bad, Jake. You barely beat your original ti."

I nodded. My calves burned, but at least my face didn’t have an ugly expression on it like Noah’s.

"You didn’t ntion punishnt." Noah crosses his arms over his chest.

Drew smiled, good natured. "I said you would have to beat your original ti. That was warning enough. Anymore back-talk and I’ll double it."

Noah rolled his eyes, yet didn’t say anymore. He backed up. Then he squatted to the ground, putting his hands down on the ground, he kicked his legs back out so he was in a plank position with his arms extended, holding him up. Then he imdiately returned his feet back to the squat position and jumped up, yelling "One!" Then he repeated the process until he got to ten.

For the first ti, I saw Noah out of breath. We jogged back down the hill to our hats, but the roles had reversed. He used the jog down to recover his breathing and I was okay to go.

"Are burpees that difficult?" I asked.

Noah nodded. "Burpees improve your lungs and heart and requires your body to produce energy without help of oxygen. It’s very tiring." We got to the starting line and looked back up at Drew. "It’s going to be even harder for to beat my best ti if I have to keep doing burpees." He glanced at . "Drew must be secretly related to Zeke in order to be this sadistic."

I gulped.

"Ready?" Drew asked. "Go!"

We moved up the hill. Noah took the lead, but definitely didn’t look as fast as the last two tis. I forced myself to dig in and try my hardest to catch up to no avail.

Noah started his burpees by the ti I reached them. Drew looked at with a sad expression, causing to shiver. He held out his notepad showing my tis. "Too slow. Ten burpees for you as well."

I squinted at the paper and reached out suddenly to point. "No, I still beat my first ti."

Drew looked surprised at my outburst. "Yes but not your best ti. So give ten. Any argunt and you can double yours as well."

I swallowed down my displeasure and followed Noah’s pattern. Unlike him though, I wasn’t able to do the ten consecutively without a break. I had to pause and then get back to it.

As we jogged down for the third ti, we were both busy catching our breaths. This training was no joke. The end of practice couldn’t co soon enough.