Texans running back Alfred Blue is hoping all the changes and work he puts in this offseason translates into better production on the field. (Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle)
The heat hasn’t hit yet. The saturation hasn’t begun. But Allen Parkway is heading one way, Memorial Parkway the other and Alfred Blue isn’t going anywhere.
The second-year Texans running back is stuck. The steep hill Blue has been sprinting up, down and around only seems taller 30 minutes into a three-hour session. And while Spotts Park is perfectly calm and serene in its early April beauty — greening trees, thickening grass, singing birds — Blue’s face already is dripping with sweat and his legs are tightening up.
“You’re not one of those guys who only wants the ball 10 times,” said James Cooper, Blue’s personal trainer. “You want it 33 times. You’re saying, ‘Give it to me, coach.'”
Cooper keeps giving it to Blue. As sprints, sideways slides and uphill blasts continue, Blue’s body pumps out water. The trainer pushes, nudges, talks down and pumps up his gasping pupil.
“You were moonwalking on your last step,” Cooper said.
Another sprint.
“Thirty minutes into it, and that’s your first rep,” Cooper said.
Before the next one, Blue asks his trainer to fix a stretched-out band the running back is about to leap over. Cooper fulfills the request, then keeps firing away.
“Oh, you want me to fix the other one, too?” Cooper said. “We got some lemon water when you get to the …
Blue uses offseason workouts to ensure Texans like what they see at HoustonChronicle.com
brian.smith@chron.com
