Any thoughts of easing back into the 49ers off-season conditioning program after having last week off to recover from the team's mini camp were quickly put to rest with Monday's "Team Conditioning" workout.
"I threw a curveball at the guys," admitted strength coach Duane Carlisle. "Typically Monday is a speed day, but given we had some time off after the mini camp I wanted to get them back to work. We've got three weeks left and it's time to really go and make every single day count before OTAs."
The workout consists of four sets of four 80-yard sprints that are ran relay style with the entire group expected to finish in under two minutes and fifteen seconds.
In the 7AM group, Alex Smith and Bryant Johnson started off the first leg, followed by Jay Moore and Moran Norris, Shaun Hill and Michael Robinson, with Zak Keasey and Keith Lewis taking the final leg.
"You can't start until the guys in front of you finish and you are all trying to go after the record as a team so it motivates everyone to keep up and pushes everyone to run a little faster," said Smith. "So, you are competing as a group but you also are trying to stay up with the guy you are running with. Bryant Johnson is a pretty good runner and I had my hands full trying to keep up with him. I was feeling it. I was definitely exhausted."
Unfortunately the record set by the early risers was edged out by the following "little guy" group that came in at 9:30.
"A lot of guys were on vacation and guys just got back and this was something that was unexpected but there are a lot of things in football that are unexpected and you just deal with them," said linebacker Manny Lawson. "We dealt with it and we overcame and we got the record."
Feeling a little guilty perhaps for crushing his crew, even Carlisle got into the mix.
"I felt if I ran with them, they couldn't talk any smack but afterwards I definitely realized how hard that workout is," said Carlisle. "But, it was good, I got through it, those guys got through it and we all pushed each other and set the record."
Cooper Wallace, a tight end who spent time on the Titans and Bengals practice squad in 2007 said running alongside his coach served as added pressure.
"I had never seen him run before but you definitely can't get beat by the coach so I was a little nervous at first," confessed Wallace. "We are trying to beat times out there and being a new guy, I can't be last. I'm trying to pull my weight and make the team."
Although the distance was halved for the linemen, even the big guys were, as center Eric Heitmann said, "blazing."
"I don't know how often linemen are going to run 80 yards and I know you think offensive linemen aren't the fastest but we really got after it," said Heitmann. "I was proud of our effort."
For more on this workout, visit our multimedia visit center and check out today's TV49 video.
Stadium News:
The 49ers issued the following statement on reports over the weekend that the team was interested in building their new stadium in Brisbane.
"We have looked at this site along with many others in the Bay Area over the past few years. We have been approached by a number of developers about the Brisbane site and we have recently discussed including a stadium as one of several alternatives that could be evaluated in their EIR.
"We have agreed to talk about how a stadium might work on this site, and if the developer and the City are interested in studying it further we would provide them with the information they need to include a stadium in their EIR.
"This does not change our primary focus to build a new stadium in Santa Clara nor our effort to work with San Francisco on Hunters Point. We will continue to explore alternative sites throughout the Bay Area to accomplish our goal of keeping the 49ers in the Bay Area."
