In many respects, this past week of training was like any other for the New England Revolution. Except, of course, for one thing: no game awaited them this weekend.
Despite having to wait until Week 23 for his team's first bye of the season, coach Jay Heaps said the break didn't alter much on the training ground.
"You want to gain on things that you're doing within your team," Heaps told the media on Friday. "So the focus was 100 percent on our team."
While it may have felt like business as usual for the squad and coaching staff, there were a few noticeable tweaks to the overall approach on the training ground.
Typically, Heaps divides the week into segments. The first half is often devoted to corrections and improvements, and the latter half on the upcoming opponent and the game plan.
But with two weeks at his disposal in between last weekend's 3-1 win over Toronto and a match against Houston on Aug. 15, Heaps turned his attention to individual needs.
With their first weekend off since February, the coaching staff cranked up the fitness drills. Not far from one of the touchlines on the training ground is a small but steep hill used for conditioning exercises. By Friday, there were more than a few divots splattered across it from a full week's worth of use.
But Heaps was equally mindful of keeping players like Jermaine Jones and Kevin Alston -- both of whom recently returned from injury -- from pushing it too hard.
"(The focus) was on getting the guys that need a little bit of rest a little bit of recovery," Heaps said, "and guys that need more fitness that didn't have a game on the weekend to push those guys."
Heaps also used the past week to make sure his players were all on the same wavelength, especially with only 10 games remaining in the regular season. Tightening the screws, so to speak, is always a point of emphasis during any bye week, but given the timing of this one, it's even more important.
One thing that does make this particular bye week tricky for the coaching staff is that the Revolution will get another bye after their match against Houston. Yes, that's two bye weeks within a three-week span.
"We can't control our schedule," Heaps said. "We just continue to move forward. We have to get better, and we know we can get better, and we are getting better."
With an eye toward self-improvement this past week, the Revolution will have a leg up on prepping for the Dynamo when they return to the training ground on Tuesday.
"We know we have a huge game coming up against Houston," Heaps said. "So the focus is on that game, then we'll deal with (the next bye) the week after that."