Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Robert Fitzpatrick watches linebacker Alonzo Jackson, running with the yellow headband, during form running practice. Click photo for larger image.

Troy Polamalu went parachuting the other day and never landed. He was discovered not far from the South Side banks of the Monongahela River, the parachute still attached to his back.

The Steelers' new speed school was in session, and Polamalu tried to describe what it's like running as hard as one can with an open parachute tethered to him.

"It's like, I guess, carrying a monkey on your back the whole time," the Steelers' second-year safety said.

Polamalu is better at doing it than describing it.

Of course, the parachute runs take place indoors to guard against a gust of wind lifting a player and carrying him into the nearby Monongahela River. Running against the resistance of an open parachute is just one of various exercises Steelers players have been put through this spring to increase their speed and stamina. Speed school is one of five schools conditioning coach Chet Fuhrman put together for the players this spring.

"To be a football player, I've always felt you have to do a lot of things well vs. any one thing great," said Fuhrman. "We just tried to add variety to the program to hit different areas besides just lifting weights."

Speed school is run by Robert Fitzpatrick, the director of the sports performance program at the Rivers Club in the Oxford Building. Fuhrman's two assistants, Anthony Griggs and Marcel Pastoor, direct the quick feet and abdominal schools. Craig Wolfley, a former player and member of their broadcast team, conducts the quick hands school. And Sara Azarius, a yoga instructor, conducts the flexibility school.

Coach Bill Cowher conducts the school of hard knocks.

"When you look at the offseason program," Cowher said, "instead of just working and coming in and doing the same thing, we've tried to break it up. Chet's done a good job each year of trying to create a little different theme. He took the school concept this year to specify certain areas through certain weeks."

Some NFL teams have full-time speed coaches. The Cleveland Browns, for example, used to employ Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom as their speed coach. While this is the first time the Steelers have used a speed coach, it's not the first time players have been exposed to the unique styles of speed conditioning. Many had it in college or with previous teams. Their next-door neighbors at Pitt were running against parachutes the past two years.

"I think it's pretty far up there in the college ranks," said Polamalu, who first ran with a parachute at Southern California.

"What he's doing," defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen said, "I've been doing for years."

Fitzpatrick's goal is not just to make players faster, but to build their endurance so they won't poop out in the fourth quarter.

"Speed is one thing, but, without endurance, it's hard to maintain that speed," said Fitzpatrick, who played football at Westinghouse High School and Norfolk State.

"Without endurance and without having that aerobic capacity, you're not able to maintain that strength or your athleticism for four quarters, and, in football, you have to play from beginning to end. Sometimes, you see teams fall apart in the fourth quarter, and it might not be physical all the time; it might be a lot mental. Part of the training is mental. We also do a lot of balance training, a lot of core strength training."

Over at quick hands school, professor Wolfley presides much the way Angelo Dundee might. The players lace on a pair of 16-ounce boxing gloves to learn how to ... punch?

"It does a lot for offensive linemen with conditioning, it's good for rehab of the shoulders, it's great for learning a sense of timing and accelerating your limb speed, and that's what its all about for offensive linemen," Wolfley said.

"You learn to use your hands in a ballistic manner such as punching, which you can correlate to anything out on a football field."

This is not just a lineman's class. Everyone from Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis to quarterback Brian St. Pierre attend.

"I figure if nothing else," Wolfley said, "when we play Cleveland, if a brawl starts we're ready."

NOTE -- Linebacker Kendrell Bell practiced yesterday for the first time since his groin muscle was injured May 7, the first day of minicamp.