So I went to the 5:30 a.m. workout here in town and there was about three dozen folks there. I was expecting the worst - quasi-yoga self-empowerment yada-yada - but was happily surprised. Yeah, there was a little of that (and a lot of selling the program) but the main focus was staying upbeat and keeping folks involved in the workout.
And the workout was pretty much exactly what I wanted. It was almost precisely the same as what Coach Dean had us do on our conditioning phase without the speed work mixed in. Which is good since I'm avoiding that for the moment in hopes of avoiding injury.
It was also demanding. I finished totally drenched with that quaking feeling in my legs you get when you've worked out probably a little bit further than you thought you could have. There was that tired soreness as well but I knew that was just a taste of what my weekend would be like. Oh well, everybody told me it wasn't going to be easy.