Amen.
By 4 am, or really late with 5am predawn purple light (in summer), you cannot wait to get out of the tent and get going. Speaking JMT here, not specifically Whitney.
Agree with the others - All the gym and PT stuff helps some, but... When I had my total knee in 2011, at some point I told the PT guy I was done with his good advice, and was just gonna push the walking. I turned the corner. Since then I have taken my slow pace to Baldy, Whitney 3 more times, Orizaba, even the Himalaya. The important thing is that you are there.
