A jog around the Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles was not in Manny's itinerary this morning.

Nope, Manny's conditioning coach Alejandro Ariza had something else in mind - sprints. Those who joined the exercise were required to sprint about 100 meters one way, recover for a couple of seconds, and then sprint back. This was done several times over.

Good thing Lei Alviz and I were up early enough to warm up.

So how did I do? Well I'll let this photo speak for itself (I'm in black short-sleeved shirt near the orange cone). Team Pacquiao was impressed.

Manny, on the other hand, was recovering from a cold. He told us he should be a hundred percent good to go in about a day or two. At the gym later, there was no sign of Manny or the team slowing down. They were all in good spirit, cracking jokes, making funny faces, and smiling a lot.

But when Manny needs to get down to business he gets down to business.

During his ten-round sparring session, Manny displayed awesome strength and speed. He appeared ready, throwing some heavy punches at his Mexican, Nicaraguan, and Filipino-Hawaiian sparring mates.

It was also a reverent Manny who asked for a moment of silence before ending his workout with a prayer.