After two consecutive 14-hour days at work and more cold weather in Minnesota, I was ready to hop on a packed plane headed to the warmer climate of Phoenix. The purpose of the trip was to get in six days of outdoor training and an early-season race.

The Desert Classic Duathlon took place on the last day of my stay. I planned to thoroughly pummel myself the days leading up to the race, and I expected my competitors to give me more of the same. For me, it’s good for morale to get slapped around, because it motivates me to train harder as winter turns to spring in the North.

Last year, I made a similar trip to Tucson and stayed with my brother, BT, for a week. Even though I came Phoenix this year because of the Duathlon, I would still see my only sibling and most enthusiastic supporter, as BT and his girlfriend Iyleah planned to drive up to watch the race.

Unfortunately, the poor service from the major airline flying out of Minneapolis/St. Paul continued—I’d already experienced two major non-weather-related delays this year. Now, on my third trip, the airline lost my luggage on a direct flight from MSP to PHX. I understand things like this can happen, but when you have to pay $80 for an oversized bag (bike) and it isn’t delivered the next day like it’s suppposed to be, you start to get a little frustrated with Northwest Airlines. Who’s running the company? What’s more frustrating is that I’ve spent over $10,000 with NWA and they still don’t want to listen to me, even if it’s constructive criticism.

Anyway, I did get down to business after borrowing shoes form my hosts Kerry and Cathy. I got out for a one-hour run Tuesday morning, which included 50 minutes of tempo running around the Las Sendas neighborhood in the eastern suburbs of Phoenix. Still without a bike mid-afternoon, I decided to go for a hard swim at the community pool. I did 8x200 on 4:00 amongst youngsters playing Marco Polo. The youngest girl had a chronic cheating problem. She hopped out of the pool or into my lane when anyone got close to her. She would definitely be good a getting out in front at an in-water swim start. Just before sundown, a nice delivery lady showed up with my bike. I was able to get in a quick ride (one hour total, 45 minutes of tempo) to finish off my Tuesday training.

Wednesday was more of a recovery/calorie-burning day. Thursday brought on more hard workouts in all three disciplines. Friday was an endurance/recovery day with some pick-ups to keep the muscles firing. By Saturday, I was in race-preparation mode, hoping I would somehow feel like new on Sunday—yet I realized I wouldn’t. But feeling tired was a good thing because I came to Phoenix with the goal of beating myself up. Having a good race was the secondary goal.

Eds. note: Thompson used a speedy 51:32 bike split to take third at the Desert Classic Duathlon (5mi R/21mi B/2.7mi R) with an overall time of 1:26:14. For a full race report, click here.