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David Kennedy Thompson |
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Copyright David Thompson 2006 |
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Trip Report |
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Phoenix Training Trip (Feb 18 to Feb 24, 2008) Last year I made a similar trip to Tucson and stayed with my brother BT for a week. Even though I’m in Phoenix this year because of the duathlon, I still get to see my only Bro and most enthusiastic supporter. BT and his girlfriend Aleah are driving up to watch the race. Anyway, the troubling service from the major airline flying out of Minneapolis/St Paul continues, I’ve already experience two major non-weather related delays this year in two trips. Now, on my third trip, the airline lost my luggage on a direct flight from MSP to PHX. I understand things like this happen, but when you have to pay $80 for a oversized charge and the bike isn’t delivered when it’s supposed to be the next day. I start to get a little frustrated with Northwest Airlines. Who’s running the company? It would be fitting if the executives who were running Eastern Airlines when it went bankrupt were in charge. What’s more frustrating is that I spent $10,000 to $15000 with NWA and it’s partners every year, and they still don’t want to listen to me even if it’s constructive criticism. Anyway, I did get down to business after burrowing shoes form my hosts Kerry and Cathy. On got out for a 1 hour run Tuesday morning, which included 50 min of tempo around the Las Sendas neighborhood in the Eastern Suburbs of Phoenix. Without a bike by mid-afternoon, I decided to go for a hard swim at the community pool. I did 8 X 200 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. The nice deliver lady did get my bike to me just be for sun down, so I was able to get in a quick ride (1 hr total, 45 min of tempo). Wednesday was more of a recovery / calorie burning day. Thursday brought on more hard workouts in all three disciplines again. Friday was an endurance / recovery day with some pick-up to keep the muscles firing. By Saturday I was in race preparation mode. Hoping that somehow I would feel like new on Sunday, but realizing I wouldn’t. Feeling tired was a good thing because I came down hear with the goal of beating myself up. Having a good race was a secondary goal. |
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Great view looking down on Tucson from the road to Mt. Lemon, AZ |
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Down in Tucson the temperature is 78 deg, but it’s still cold at the top. |
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8000 ft above sea level and Mt Lemon summit is still 9 miles to go. |
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BT and I celebrate at the top. The view is toward the North. |
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Trip Pictures |
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Trip Stats: Number of Swims: 4 Hours: 4 Number of Rides: 4 Hours: ? Number of Runs: 4 Hours: ? Totals ? ? Days 6 |
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Average High Temp: 70° Average Low Temp: 40° |