2014 and Beyond

It seems every time I am on my bike I can think very clearly, and I thought about exactly how I wanted to lay this blog out, as soon as I got off the bike those thoughts disappeared from my mind. I hope that I can still give some clarity in this post about 2014. 

2014 is set to be a big year of change for me. I went to San Diego last March to visit a few friends, but in reality I spent the week scouting the city as a future home for me. I came back and was sold, without question San Diego is where I want to live (Denver being a close second) and really the city is perfect for the direction I want to take my life/career, but the thought of moving away from family has kept me thinking Madison might just be the perfect place since my visit last March. 

The past couple of weeks I have been very busy actively looking for places to apply, rebuilding my resume and getting in contact with just about everyone I know out west. Obviously my family has caught on and I feel that my mother and sister are about to put up one hell of a fight to keep me here in Wisco, if you want me to stick around I suggest you team up with my mother and sister. Madison is and always will be home for me, I know the city inside and out, and I have carved my own niche in Madison all without formally living in the city since I was 18. Madison has a sense of comfort for me, and sometimes that comfort can be my enemy. I have come to the conclusion if I don't have something lined up for June in San Diego, then I will move to Madison and enjoy one final summer in Madison. Once summer is over I will load up my car with everything I own and head out to San Diego, job or no job and see what happens. I have little doubt that I will be without a job for long, the question is more of when and where will I be working. 

I have tried a couple times and sat down and searched every possible option but the truth is that I just cannot commit to any specific races as of right now. I do not like to be in this position, because with triathlon I want to know where I am going, what I am doing, and what is coming up. This year that simply is not possible. I do not know where I will be living in June and without knowing where I will be living I cannot commit to races. 

Within the sport I feel that I have two options to take my 2014 season. First option is to plan 2-3 peaks throughout the year and find races within those peaks. The big challenge with this is to pick a specific distance, and train without really knowing the specifics of the course and train more for the distance then the course. If I took this route I would most likely aim for an early season race (April), peak in July, and end my season sometime in late September/early October and use that race is my big A race. I am leaning towards this option, and hopefully I will know more about my location of residence sooner then later and might just actually be able to formulate a real schedule with some races that I have been looking at (think french quarter, and hot flat cornfields). The other option is to throw any planned schedule out the window and train all year and race when the chance is presented to me. No specific goals, just do this for fun, and return to work in 2015 when my life paints a bit more of a clear picture. 

So that is is everything in a nutshell. A cross country move, new job, with some triathlon mixed in for 2014. Whatever happens this year I am resting easy knowing that this time next year I won't be suffering through my 4th day of below zero temps.