ENGAGED!

I am overcome with hyperbolic joy that she said YESSSSS!!!!!! What a lucky guy I am! The entire Sharratt family has been so amazing and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with my beautiful fiancee.

The Hard Yards

Training is rolling along at the PTC. It is a great environment and I am really enjoying the training. My final triathlon of the year is on Nov 10th in San Fran--so this a 'hard yard' push phase. Just like my big sis--I also love the fall. It is a pleasure to be running and biking while admiring all of the beautiful trees and leaves that surround me.

Tuesday and Wednesday are solid days of training at the PTC. Tuesday's swim included a main set of 20x50m with paddles in :31 on :55. That definitely wore out the body for the 2nd main set of 6x200m. Coach T wanted me to descend 1-6 starting at 2:20 and working down to 2:15--but I was in big trouble after the first one. I managed to hold 2:21's and was toast at the end. The fitness and strength will hopefully be there in two weeks. Tuesday evening's run including a main set of 3 loops of the 2k Arboretum trail--an awesomely hard undulating trail that I will be banking thousands of 'hard yards' on. I was supposed to descend these loops but I started out aggressive and when Coach T yelled "the contract says descend so you have no choice", then I knew I was going to have to enter the hurt box to improve each loop. I managed it and posted a 19:50 for this challenging 6k. Ok for now--but it needs to dip under 19 by Nov 10. Today was another hard swim and a solid tempo bike in the rolling hills of the Guelph countryside. I am looking forward to heading to the hometown this weekend and cheering on my friends and Team LPC members at the Detroit Free Press Marathon.

I Love Fall by Charlotte Loaring

Sunday, October 14th
10:30am Run
Ojibway Park, Windsor

Blue-bird sky. 52 degrees. The wind gently tickles my skin. Three sounds: my breathing, birds chirping, and crickets. A rabbit rustles in the bush ahead. I'm running on a soft canopy of freshly fallen leaves. The rays of the sun pierce through the overhang of trees - beams of magic keeping me warm. Leaves of every colour - green, orange, red, yellow - just starting to turn. Do you know what freshly fallen leaves smell like? What about melting frost? My lungs take it all in - right down to the lower lobes. This air. This amazing air that the trees just expired for me. My senses are heightened. I'm making my way through the trails - no map or watch required. Time means nothing. My heart knows the way. And suddenly, EUPHORIA! EUPHORIA! This day. THIS DAY! This BEAUTIFUL day!

I love fall.

Charlotte

Life Moves Pretty Fast

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: “Life Moves Pretty Fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Well, let's just say that the past couple weeks--I have not been simply looking around--but rather sprinting around like a headless chicken with complete sensory overload. Run for the cure on Sept 30 finished up a week visit in my hometown that involved catching up with family and friends, adding two new awesomely motivated clients to Team LPC, attending the OTS banquet, participating in the 5k GTTP race, numerous errands, and a little bit of unstructured running meshed in with a great 5x1k fartlek with Rob Base Tranter.

Oct 1st marked the start of a new phase of training--back into the swing of things after a 3 week break from swimming and a few fun MTB rides with Scotty "the Man" Schelter. Day one of the eagerly anticipated PTC (Provincial Training Centre) in Guelph had arrived. Finally, Ontario has implemented a high performance training centre for the sport of triathlon. I am one of 6 athletes currently training at the PTC, located only 3k away from BJ house (our new pad in Southern Guelph) at the University of Guelph. It is a small squad--but a hard core group of triathletes with a common goal: to achieve excellence at the highest level in triathlon. High Performance Coach Craig Taylor is doing an outstanding job and I look forward to working closely with him. I am extremely excited about this new program and new training routine.

My current program is ambitious--on the menu is a weekly routine of 6 swims, 6 runs, and 4 bikes. Today concludes week 2 of the PTC. The weather has cooperated perfectly to allow for a solid two weeks of training. There have been a couple of solid sessions so far. Today were some 400's (short course meters) in the 4:40's. Tuesday's swim called for 9x200m in 2:19's. Tuesday evening was 3x2k hard tempo on the infamous Arboretum loop made famous but the Speed River Track Club and Guelph Varsity Cross Country Team. Saturday was an awesome old school cross country stule long run with Dave "Pre" Sharratt. We busted out a 20k run in pouring rain over many of guelph's finest muddy trails--and went over the 2.5k gun club loop that will be the course for the upcoming Canadian Elite Cross Country Champs on Dec 1st. I have a lot of hard work to do over the next few weeks to get my fitness level up a couple notches.

Steph & Ryan's wedding was on Saturday. Their their wedding was a blast. Breanne was the Maid of Honour and looked absolutely stunning. I caught the garter belt at the end of the night.....hmmmmmm, I gues that means....:-)

Sunday arrived in the blink of an eye and after a glorious feast at the wedding the night before--I was back at it again at the Sharratt's for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great way to end a perfect weekend.

Enough digressing as I fast forward to SUPER SATURDAY. Tomorrow I will be watching the Toronto Zoo Run whilst doing my long run. Then off to the Toronto International Bike Show, then back to BJ house for a 2h MTB ride. Then a few friends from the area and a couple from Windsor will assemble at BJ House for an evening of feasting and poker. Live coverage of the Hawaii Ironman will be playing in the background. Make sure you tune into http://www.ironmanlive.com/ It will be a very exciting race.

Life moves by real fast--by for now!

Poetry in Motion: Breanne Sharratt aka Maid of Honour

The battle to claim thy Prize

The lovely Bride and the lucky Victor of thy Prize

Skilled surgeons hard at work