Florida Summer Trip - Day 6

The final day had some more subdued activities as we still recovered from Gage's sickness and had to mix in a bunch of packing.  Gavin still managed to make a final trip back down to the beach and found a few crab shells that were pretty awesome.

Gage also had to say goodbye to this fully intact coconut that he had held onto all week.  We didn't actually have the tools to try to get into it, so he placed it in some bushes next to the place for the next kid to find.  In the end, this was such a fun vacation.  We didn't have to venture far from our home base because there was such fun activities so close to us.  The kids always love the beach and we will probably continue the tradition of trying to get there every other year, if possible.

Florida Summer Trip - Day 5

This day ended up being a little bit more low key as Gage was still fairly sick.  I started the day with another nice six mile run along the beach, which even at 7 am is hot and humid enough to make you just drenched in sweat instantly.  We then headed over to National Shell Museum on the island to see what that was all about.  I was actually surprised by how small it was on the inside compared to what it looked like from the outside.  There were a few big rooms of some impressive shells, some as big as a basketball or slightly bigger that were obviously obtained form diving rather than washing up on shore.  We also created some little shell animals out of spare shells and glue guns that they had set up as a kids activity.  Lastly, they had about a 45 minute presentation of some live molluscs that we would typically see in the water nearby and we learned about how they live.  The presentation was actually pretty good, though the presenter's humor sometimes was a bit interesting.

We finished up the day (or so we thought) with a nice walk on the beach and another sunset off in the distance.  We headed back to bed and Gage started to have an upset stomach again.  Soon after bedtime, he was throwing up more and had a very high fever pretty quickly which had us worried again.  So, again I ventured over to the convenient store to buy some Tylenol this time that I could use to try to work on his fever in conjunction with the Motrin.  It was pretty scary for us and it's tough to ever see your kids really sick, but he made it through the rest of the night alright.  I ended up sleeping with him the rest of the night in Gavin's bed, giving up my valuable spot in the King bed.

Florida Summer Trip - Day 4

One of our adventure items from our trips had been a trip the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  Tara had also wanted to rent bikes, so we combined the two for what turned out to be quite the adventure.  We first headed over to the local bike shop and sought out some bikes.  I was very tempted by this four person bike-cart thing that had a canopy over it, but we decided to go with two single bikes for the boys that were more like hybrids and a tandem for Tara and I.  I did give the salesman a pass after he questioned by biking prowess, but we were soon off for the four mile journey over to the entrance of the park.  The above picture is where we stopped to find some pretty cool large blue crabs.  They were too elusive to capture on film, I think. 

The refuge has an eight mile loop that you can drive or bike down all in a single direction.  As you ride, you can stop at any number of various wildlife lookouts or whatever you happen to catch by the side of the road.  Here is the view from a large tower that lets you look out over some of the waterways that you wind through.

On the way back to our bikes (you can see Gavin's here), this crow swept in and tried to steal our snacks from his front basket.  It got pretty bold and was trying to open the bag and pull stuff out.  We were quickly onto his game and scared him away.

What is hard to see here is our brief look at a wild manatee.  Two of these large guys strolled on passed us while we were stopped by the side of the road.  It is pretty awesome to see something like that in the wild rather than in a zoo.

The journey back from the eight mile refuge loop turned out to be quite the adventure.  By then, it was closing in on the upper 80s and humidity was in full effect.  We were all on these heavy bikes and had close to eight miles home on a bike path as well.  There was definitely some serious complaining, but we made it in the end.  Here is Tara and I on the tandem back at the bike shop.  This is the first time we have tried it and I think it was a pretty good time once we learned to make sure we leaned the same direction.

Unfortunately, by bedtime this night Gage started feeling really sick and developed a high fever.  I was able to find a convenient store open at close to midnight when he wasn't getting any better and started throwing up a lot go buy some kids Motrin and we were able to keep his fever in check so he could get some sleep.

Florida Summer Trip - Day 3

Our third day was filled with some more great adventures.  First thing in the morning, we headed over to Tarpon Bay to rent some kayaks before they day's heat was upon us.  We were able to get two, two-person kayas for a few hours rented which turned out to be just perfect. 

Gavin started out with Tara and I teamed up with the little man, Gage.  This area was a large bay that was off to the side of the ocean and also had a bunch of mangrove trees that formed this maze of canals you could paddle through.  After exploring some of these mangrove tree paths, we soon learned that Tara had a bit more of a struggle steering her vessel and Gavin ended taking a few adventures into the mangrove branches and spider webs.  We soon decided that maybe switching Gavin and Gage might lead to a more enjoyable experience for all who were involved.  Fortunately, Gage had been taught be a professional paddler and added some extra help to his new kayaking partner.

Here is the post-mangrove trail celebration.  This was the perfect amount of time, though, because it started to get real toasty out there in the sun and humidity about when we had to turn in the kayaks.  Overall, this was a great adventure

As with most days, we ended up at the beach again.  I also tried out my open water swimming practice and swam about a mile in total along the shore.  This was quite fun, but also fairly challenging with the waves, salt water, and my nervousness about getting too far out from shore and encountering sharks.  For dinner, we decided to hit the island's best pizza joint: Dante's.  This came recommended from this couple from NY that said it was the closest thing to NY style pizza around.  It had a nice ambience and wasn't too crowded, but was deemed fairly average pizza by all voting family members.  I am not sure we would be frequenting the establishment again this or any trip.  

Florida Summer Trip - Day 2 Part 2

After the ice cream, we continued onto the lighthouse and pier.  Here is a picture from the pier that turned out to be pretty cool.  There were many people fishing that were catching crazy amounts of fish.  One guy was fishing for bait fish with six or seven hooks on a little rod that he would dip into the water for no more than 20 seconds and would pull up several fish the size of a silver dollar that he would then use to throw off on the other end of the pier on a hook.  The other fishermen were pulling out 18" mackerels and other similar fish almost every few minutes.  This is something that the pelicans obviously took note of and were fighting to steal each catch.  We also ended up seeing a giant sea turtle swimming about 30 yards away that was close to the size of our dinner table.  Pretty amazing!

Over near the lighthouse we found this land tortoise scrounging around for some weeds to munch on.  Gavin tried to help him out and picked him some fresh looking leaves, but the tortoise didn't see to want any help.  We watched him for a while and then let him head on his way.

Last item on the day's agenda was to try to catch a nice sunset.  The hard part is that Sanibel island is curved and shaped kind of like a banana oriented Northwest to Southeast, which meant that we had to walk a few miles up the coast to see the sun set over the ocean and not just over some hotels.

As we got closer, we realized we weren't really going to make it but it was a valiant effort.  A bit hot still, but its hard for a sunset walk on the beach to not be pretty awesome.

Here is a picture of Tara and I that Gavin took as the sun went down behind us. 

Florida Summer Trip - Day 2 Part 1

Trying to figure out how I would get some exercise while on vacation was a bit tricky, but we settled in on a plan to do a few easy hour runs and also some open water swimming practice.  So, I started off the day with a nice 6 mile run on the beach which even at 7 am which smoking hot.  The temperature was still fairly mild but the humidity just hits you right in the teeth and I was fully soaked with sweat within minutes.  It was nice to run on the soft sand, but was always a bit dicey trying not to twist an ankle or get wet from the waves washing up.

As you can see above, day two also featured a healthy dose of the beach and water.  I'm fairly sure these guys could live on the beach if it were allowed, which is exactly why we try to get there every other year.  They just absolutely love it.  This day had some slightly bigger waves and Gavin and Gage even borrowed a boogie board from some others that were around us.

One type of seashell you can find, though sometimes rare are these sand dollars.  What was unique about this area was that if you went about chest deep into the water the floor was covered with living sand dollars.  As you can see, this one may have been "borrowed" from the ocean floor to get some fresh air on our beach chair.

Toward the afternoon, we headed to the northern end of the island to see the Sanibel lighthouse and pier.  However, on the way we had to stop at this famous Pinocchio's Ice Cream.  There are a few things to note about Pinocchio's: 1) They sometimes only accept cash which can be a problem as the ice cream is rather expensive and 2) The portions are absolutely huge!  Gavin and Gage made out like bandits with probably the equivalent of a pint of ice cream mushed onto the top of a cone.  I had some amazing Maple Walnut ice cream, as well, but we probably didn't need dinner after those servings.

Florida Summer Trip - Day 1

We arrived in Florida after a fairly early morning flight direct to Fort Meyers.  We were quickly aware of the heat as we walked to our car rental, but that was much to be expected.  And after a quick stop at a Colorado favorite Chick-Fil-A, we drove the 20 miles out over a large causeway and onto Sanibel Island.  We picked up our keys from the property management office (without even having to show any sort of identification or paperwork) and dropped all of our belongings inside.  This is a picture from approximately 15 minutes after we arrived at our actual house.  As you can see, getting to the beach certainly didn't take long! 

Tara quickly found a "public" umbrella to sit under and also got settled right in.  We later found that these umbrellas were actually carried there in the morning by people staying at these condos that bordered the beach.  Our place was close, but actually about 50 yards behind these condos.  In the end, it was about a 45 second walk from our doorstep to the beach front.  Not bad by any measure!

The water was nice and warm, quite the opposite of the west coast and the much farther up the eastern coast.  It was close to the temperature of a warm bath and the waves were fairly mild.  Some days had bigger waves than others but in general 1-3 foot waves were as big as they got.

As you can start to see in this picture, the beaches in Sanibel are world renown for seashells.  The lower parts of all the beaches were almost all varying degrees of crushed shells.  Finer sand could usually be found quite a bit back from the shore but mostly it was just seashells.  

After several hours in the sun, we decided to venture into the local restaurant scene and try out our first choice: The Island Cow.  This was a fairly eclectic place but our first indication that it was going to be good was the fact that it was totally packed.  We had to wait almost 40 minutes that first night and were getting totally eaten by mosquitoes or other biting bugs, but finally got in on some down right decent food.  Tara made sure to partake in some tasty fresh fish (we think it was Red Snapper) being this close to the ocean.

Boulder Sprint Triathlon

This triathlon was definitely bigger and more formal than my first race and it was also split into both a Spring and Olympic distance.  I signed up for a series of three races that was a Sprint, Olympic, and Long Course (70.3) and this was the Sprint race of this series.  The glorious part of this race was the anticipated weather.  As opposed to my last race, this one was support to be around 78 degrees and sunny with only a light breeze.  I also found myself far less nervous now that I at least had some idea how to set things up and what I was going to be doing.

Swim: I was in the fifth wave to kickoff, preceded by three Olympic distance waves and the fastest Sprint wave.  It was warmish, but I didn't try to get in a pre-race swim. It actually seemed too early to swim when the water was open for warmups as I would have to then stand out of the water for another 15 minutes while I waited until my wave.  I'm not sure if that was a good decision or not.  In any case, I took to the water a bit more confidently this time and once the gun went off, I started swimming somewhere around mid pack

It was still a bit of a mad rush in the beginning but I found myself a bit more relaxed.  There was still the stray punch on occasion and someone actually fully grabbed my shoulder and pulled me backwards about 150 meters in, but I kind of settled in and just tried to focus on swimming the best I could.  I did make it through the swim without any panic attacks, but I did have one issue with some foggy goggles about a third of the way through.  Once I got my goggles licked and resealed while backstroking, I continued on my way.  It was mostly just a grind but went fairly well and I think I finished at ~15:37 for the 850 yards which was about 1:34/100 yards  I still think I am working too hard during the swim but I feel good about this as well.

T1: T1 went better for me this race.  The transition zone was quite a bit bigger so my overall time was for transition was going to be slower naturally, but it went fairly smoothly and got my legs out of my wet suit fairly well and was on my way.  I was certainly thankful not to have to do any mud running this time!  T1 was 1:40 which was pretty good for me.

For the Bike: I was excited to get into the bike portion.  I actually had a bit of trouble getting my shoes buckled in tight, but overall I could just start cranking.  I was again watching my heart rate and trying to bring it down.  The target power was somewhere like 215 W in my head, so I tried to give that a strong go.  I had one guy pass me on the bike, but mostly I held my own and pushed wherever I could.  I ended up with power at ~214 W with a total time of 45:19 and 22.7 mph average. 

 T2:  Nothing really eventful in T2, but had a good smooth transition.  Time was 52 seconds.

Run: I could tell the run was going to be warm and I had certainly ridden the bike harder than the last race so we would have to see how the legs held up.  I was hoping to go out at 7:00-7:15 / mile and see how that felt.  I quickly found that it felt rough!  I guess it was sustainable, but not really a pace I could push faster on.  There were two guys in front of me, one at maybe 30 yards and another at 60 yards.  I was sure I could outrun them but they really held pace the whole time and I could never close the gaps.  The first mile ticked by at 7:17 and I didn't have the will to go faster.  If anything, I was just going to try to hold on and not blow up.  Second mile was in 7:23 which was a bit slower but not terrible.  Third mile really started to drag on my and passed in 7:34.  Thankfully I was almost into the finishing stretch and got a little hometown cheering and clipped back up to low 7 min/mile pace for the last little bit.  Total run time was 22:57.  This was a bit slower than my last race but I had pushed harder on the bike and it was actually a longer sprint.

Total time was 1:26:27.  That was good enough for 4/18 in my AG.  It felt more like a maximum effort race.  I definitely felt better on the swim but its still a bit like survival mode.  I pushed on the bike as much as I could and held on for the run.  Directly after the race I was under the impression I should have run better, but after looking at the data post-race, this was actually a really good race for me.  I biked at 92% of FTP and then run upper Z4/low Z5 for the run.  For now, that is as much as I can hope for.  Next race is an Olympic distance.  I will really need to figure out the swimming or this could be a struggle.

There was definitely some downtime during the race which the kids took full advantage of.  Here they are playing on the lake beach area and have caught a reasonably sized toad from somewhere.  The toad is now enjoying the new moat area surrounding this sand castle.