Friday, March 30, 2007

Swimming with the Fishes

All Soprano's quips aside I was heading out to the lake to swim and swore that I saw Jeff, aka The Machine-worst kept secret anyway, driving off the mountain. I then got a call from both Mike and John saying to turnaround, that the lake was full of dead fish.

Wow. If Jeff bailed on swim it would have to be toxic. As he told me by phone later that night, "Comm, there was hundreds, maybe thousands of belly up fish. Who knows what your drinking in that water were too close to ironman."

I so wanted to just jump in the jacuzzi but instead rode the spin bike for an hour. I hit the tub later.

I pulled the plug on the swim at the lake Saturday giving the team a free day for personal training. Now I have to figure workouts today and tomorrow to keep me consistent.

4 comments:

Bigun said...

jees - is that the nice lake you go to with the bridge and the buoys? That would totally suck to not be able to swim there anymore -

stronger said...

Don't swim with the fishes!!

Papa Tweet said...

Comms,
It sounds like a golden algae infestation. I know golden algae has been documented in the Salt River reservoirs, which includes Saguaro and Canyon lakes. That is where you swim right? If indeed it is a golden algae bloom, there are supposedly no harmful effects to humans. Golden algae is deleterious only to aquatic organisms with gills due to the nature of the toxins it releases, which cover the gills and inhibit respiration. I'm not certain about the species composition, but if I had to guess, I bet all the fish that your buddies saw were threadfin shad. Shad seem to be the most sensitive species to adverse conditions. Their condition can seve as a good indicator of undesriable habitat conditions. No need to thanks me, I slept at a Holiday Inn last night. Besides, there is a scientific explanation for everything.
Benny

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

Thank you Iron Benny for knowing all about that - I was dying of curiousity over here!