Chicago: Allergic to Lake Michigan. Other swim options?

Triathlon Forum
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I wonder if anyone else has this experience:

I am allergic to Lake Michigan. More specifically I am allergic to Lake Michigan at Ohio Street Beach in Chicago.

I am NOT allergic to Lake Michigan in South Haven or in Benton Harbor.

When I get out of the lake after training at Ohio Street Beach, my nose is running all over the place. Through out the day I am sneezing and I have to blow my nose constantly and I start to get sinus/nasal congestion.

That night I will be kept awake with sneezing and runny nose. The next day I will feel fatigued as if I am coming down with a cold or the flu. The day after that, I feel perfectly fine.

In past years, I often got a little bit of a runny nose after swimming in the Lake. This year it has been way way worse.

I realize today, that I can’t keep subjecting myself to this… I probably have to stop swimming in the Lake. I am wondering if I should even do the Chicago Triathlon this year.

Is there anyplace else near Chicago that I can do some open water swimming?

I gotta go blow my nose now…

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http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/gforum.cgi?post=1400056

Check out this thread. I’m doing IM Lou in August, we are arriving in Chicago and wanted a place to train for a few days before heading on down to Kentucky. After reading up in the beaches in Chicago, we decided to go to St Joseph, MI where I feel the water will be a little cleaner. However there were some useful alternatives in this thread nearer to Chicago

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I don’t have a problem with Lake Michigan, but I swim in Lauderdale lake in So WI. In the morning my nose does the same thing. I have allergies so swimming in the moring stirs up all the pollen that has been sitting on the water overnight. I will be “stuffed up” for at least a day or two. If I remember to take a Claritan before I swim that seems to help…a little.