I literally never thought that your goggles made any difference. I own two pairs of what I thought were "regular" goggles. One clear for indoors, one tinted for outdoors. I don't think I can even tell you what brand they are. They just fit my face and keep water out of my eyes.

I guess now I have to go look in my swim gear bag and make sure my goggles are hipster-swimmer approved

The smaller the goggle, the faster the swimmer.
(BTW-this same rule applies to triathlon: the smaller the transition towel/mat, the faster the triathlete. If you park next to someone who lays out a full beach towel and a Home Depot bucket next to their bike in transition, they aren't likely planning to blaze through the course.)

So if you want to sandbag.... Wear a full scuba mask, bring a faded broken Homer bucket, and put a full sized beach towel under your whole bike and area, ride in a t shirt.

But, you gotta win it all.

/pinkish

Love it!

Bingo. My set-up is super simple. One strap instead of the double-strap, and I've always been partial to using a piece of the strap as the nosepiece vs the string. Doesn't come off unless I get rolled in a good-sized wave, and certainly never on a start or turn. Been wearing the same lenses for 10+ years now.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

I got my first pair of goggles when I was about 6 years old, in 1978. I was part of a small beginner-style swim team at our pool in Mexico City. My mom bought the pair for the equivalent of maybe $2. I didn't know what to expect, other than maybe my eyes wouldn't burn during practice. In truth, it was an absolute revelation to wear those goggles. Not only did my eyes no longer burn, but I could see underwater, which I totally didn't expect.

This was at a time when goggles were still relatively new to the scene, and there were only a few styles available. The pair I was given had a single strap and neoprene for gaskets, but those worked effectively.

Over the years after that, after we moved to the US, I got more involved in swimming. I always had goggles around, mostly small neoprene gasket models with elastic straps. The total paid for a decade-worth of goggles (1978-88) must have been less than $60.

I was in more successful swim clubs in the late 80's, a time that coincided with the overnight boom in the popularity of Swedish goggles. If you look at videos of the 1984 Olympics you'll see that almost everyone wore Hind Compy, while a look at the 1988 Games shows that at least 50% of the swimmers wore Swedish. By 1988, probably every single guy on my club team wore a pair of Swedish goggles.

TBH, I didn't wear those much in HS or college. I stuck to mostly the Speedo Sprint and the Hind Compy. I had one pair of Swedish goggles fall apart on me right before the mile final at NCAA's my sophomore year in 1992. I wrapped up my college career wearing Hind Compy. I still have 2 pairs of those, but those aren't being made anymore, so I am holding to those.

I've mostly worn Hind Compy and Swedish since about 2006, with variations of the Swedish (Montebara, Tyr Socket Rockets, arena Swedix) being all that I wear now.

I found a pair of Orca goggles on the shore at 70.3 Boulder this year, when I was a spectator. I wore those several times for OW swims, and those were fine, though I never would have bought a pair on my own.

The point of all of this is to say that I've mostly worn inexpensive, small-lens goggles over the last 40 years. It's hard for me to understand how a simple, inexpensive technology, proven over 40 years, can still be up for improvement. I get that bike, shoe, and to some extent apparel technology can increase performance in tri, but goggles are goggles.

I suppose that my goggles say that I am a cheapskate and a grumpy old man.

How did your Swedes "fall apart"??? Did your string or rubber band nose strap break, or your head strap??? The goggles themselves seem pretty much indestructible, unless you put then in an oven and melt them, then they're going to last forever. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

^ This ^

Now this is a very important subject.. Goggles..

You cannot talk about Goggles without a matching swim CAP. YES, I know, most of you hate swim caps for training but its all about the look.


Looking cool is priority #1.

Sure, you can go with classic Swedish which says, i paid $5 and 30 min to put together, but what type of cap are you wearing and HOW are you wearing that cap? Is the cap covering your ears and forehead? If so, it says noob. Do you wear a cap and goggles but do you wear your goggles outside of your cap? if so, it says noob. Most of the time. Notice in picture cap is folded at the ear with goggles under cap. Proper swim cap and goggles etiquette should be taken serious.

Close, but Phelps has the biggest dome in history and no cap will fit him... folded is good for practice, but over the ear for racing. But you do you - no Velomanti (Aquamanti??) rules at the pool. Most of what you see is borne from practicality and speed.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I have the goggles with the snake eyes. What does that say?

These ones?


Stay away!

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Yeah, but anyone who pulls their cap OVER their goggles deserves a little bit of gentle ribbing. Kierra Smith, I'm looking at you!!

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Maybe its lower drag.


As long as its not all the way down over the lenses.

The string nose piece untied. That was the ONLY time that ever happened.

I've tried the elastic through the nose piece, but also threaded through the tube. I still prefer the string technique. All my current pairs have the string. On the very rare occasions when I need to replace the nose piece, I just use some dental floss, looped through several times. I have a pair of jewel-mirror lens goggles that I've had for 3 years tied with floss.

Had my first pair of swede type goggles last winter and went the elastic to connect route and really like it. But I kept forgetting to cut it short so every swim I was pissed I forgot to cut it. Then next swim the same thing happened! But I have since cut it. I will say that I only get the fit right about 76% of the time so sometimes they kill my eye sockets.

But all of this spending money in this thread seems a bit excessive. I have some Tyr goggles that I have had for years that I still use too. I might buy race goggles every year but rarely replace training ones. Baby shampoo before every swim to keep them clean and fog free and I have been good to go for years!

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Twitter - Instagram

I started swimming as a sophomore in HS in 1969. We did not use goggles. When I was at home afterward sometimes my eyes would burn so bad that I couldn't open them enough to get any Visine in there (when I could, Visine gave instant relief). Eventually in HS we started using goggles for practice, but not at meets!


In an unrelated note, I walked to school barefooted in the snow and it was uphill both going and coming home.

I don't know if there is any piece of personal athletic gear that has impacted a sport as much as swimming was impacted by goggles. At the same time, no other piece of personal athletic gear has been able to stay as cheap and unimproved upon as goggles. There is no other technology that has been so quickly "solved" as goggles, and so little change has been needed.

Think of the contrasts, in technology, durability, price among other gear since the intro of swim goggles in the 1970s: running shoes, basketball shoes, golf clubs, sports bras, bikes (frames, drive trains, aero, materials, etc), helmets, bike shoes, pedals, tennis rackets, apparel (technical fibers), swim suits, skis, ski boots, socks...

OTOH, goggles: there's no such thing as permanent anti-fog, and the natural solution is abundant and free. There's been a bit of an upgrade with silicone straps, in terms of being hypo-allergenic and durable. There are some cool lens colors. There are new materials for the gaskets. But, goggles still remain cheap, and the technology is mostly unchanged since the 1970's and 80's. So, what's the need to spend when there were just as many different types of people with different face shapes wearing goggles that worked 30 years ago?

There's no way you'd show up at a triathlon on a 10 gear steel bike with strap-in pedals, wearing lace-up leather bike shoes. No way is anyone skiing without shaped skis or composite boots. You'll get blown off the court if you play tennis with a steel or wooden tennis racket. You'll get all sorts of blisters if you wear cotton socks and Chuck Taylor All-Stars to the Y gym to play hoops, and your nipples will chafe right off if you wear a cotton singlet...

Show up to the swim start in blue $4 Swedish goggles and you'll probably have a ton of people trying to position themselves to draft you. Unchanged technology from the 70's is still applicable today.

There seems to be an inverse relationship here, at least among some long-term swimmers. Tens of thousands of kilometers swum over the decades, tens of dollars spent on goggles over the decades.

I pay zero attention to googles. I do notice bikes and running shoes though. I use big ass bug-eyed Roka X1 googles because it's all about comfort for me. Man, do I hate tight uncomfortable goggles when I'm swimming 1+ miles! So I guess my goggles say a lot about me: that I'm not a very serious swimmer!

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Hmmm, dental floss, I've never thought of that. I've been wearing same pair of Swedes for about 12 yrs and when the original string broke after 10 yrs or so, i just replaced with similar string. I'm on my 4th bungee strap but those have been my only "maintenance" requirement, about $3.00 every three years or $1/yr. While I love the low cost, the really best thing about Swedes IMO is that they are so incredibly low tech; i mean, you can't get much lower tech than holding your goggles together with string or a rubber band. It's just awesome to use Swedes and the (free) pace clock vs $30 goggles and a $200 Garmin. :)

But back to the original story: Did you swim your final in borrowed goggles or did you go sans goggles??? How was your time compared to what you had hoped to do??? Sometimes I think racing sans goggles might be best so abso no distractions as you can't see much at all. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

BaldingEagle - "Mask-like goggles: you are an adult-onset swimmer, most likely a triathlete. You think it’s worth it to spend 4-5 times the amount of money that a “real” swimmer would pay for goggles that she/he wears 20 hours per week. You wear those goggles 2-3 times per week for a total of < 4000y.
Swedish goggles: you're an iconoclast and an individualist. Those look painful to swimming outsiders, and that's part of the allure. But are solely customized to you. You tied your goggles just right, meaning no one else can share. You also have no idea why spending more than $8 (goggles plus bungee cord) is even necessary. Good enough for Sjostrom, Hosszu, Thorpe, Biondi, and Hackett, means good enough for you."

https://swimswam.com/...-you/#comment-653190

Yeah I noticed the same thing wearing my first ''bigger'' goggles ever: Aquasphere Kayenne clear lenses (and no, I'm not secure and I consider myself THE most procrastinating person ever :-) ). Every hard push from the wall the goggles are letting water in.
Disclaimer: I am a beginner at distance swimming and in re-learning mode right now, I quit short distance in 1980', around grade 12th I think...
Before that, I have always used the basic Speedo ones, but they were far from fitting fine on my face, so I attached them extremely tight. Couldn't keep them for long. I also have intense myopia and astigmatism, so I can't not wear goggles. My vison, thus the goggles I use are very important to me. I wish to find a pair that never fogs, that is comfortable, inside who water never enters, and is also not too huge.
Never ever swam in open water yet, next summer....

Louis :-)

The goggles literally split apart at the nose piece as we were being whistled up to the blocks. I had worn those to warm up in 5 minutes earlier with no issues. I drew the starter’s attention, showed him my goggles, and I walked over to my team area to find another pair. My coaches were so F-ing pissed. Once the race actually started, it was a giant cock-up. I swam horribly and barely got 16th place, good enough for 1 point. My concentration was definitely shot, but other circumstances also contributed. We’d had a teammate die the previous summer, and I was still a roiling ball of emotions at the meet, 7 months later (this was March, 1992).

Since that day, I’ve taken a second pair to the blocks for EVERY SINGLE RACE in a pool, college and masters. NCAA 1993 and 1994. FINA World Masters in 2006. US Masters nationals 2015 in San Antonio. Even last weekend at a local 1500 scm meet, I tossed a spare pair under the block next to the pool JIC. It’s my ritual. Even at OWS and some tri races, I’ll have the spare tucked into the waistband until the race starts and either toss the spares at the shore or hand off to a Sherpa.

I have nothing useful to add to this thread during my evolution from triathlete to swimmer, other than NEVER EVER BE SEEN WITH the google below on your head and a garmin on your wrist.

Even when i was triathlete, I would not get caught dead with all that "I am such a triathlete" gear

If Speedo ever stops making the Vanquishers I really don't know what I'd do. I've been wearing them for like 15 years now.