Goggles
TYR Corrective Optical Performance Goggles. [TYR]. Very comfortable — good seal and …. you can choose your vision correction. If you have a large difference between your eyes, you can purchase two pairs of goggles – one for each Rx, then swap lens pieces to make two sets of goggles.
Note: antifog is just a short term benefit of many of these goggles. People use many approaches to achieve anti-fog. You can purchase an anti-fog preparation and follow the mfg recommendations. Alternatively, I’ve seen swimmers spit lightly and rinse the inside or lick the lenses and rinse [works well]. Finally, a quick and easy fix is to use a TINY bit of liquid soap [Dawn etc or the soap in the shower, before you enter the pool]. Just put a minuscule amount of the soap on the inside of the lenses and rinse briefly. You’ll be set for your swim; easily lasts 300 laps for me.
Pullbuoy
PULLBUOY. [Amazon] Very helpful tool for swimming. It is a foam spacer that is placed between your legs, with the larger side towards the front of your body. Some pools may have these [and fins, weights, aerobic aids] in storage areas or racks near the pool so that you can borrow them for testing.
Uses: some swimmers have heavy legs and have difficulty keeping their legs near the surface, even when keeping their head down, other swimmers use a pullbuoy so that they can focus on their arm/stroke style and isolate their legs [let them rest]. Finally, those that have had recent surgery, arthritis or injury to their hips, knees, legs can use a pullbuoy and effectively “turn off” their legs. I started using one when I stopped using fins and moved to TI swimming [also wanted to reduce stress of kicking on my lower abdomen after radiation treatments. An inexpensive helpful tool! Rinse it off with your other items in the shower. There are a number of sizes available. The one pictured at left is a more buoyant model; I’ve switched to a less buoyant model
Snorkels
Details: the Michael Phelps snorkel [Amazon] holds up very well. Be sure to rinse it thoroughly after each swim. I’ve been averaging about 1800 miles per snorkel; they hold up well. The really nice feature of this snorkel is that it passes straight down your face, between your eyes. This gives it great stability. The valve allows you to easily remove water that enters the snorkel.
Why use one?: In general, you’ll see most swimmers not using snorkels at the pool. There are several instances, though, that really make sense for their use. The first is that some swimmers will use them for part of their swim, to allow focus just on their stroke. They’re also popular with some new swimmers, as they learn their strokes. Finally, they are great if you have a physical issue that affects your ability to breathe in the “normal” style.
Fins
Fins are an important part of most swimmer’s experience. They let you work with developing both your legs and stroke style. Most swimmers use them for just part of their workout session, though. I selected these fins because they fit well and didn’t injure my skin. I wore them with thin scuba socks [important item for those with potential skin issues].
I had an interesting experience with fins. For nearly a year, I used fins that had been shortened, with the freestyle stroke. The shortening was to reduce the risk of knee over-use and decrease the fin efficiency. My workouts went well, but often my second workout of the day included the ellipticals machine. The combination didn’t go well for me, and I developed pain in my knees.
Ultimately, in the Spring of 2018, I retired my fins and went to straight freestyle swimming. And … that didn’t go well! I felt like a rock in the pool…. For me, the solution was is on the wonderful solution from my brother [retired swim coach] on a new stroke — Total Immersion swimming [TI].
Sound systems
AudioFlood sound system
This is a more expensive solution, but is a great choice if you are an Apple person. You can sync your music/podcasts etc to the waterproofed iPod Shuffle. Then play it through the earphones below. I’ve had very good luck with mine until recently; it’s been in once for warranty work – stuck buttons. I received fast courteous service. My unit had approx 300 miles on it when it went in for service and has worked fine for 200+ miles since it’s return from service. One “glitch” occurred when I had to give it an extra charge, but I’m sure glad to have the easy syncing back!
In addition to your usual music sources, there are 1,000’s of old time radio shows at RUSC.com and odd but interesting music available at the RetroCocktailHour.com
SYRYN sound system
This is a less expensive solution, it’s a good starter solution – but requires that you manually load the .mp3 files. I’ve had very good luck with no issues for 300 miles so far. It may be packaged with goggles [that I don’t like as much as others — see above] and headphones that don’t match the ones described below, in comfort or sound quality.
In short, a good choice would be to purchase this player and the headphones below — and they’re often packaged together. There are helpful support videos on YouTube that will show you the details re loading your music on this device.
I use these headphones with both of my sound systems. Although they come with many adapters to ensure a great fit — it’s hard to beat the christmas tree adapters [see arrow at left] for comfort and a good leak-free seal. Please read the section below on using fit goo.
When you are putting your headphones on/in your ears, please follow these steps for success:
- apply a tiny bit of fitgoo to the christmas tree part of the headphone; rub over the silicone. Really – just a tiny amount! Then lick the headphone very lightly.
- lift your ear gently upward by the pinna [the location where Spock’s ear is pointed – top back area of the ear] to open the ear canal. This prevents you from jamming it into your ear canal and causing injury or collapsing the silicone christmas tree.
- insert the headphone gently into the ear. I find that I can easily have 300+ laps of no leaks/issues by following these steps
- eventually, the silicone ear trees will become too soft to use; just replace them by contacting the vendor or, you can order new trees from Amazon [small, medium or large].
NOTE: I have not received any of the items mentioned on this website from the manufacturer / supplier at reduced or no cost. I’ve purchased each item and use it as described.
Coming soon: Strokes: rash guards, wetsuits, caps, tracking your swimming: from simple to detailed, KrossinKeuka/fundraisers and more ….