What are your favourite goggles?

I’d really hoped to go running with a friend yesterday afternoon, but after a day of rushing around and trying to get my house organised,  I felt quite tired. I still prefer to run than to swim, but I knew that I should go swimming as I haven’t made it to the pool much recently.

As a child, I didn’t mind being in the water. However, I really hated having to wear goggles and a swimming hat for school swimming lessons. At least they were optional when I went to the beach with my family.

Prescription goggles

I have a strong memory of seeing prescription goggles for the first time ever. It was at the opticians when I was 10-years-old. Unfortunately, I looked at the price tag. They seemed incredibly expensive, so I never even asked whether I could have some.

When I decided that I wanted to take part in triathlons, my eyesight had deteriorated so much that I knew I had to buy prescription goggles. Fortunately, the price had come down a lot and I was able to buy suitable pairs for under £20.

Wearing ‘normal’ goggles

After I had my eyes lasered, I had no idea what goggles to buy. My husband gave me a pair of polarising goggles like his so that I could wear them for open water swimming. I’ve been very happy wearing them and have never had any problems, but when Joci gave me the chance to try their Free Swim Swimming Goggles, I leapt at the opportunity.

The company claims that they are “a pair of swim goggles that fit kids and adults really well and are ideal for training.” This is a bold claim. Since they were launched in May 2016, they have risen to be in the top 1% of goggles sales on Amazon, which is quite impressive.

Trying Joci goggles

I wanted to assess the following areas:

• fit
• fogging
• tint
• visibility

I ate dinner fairly early. After resting on the sofa for an hour or so, I managed to muster up the energy to go swimming. As I said to Stu, if I made it as far as the pool, I knew that I would make it through the session.

As it’s the start of the month, the queue to enter the swimming pool was really long. Everyone needed to pick up new parking permits. Although we’d allowed plenty of time, it was still a bit of a rush to get to the poolside on time. This meant that I didn’t have any time to spend faffing around with checking that the new goggles had been adjusted to my size. Fortunately, they didn’t need any adjustments. The goggles are a single moulded piece, so there is no nosepiece that can be adjusted. The elastic strap can be adjusted.

What did I think of the goggles?

The user guide advised getting the goggles wet before wearing them, so I splashed them in the pool before putting them on. I’ve quite a small head and narrow face so was pleased to find that the goggles fitted me well.

The goggles have a slight tint, which was sufficient for indoor pool swimming. I could see clearly, although I did wonder whether there was some slight distortion. I’m sure I can normally see my coach’s face clearly from the far end of the pool, but I couldn’t last night. However, I have also been warned that my vision may change temporarily during pregnancy, so that might be the reason. I did find that I had a wide field of vision. The coach complimented me on my head position during this swim, which may have been helped by how much I was able to see. (I have a tendency to lift my head).

The best part of wearing these goggles was that they did not leak. They also did not fog up at all during the whole swimming session. I intend to wear the goggles repeatedly over the next few weeks (well, for as long as I’m able to keep swimming) to see whether there is any deterioration.

How was my swim?

As for the swim set, it was great to do a mix of drills and speed work with Huw. There were four of us in the lane. With the exception of the kicking drills, I was firmly at the back… but I managed to hang on. One part of the session was several x 100m off 2:20. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Managing to keep within the 2:20, was a confidence booster. I had a few breaks (I did 4x25m at maximum speed when the others did 6×25 as I didn’t want to get out of breath), but completed the vast majority of the session 🙂

What are your favourite goggles and why?

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