The Coach Amy and Coach Liz Show
Promoting a healthy and positive experience for endurance athletes.
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The Coach Amy and Coach Liz Show

Created with endurance athletes in mind

Created with endurance athletes in mind. Coaches Amy and Liz have a combined thirty years of coaching and seven decades of competing in endurance sports. They cover topics relevant to athletes at various levels of participation: those training for a personal challenge to those competing for an age group placement or race qualification.

 

Are Fancy High Tech Swim Goggles worth the Investment?

What is this episode about?

INTRO 0-2:15

Amy experiences every triathlete’s worst nightmare .... what does she do when her goggles break right before her race?!

Are Fancy High Tech Swim Goggles worth the Investment?

There are important basics to remember when selecting goggles: they need to not leak and be (reasonably) comfortable on your face.  Today are endless options for goggles but it's not necessary to spend a ton of money.  Start with basic ones that work for you and then decide if you want to upgrade.

In recent years, high tech goggles have come out that display your pace in real time as you're swimming.  The goggles connect to your watch and the swim pace displays in the google lens.  It's important to understand how to best use them to improve your swim in a way that will benefit your race.

There are two ways to work with pace:  you can improve pace OR you can maintain current pace for less effort.  Both are valid means to improve especially in triathlon because swim fitness impacts the bike and run.

Watching pace while working on swim technique / drills can provide useful feedback about the impact of a technique change on your speed.  However, keep in mind it requires a certain amount of proficiency to be able to do a drill effectively AND watch the pace.   It's best to first learn the drill/ technique and then add in the clock. 

For swim workouts, using a pace display can be very helpful for long sets where paces often unintentionally slow. For example, if you’re swimming 1000 meters it's easy to lose focus or get tired and get slower throughout the 1000.  Having the pace displayed on your goggle lens can provide accountability and incentive to stay on pace….this makes swim sets much harder and builds excellent fitness.

In short, high tech goggles that display pace on the lens, can be very helpful in the right time and place. However, athletes need to have goggles that fit, need to be going to the pool regularly, and need to understand how to best use the pace display to improve their swim.

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