Loki models the metallized Socket Rockets

I said goodbye to one of my favorite pairs of goggles today… not that I don’t have an epic collection to back them up, but these were a personal favorite for outside lunchtime swims. I’m a big fan of the TYR Socket Rockets as workout goggles and wear them in most practices but never in meets (I wear blueseventy Element goggles for racing and open water). Unfortunately the demise of these goggles can be chalked up to user error. I have a tendency to leave my swim bag to cook in the truck while I’m in the office and well the heat finally got to them. The strap is all melty and and the silicone on the cups is all gummy too so they’re done for.

front view of a lens

I know a lot of people swear by regular hard plastic swedish goggles, I have a pile of them myself, but these goggles take all the good stuff about swedes and make them just a little bit better. The Socket Rockets have a little layer of silicone (or some other mystery rubber) that softens the impact between your eye socket and the plastic cup of the goggle. I wear mine a little loose for working out and I leave the pool without any goofy goggle marks on my face. The only downside to wearing them the way I do is that they’re no good for starts and dives.

the silicone that makes all the difference

If you want to get yourself a pair you can get them in all kinds of colors for about $6… if you want metallized they run about $13… I need to go get some new ones to make up for my dead pair!

source

and later it was implied by my twitter friends that I might be the Goggle Monster mentioned that day on Kastaway…

Picture souce: Kastawayblog.com

well guess what, you got me… I am the Goggle Monster, are you happy now? I live under bleachers and eat lost goggles. It’s true. I know it’s hard to believe, but here’s what I look like in my true form…

make your own monster roaring noises

All I ask is that you don’t treat me any differently just because I happen to be a monster made out of goggles that also happens to eat goggles… my life is hard enough already.

I love me some goggles… I can’t help it… they’re cheap, practical and colorful. The picture above is just what I have floating around the house, it doesn’t count the ones I have in my desk at the office and others in the house that are still in their packaging. It’s fair to say that I was a little geeked out today when more pictures and info about blueseventy’s new super goggle started to come out. The part that really stuck with me though is the price tag… about $100! gulp! My most expensive goggles are like $24.00. I hope these things are super awesome and fast with x-ray vision.

blueseventy carbonRZR goggle

Eric from the Kastaway blog did the math on Twitter earlier today and you can buy either 22.22 pairs of swedish goggles or 1 pair of carbonRZR goggles, your choice. Knowing myself I’ll probably end up with a pair just in the name of science. You can read all the specs over at the17thman’s blog.

So this is what I cart all over the place with me when I go to swim practice. Apparently I am hording goggles, that’s not even the whole collection… and I have 3 more pairs en route as we speak. I have problems :) I’ll only race in one type of goggles but I try out new ones all the time in workout just because.

So here’s what I have in the bag:

1. Speedo Speed Training Fins
2. Nike Pool Buoy
3. H20 Audio Interval (for solo swims only)
4. Swim Cap (to hold down the MP3 player)
5. Gatorade (I have a preference for purple flavored)
6. TYR Socket Rockets, smoked and metallic (for workouts)
7. Mesh blueseventy swim bag (came with my B70 wetsuit)
8. blueseventy Element Goggles (a freebie with my B70 Nero Comp)
9. Speedo Sengar Goggles, smoked and metallic (for racing)
10. Spray-on Sunscreen
11. Lock

So what am I missing? I don’t carry paddles on purpose, they don’t jive well with my shoulder. Anybody playing with any cool new pool toys that I should check out?

While I was there I got a bunch of help from Scott who I think either owns or manages the place. He spent some time with me figuring out what size I would need and picking out suits for me to try on. I ended up trying on a Blueseventy Reaction and a Quintana Roo Superfull.

The Blueseventy Reaction went on first. I tried on a Large which is made for guys that are 5’11″ to 6’4″ and 192 to 220. I’m 5’9″ and about 225 so we weren’t sure how this was going to work out. It went on surprisingly easy. I had a hard time getting it zipped up in the back but once it was all together I felt pretty good in it.

The Quintana Roo Superfull didn’t work out as well for me. It’s a really impressive suit in a lot of ways but it doesn’t fit my build. I couldn’t even get it over my legs. It’s also not set up to be as tough as the Reaction suit. I think it’s the difference between a workout suit and a racing suit. The racing suit is cool but you can’t wear it every day.

I’m really glad I had Scott there to help me pick out a suit. It’s nice to go into a store where they know what they’re talking about and actually try to help you find what works best for you. I ended up getting a pretty smoking deal too. I tried on a rental suit that had been used one time and he offered me $100 off the msrp on it… pretty hard to say no to that. So I got my wetsuit for $199, awesome! I also picked up a pair of B70 Vision goggles and some Body Glide on the way out the door. I’m leaving for LA in a couple of hours so I can’t try out all my new toys and review them right now but hopefully sometime next week I can get myself into a large body of water of some sort!

I’ve been using Speedo Sengar goggles since I’ve come back to the pool (despite having a bunch of others at my disposal) and I’m really happy with them. I’ve tried other brands and styles but they never make it more than 500 yards with me. The problem is I am so happy with them that I live in constant fear of losing my only pair of goggles that haven’t fallen off or leaked in a meaningful way during a race. They’ve served me well in practice, pool races and open water swimming. They suction onto my head really well, if I give them a solid push down right before a race I’m good to go. Plus they come with a silicone strap which works really well on my shaved head.

I had no idea what they were actually called until yesterday and then found them for cheap over at SwimOutlet.com. I ordered 5 pairs of them! A bit extreme maybe, but if they stop making these things I don’t want to be left with one pair that will inevitably get lost or break eventually. I got 2 pairs mirrored, 1 pair clear and 2 pairs smoked. I’m not taking any chances!

I’m not out to sell the rest of you on my favorite pair of goggles… as a matter of fact I’d probably be happier if nobody else liked them and I could scoop up even more of them for cheap in clearance bins… I just want to remind you that it’s never a bad idea to have backups of your favorite swim stuff because it does go out of style and production. Especially if you’re a fan or a brand that’s threatening to pull out of swimming altogether.