Triathalon....for someone who wears glasses?!?

Okay.....recently I've been considering the notion of trying to complete a triathalon.  Apart from the obvious concerns about my endurance, my swimming ability etc. etc., the one thing that is weighing on my mind is, "how am I going to do this wearing glasses?"

I'm blind as a bat....so while I may be able to do the swim portion with fuzzy vision, there isn't a hope in hell that I'll be able to run through the transition area and find my bike....

Any suggestions?  I've always had a hard time with contacts (they irritate my eyes, I lose/rip them...blah, blah,blah) and I don't necessarily want to buy a pair just to give the triathalon a go. My prescription is pretty bad and I have astigmatism in both eyes, so they'd probably be pretty darn expensive any way....

Any thoughts?

Could a friend stand by the swim exit or bike transition entrance and hand them to you? You'll probably be following someone out of the swim (unless you are in first?) so just follow them til your buddy yells your name.

or you could mark your bike with a bright towel so that you can find it blind?

You know the goggles people wear to swim? well you can get special perscripted ones, my friend got some coz it was awfull 2 swim withut being able to see anything, but i don't know where he got them!! why don't yyou ask your optition? 

Original Post by fitnessfreak:

I'm blind as a bat....so while I may be able to do the swim portion with fuzzy vision, there isn't a hope in hell that I'll be able to run through the transition area and find my bike....

Once you get your transition area set up, take a couple practice runs into the transition area to find your bike a couple times before the race starts.  That way, when you get done with the swim and into transition you'll be able to remember "ok, third row of bikes, turn right, 5th bike on the left" and lousy vision won't be as much of a problem (a few practice runs are probably a good idea even if you're 20/20).

I'm seconding stephannalee -- prescription swim goggles might be the way to go, here, if you plan to get enough mileage out of them.

You can usually get them from the larger eyeglass places -- you might need to check some websites or call around a little, but if you live in any decently-sized town, it's likely that you'll have at least some competitive high school-level swimmers who might need them.

However, the are pricey, so if you're only planning to do, say, one triathlon, I would go with floggingsully's plan.

I'm blind as a bat, too, and currently pondering what to do about my eyeballs when it comes time to start sparring (I do Muay Thai).  I have at least five months to figure it out, though, LOL.  For now, I'm just gonna buy some Croakies or something like that to keep my glasses from shooting off during conditioning class.

EDIT: The link below is to one place I found that sells prescription goggles -- you can send them your existing prescription and have them made.

They have a pair for about $160 that says it includes your 'full prescription,' the others might not work for you due to astigmatism.

http://www.goodglasses.com/index.cfm/fa/subca tegories.main/parentcat/8899/subcatid/19996?g clid=CKPW9_rN3JgCFSUgDQodmTzaeA

I've actually read in some race rules (when regarding who can be in race area/who can't) that it is allowed to have a buddy hand you glasses when you're stepping out of the water. I'm a swimmer, and have friends blinder than a bat swim without perscription goggles... but that's also pool swimming instead of open water (they don't do open water- but I have- and I know it's different)

I am -6+ blind without correction.  I have two pair of -5 diopter swim goggles.  I paid about $20 a pair for them.  You can get them on sale at some of the larger sporting goods stores sometimes for even less.

Here is a link to some 5.0 and 5.5 diopter ones.

http://www.trisports.com/tyrcoopgo.html?produ ctid=tyrcoopgo&channelid=FROOG ;

You don't need perfect, these are good enough to be able to move around on land, but I don't like to wear them for more than a few minutes.

 You can pull these down around your neck and put on your regular sports glasses for the bike and run.