So I noticed that whenever I swim any kind of distance set (like >500 yards) I get pretty aggravating headaches. I'm the kind of person who does get pretty severe, frequent headaches just in general, but when I swim this only happens when I crank up the distance a little. Has this happened to anyone else? I can't really think of a good reason why, and I thought if I could figure out the issue, I may be able to take care of it.
For now I just tough it out and keep going, but it's not really fun as I'm sure you can imagine.
Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts of this I'd love to hear them!
Thanks
Any possibility it's from wearing tight goggles? Do you typically take your goggles off between sets? If so, this would be my first thought on what's causing the headaches.
Thanks for the ideas guys. Goggles could definitely be the issue since I tend to wear them pretty tight. Water temp could also be a factor since I do seem to generate a lot of heat quickly. My blood pressure is a little high, but nothing to be concerned about apparently.
Also, trust me if I could quit the distance sets I would. Just trying to imagine telling my coach "Nope" when he writes one up there. Fairly certain that would just get me swimming it two or three times. Not too much of a sprinter either though. Is it possible for a person to be neither? Haha, I guess that just makes me a bad swimmer lol.
I would be willing to bet it is a goggle issue. For my first OW race I wore my pool racing goggles that are quite a bit tighter than my practice pairs. At about the 1.5 mile mark my head was pounding. I have had it happen during a 1650.
Goggles could definitely be the issue since I tend to wear them pretty tight.
In all seriousness...this is probably the cause. Headaches can be brought on by being inadequately hydrated, but my guess is the goggle straps. They don't need to be set really tight unless you might be worried about losing them after a dive.
So we swam a 500 in warmup yesterday, and I tried loosening my goggle straps to see if it helped. I can thankfully report that it did! No headache fortunately.
Hope this holds up in even longer distances.
Thanks for the advice everyone!!
Unless you are doing starts loosen the goggles! I wear contacts all the time & still keep mine loose.
Are you holding your breath too long ? Try on 2 or 3 for long distance not 4 or 5 like sprinters.
