I keep losing my cap and sometimes my goggles with it when swimming 1650 or one hour postal. I've tried both latex and silicone caps....has anyone found a cap system that stays on?
I keep losing my cap and sometimes my goggles with it when swimming 1650 or one hour postal. I've tried both latex and silicone caps....has anyone found a cap system that stays on?
My system is not to wear a cap in distance events, though I sometimes forget and put on a cap before a long race out of habit.
200 event or shorter? Sure, wear a cap.
400/500 event? Subject to whim. (For example, in a meet last weekend I wore a cap for the 400 IM but then did not wear one for the 400 free.)
800+ event? Do not wear a cap. Do this :doh: until urge to wear cap subsides. Then swim long race without overheating :ohyeah:
I lost my cap in my 1000 in my very first masters meet. :bitching: I never had this problem during all my years of competitive swimming up through college.
I've found that the fit of latex caps is very variable. The style that seems to work best for me has a bottom (headband?) that is clearly tighter than the rest of the cap. (This style: www.allamericanswim.com/all-american-swim-latex-caps-p-9131.html
As far as silicone caps go, I had terrible problems with them popping off my head until I got a Speedo "long hair" model. I do not have particularly long hair but maybe I have a freakishly large head or something.
At one meet I tried wearing a latex cap, then my goggles, and then a silicone cap on top of that. It stayed put, but it was a bit warm. The next two meets I swam with just the silicone cap and it stayed put.
At the risk of stating the obvious, I always crack out a brand new cap for this. I agree with the suggestion to wet your hair first. It seems to me that latex caps hold better than silicone ones, though I prefer the silicone because they are more comfortable. The Sporti brand seems a little tighter than other brands. Sometimes you can find junior size caps if you really want to squeeze your head.
Agree on the conditioner - that's a no-no the day before or day of for any cap. I find the 'harder / thicker' silicon caps like the Speedo Aqua V (www.swimoutlet.com/ProductDetails.asp are the best for staying on your head.
However, a reason you might be losing your cap in a long freestyle race is technique - make sure you are not bobbing your head up and down as you swim or breathe. Many swimmers (myself included) will slightly tilt their head up when breathing (instead of just rotating to the side) so that, with every breath you take, you're putting upward force from the water onto the edge of the cap as you turn your head back (and down) from your breath. Over a distance race, this repetition and water force pushes your cap off your head.
