In the last installment of my Psychology of Sports Technology, I focused on Firefly Recovery which has been scientifically proven to facilitate recovery from intense efforts in training and competition (as well as mitigating the effects of jetlag). In today’s installment, I introduce you to FORM smart swim goggles, an absolute game changer in my relationship with swimming.

First, some back story. I didn’t grow up swimming; I was firmly placed in the “non-drowning” category as a kid. I didn’t do my first lap or lateral breathing until well into adulthood. I suffered from what Lionel Sanders called “adult onset swimming.” As a result, through my two Ironmans, multiple 70.3, and many shorter races, I always struggled to improve my swimming and I never enjoyed getting in the pool (much less open water!).

FORM goggles changed all that for me. The goggles have a heads-up display (HUD) in one of its lenses that provides real-time swim data (see image). The sheer convenience that FORM goggles provides immense value. No more writing down swim workouts, putting them in a baggie, and having to look at it frequently during a swim workout. No more looking at the clock before and after every interval. No more calculating and trying to recall every interval split. No more trying to remember how many laps you’ve done. No more wondering if I got any faster today.

FORM goggles provide a plethora of useful data that you can use during and after workouts to gauge your efforts and to track your progress including lap times and pace, distance, heart rate, DPS, SWOLF, stroke rate, and much more. Another great thing about FORM goggles is that you can input your own personalized swim workouts in the FORM app, and they sync to your goggles, so, when you jump into the pool for your workout, you just follow the workout in FORM’s HUD from start to finish.

Those are some of FORM’s most noticeable physical and practical benefits; now to the psychological value FORM brings to swimming.

Motivation

As a late arrival to the swimming scene, I was unfamiliar with, uncomfortable in, and quite unskilled at this first discipline of triathlon. I just wasn’t a good swimmer, which meant that I was usually surrounded by dolphins and other creatures native to the water (metaphorically speaking) who glided through the water with both ease and speed. By comparison, I was struggling to just get from one end of the pool to the other. Swimming for me simply wasn’t fun. And before buying my FORM goggles, I had almost given up on trying to get faster.

Motivation is the first psychological area in which FORM has had a significantly positive impact on my swimming. With the HUD during swims, I am able to see in real time how my efforts are translating into my swimming. After swims, the granular data my FORM goggles provide to me and my coach (Dr. Greg Rhodes) give us insights that I use to improve my swimming. And I can easily see improvements I am making in my swimming, so FORM goggles actually inspire me to get in the pool more often and put greater effort into my swimming. At a daily level, FORM has brought fun to my swimming (remember I’m a tech geek, so I get joy out of those metrics).

Because of my FORM goggles, I actually love to swim now and look forward to my workouts. And, very importantly, I’m getting faster and more competitive in my races, which motivates me to swim even more.

Focus

Focus is another psychological area in which FORM goggles have really helped me. The ability to focus effectively is essential for quality training of any sort, and no less so for swimming. Whether you’re working on technique or pushing your pace, if you lose focus, the quality of your efforts decline. A key goal in your swimming is to reduce distractions and keep focused on whatever your goals are for the day.

FORM goggles help me stay focused in three ways. First, because my workout is always on the HUD, I don’t have to look at the clock and I don’t get distracted by other swimmers around me. Second, the real-time data on the HUD keeps me laser focused on my workout and what I’m doing in the moment; it’s much more difficult for my focus to drift off onto entirely irrelevant information such as my work schedule or family responsibilities after my swim. Third, with that real-time data, I’m able to focus on where I’m at in the moment and make adjustments, for example, to my pace in intervals or my technique in drills. All three of these benefits have the cumulative effect of making the most of my time and effort in the pool, thus elevating the quality of my swim workouts and maximizing the gains I make in my swim training.

Mental Fatigue

Less mental fatigue is the final psychological benefit that FORM goggles bring to my triathlon life. You may not be familiar with mental fatigue, but it has been getting more and more attention in the scientific community as well as among triathletes and coaches in terms of its impact on training and race performances. You can think of mental fatigue the same way you think of physical fatigue; when you place demands on the brain, you are actually burning energy and with intense or prolonged mental exertion, your brain gets tired. And a tired brain isn’t going to help you in your training, especially the really tough efforts involving high-intensity intervals or distance.

Mental fatigue can build up from sustained mental effort, such as studying for an exam or preparing a work presentation, intense mental effort, including taking that exam or giving that work presentation, or short-term or ongoing stress, for instance, worry about finances or the health of a family member. Accumulated mental fatigue then impacts your ability to focus (i.e., pay attention), think (i.e., make decisions), and persist in your efforts (i.e., perceived exertion). In sum, when you experience mental fatigue, your efforts feel harder and you’re not able to sustain those efforts as long or with the same intensity as when you are mentally rested.

I find that FORM goggles reduce my mental fatigue because it removes many of the obstacles that can lead to mental fatigue. I don’t have to engage in the many steps of getting my workout off TrainingPeaks, onto a piece of paper, and into a baggie (that always seems to leak!). I don’t get distracted and need to refocus constantly when I’m in the pool. And I don’t need to waste valuable mental energy trying to keep track of my total distance, number of intervals completed, and lap times during swim workouts. FORM goggles make my swimming mentally simple, easy, and efficient, so I can direct all of my mental energy into giving my best effort and getting the most out of those efforts.

Additional Benefits

There are several other ancillary psychological benefits that arise FORM goggles. First, with greater motivation, better focus, and less mental fatigue, I’m less stressed and more relaxed when I swim, thus my mind and body can give their full energy to my workouts. Second, the improved quality of my workouts and the gains I am making increase my confidence and make me feel better prepared for races. Lastly, all of these psychological advantages culminate in emotions, like pride, inspiration, excitement, and joy, that act as my rocket fuel on race day.

Disclaimer: I gain no financial benefit from your buying this product. I write about it because I bought it, use it, believe in it, and think that you may benefit from it as well.