Trial training | Waves and miracle glasses

Wow, wow, wow, I hadn't imagined it like this. The Baltic Sea is choppy this Monday on Göhren's north beach: a fresh north-northeast wind, waves breaking at short intervals on the sandbanks. I'm swimming a short distance behind, parallel to the shore. Vacation time is training time !

It's my first ocean swim this year. And the conditions are so unpleasant: The current keeps pulling me toward shore, and the waves keep lapping over me. It's a good thing I'm a fairly experienced swimmer by now. Two or three sips of salt water now and then can't ruin my breathing. I stoically take a breath to the right, toward the shore. And think about September 14th, my triathlon debut . I hope there aren't waves like that!

I'm doing the crawl, partly because I want to try out my miracle swimming goggles in the ocean for the first time. "Form Smart Swim Pro 2 " is the name of the €300 device that's supposed to make me a better swimmer with augmented reality. During training or competition, all sorts of real-time data is displayed in yellow pixels on the inside of the right lens: pace, distance, swimming time, strokes per minute, and even my heart rate, which is measured by a sensor in the frame on my temple. The app later shows me detailed analyses.

The Form goggles worked well in the pool . I downloaded my coach's training program to the goggles via Bluetooth and ran through my session. All intervals and recovery breaks were displayed. The first month of testing also includes the premium service, which otherwise costs 120 euros per year. You can even improve your swimming style with it: In my case, the goggles immediately noticed that I was lifting my head too far. Now, when I activate "Peak Head Roll," I see a kind of line graph showing how much my head is lowering and lifting, and which line it should not cross. The smaller the deviation, the better. I swim more efficiently when I pay attention to this.

Today, on the windy Rügen coast, the goggles are supposed to perform something special again – with "Swim Straight," a kind of navigation in the goggles. Since activating the "swim straight" function, a compass ring on the display has been rotating: I pointed it at a pillar of the Göhren pier – exactly 130 degrees – and since then, I've been swimming steadily in the direction the compass indicates. Every eight strokes, the goggles require me to raise my head and check if my course is correct. It works!

In fact, despite all the waves, I've now reached the very pillar I'd originally targeted. Everything went as planned—except that I originally wanted to turn around and swim the whole way back. Instead, I climb out of the surf and walk back along the beach to my blanket. Today I'm cheating by a kilometer. My goggles show me the way, the sea shows me the limits. I've had enough salt water.

The test glasses were provided by the manufacturer.