Plug your ears!

What's squishy, a little sticky, and forms a ball when you roll it between your fingers??

If you're thinking "a booger"...well, yes, you're right, but that's not what I'm talking about.

If you're thinking "ear wax", you're also right, and you're getting closer, but still not what I'm talking about.

The answer is...ear plugs! Well, silicone ear plugs, that is. I'm surprised I waited so long to get ear plugs for swimming, actually. Getting water in my ears has been annoying since the day I started swimming (six months ago, as it happens!), but I'd just hop on one foot, shake my head around, and forget about it until next time.

Then I started noticing that after swimming anything more than 800 meters, I had a terrible headache. It's hard to describe the pain, but I'll go with a general throbbing that lasted roughly 30 minutes after getting out of the pool. According to the all-knowing Google, a whole host of things could have been causing the headache, including, but not limited to, improper head position, overly tight goggles, a chlorine allergy, and dehydration. For a few weeks, I tried to focus on fixing any of those potential problems. I concentrated on relaxing my neck, making sure my goggles were comfortable, and drinking lots of water before a swim. And yet, the headache persisted.

I finally came to my own conclusion, which was that the pressure/water in my ears was giving me a headache. I picked up 2 pairs of TYR silicone ear plugs, and they look like this:

Basically, you roll them into a ball in your hand, and press them right into your ear with your thumb. A little scary, right?

So, did they help the headache? Well...I don't know. I used them a couple of times and definitely still had a headache afterward, but I was also going through a bit of a trial-and-error period. It was kind of hard to get them to stay firmly in my ear, and a few times when I turned to breathe, I felt one or the other come "unstuck." I had visions of them popping out and sinking to the bottom of the pool, but I also had visions of rupturing an ear drum if I tried to wedge them in there any tighter (the package specifically says not to form them into a cone shape because you could do some damage or get them stuck or something).

Today I fiddled with them for a while and after inserting them, I sort of stretched and pulled them so they plugged every part of my ear, and lo and behold, they completely stayed put for 1200 meters. Not a single leak! And, even better, I had absolutely no hint of a headache after I left the pool!

So, was the headache remedy the whole time the ear plugs? Or was today just a fluke? I have no idea. I really just wanted to make the whole booger/ear wax/ear plug comparison.