Glasses for Running?

lway

Hi folks, relatively new to running, started in Feb this year and have done a few 5k races and my first 10k race (Loughrea Grey lake 10k) planned for the end of this month. Since i've stepped up from 5 to 10k i'm sweating more and being very short sighted wearing my glasses has become a pain, they rub off the bridge of my nose making it red and sore when the sweat hits it.

Bought contact lenses a couple of years ago but still not tried them, one day i'll down a can of HTFU and poke my eyes out till i'm used to them. In the mean time anyone know of an alternative, is there such thing as prescription sports glasses (that don't look like jam jars). I know you can get prescription sunglasses but i'm guessing they wouldn't be the best when running.

What do others use

_sheep

I was in the same boat as yourself and eventually i just had to HTFU and try them... went to specsavers and I would have had more luck guessing what to do than with the girl I got landed with to show me. Basically 1 hour of me poking myself in the eyes over and over - got to a point where she said she had another appointment and I was to come back tomorrow.

Walked out and went to a local optician around the corner. He had me putting them in and out like an expert after 20 minutes of finding what technique suited me.

RoyMcC

I wear glasses, but they're so lightweight it's not a problem. If you want to continue to wear yours you could try

• tying them around your head with one of those hook-on bands that you can buy in opticians
• smearing a bit of Vaseline on your nose
• spraying some demisting stuff on the lenses

It doesn't work trying to run with unaided poor eyesight - you're an accident waiting to happen

D Chief

Contacts is the way to go.

I wear contact lenses for sports, glasses the rest of the day. I got used to the contacts years ago for hurling and football. As I remember it was a matter of trying them out at home and persevering with them until I could wear them for an hour or so.

I have run in my glasses (like when I forgot to bring my contacts on holidays in France this year) but found it annoying constantly pushing them back up only for them to slip down my sweaty nose every few seconds.

TFBubendorfer

My eyesight is pretty bad, but I usually run without glasses.

As long as I can make out the road, what else would I need?

RoyMcC

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

My eyesight is pretty bad, but I usually run without glasses.

As long as I can make out the road, what else would I need?

Whenever I've tried that I've ended up tripping over things - probably my fault for not picking my heels up.

Clearlier

I'm a little photophobic as well as being short sighted and have dry eyes (thus contacts are not an option) so I need wraparounds which are difficult but possible to get although you do a lose a bit of peripheral vision.

I got a pair of prescription sunglasses 6 or 7 years ago from specsavers in the square of all places. I lost them in London earlier this year and was able to replace them with a pair of sports sunglasses. Any good optician should be able to show you a catalogue and order them for you. They'll be lightweight with a rubber bridge and are excellent for running provided they fit well. IIRC, they weren't specifically designed for running but for hiking, walking etc.

Birdsong

I know someone who runs with perscription swim goggles, may not be ideal but does the job.

littlebug

You need to persevere with the contacts . I've been wearing contacts for 24 years (:eek: am I really that old) and you get so used to it you barely notice them after a while. That said... I've run out and been without all summer and have to wait til payday to get more. Running in glasses is a pain.. last week I ended up taking them off as the rain was so heavy I couldn't see anything anyway. At least without them I could (just) make out the dark blob (path) between 2 green blobs (grass) that I needed to stay on. Slightly preferable to watching water running down the glasses. Thankfully there were no other people or obstacles. Footpath or road running wouldn't be an option for me without glasses or lenses.

lway

Thanks for the replies folks . I'm with you _sheep on Specsavers, that's where I got my daily disposables, the optician put them in but it took the assistant so long to teach me how to take them out, in the end they kinda fell out, that I lost the nerve to put them in again.:o

Tried taking them off during a run until I saw a car coming in the distance, put them on to realise I was looking at a pillar at the gate to a house in the distance

Clearlier wrote: »

I got a pair of prescription sunglasses 6 or 7 years ago from specsavers in the square of all places. I lost them in London earlier this year and was able to replace them with a pair of sports sunglasses. Any good optician should be able to show you a catalogue and order them for you. They'll be lightweight with a rubber bridge and are excellent for running provided they fit well. IIRC, they weren't specifically designed for running but for hiking, walking etc.

Now this is what I was thinking, there must be kinda like wraparound sports glasses without metal frames available with prescription lenses for running/cycling. Better do some research into these, thanks Clearlier.

Either way i'd better down a can of HTFU and give the contacts a go again .

MaroonTam

You can get any type of Oakley sunglasses with a prescription lens in any colour (including clear) - but boy will it cost ya! €€€ :eek:

Clearlier

MaroonTam makes a good point. You can get pretty much any pair of glasses with prescription sunglass lenses. Getting wraparound frames is much more challenging though because the curvature of the lens required to correct your vision means that you can't have a curved frame. Hence why the wraparound sunglasses I have mean I lose peripheral vision because to the side of my eyes is just plastic.

snailsong

I started wearing contacts about a month ago, after 30 years of constant glasses wearing. I don't know myself, would heartily recommend it. I got good instruction from the optician and free sample lenses. I had originally planned to use them for cycling but wear them all the time now. Putting them in and out gets easy with a little practice. Go for it.

lway

MaroonTam wrote: »

You can get any type of Oakley sunglasses with a prescription lens in any colour (including clear) - but boy will it cost ya! €€€ :eek:

Yeah, I googled them and you're talking 300-600 dollars for a pair :eek:.

Dust off the contacts it is then, time to find an optician to teach me how to do it properly. It's only been since I started going over 5 miles that the glasses started to become a problem and now the sore nipples have started too , off to buy some vaseline/body glide tomorrow.

opus

Same as some of the other posters I wear a very light pair of glasses for training but would stick in a pair of contacts for a race. Coincidentally a friend of mine who's also a runner has just gone under the laser a few days ago so guess he won't have this problem any more!

slowsteady

Going back to the OP and the issue of sweat causing soreness on the bridge of the nose. I had a similar issue with the sweat falling like rain on the glasses on long runs. A solution I tried, which I have stuck with, is a headband. Was unsure to start but have got used to it and it does the job - €7, the recessionary answer;)

bluebirds

I got a pair of goggles from Zenni Optical for running. The sku is #705224, totally cost me around $40. There are prescription lenses behind the outer wind shield. They work fine for me for running and look pretty cool.

blackworld

I usually see this people who are in sports who uses this kind of eyeglasses.


Mmmhh.. but I think you need to consult your ophthalmologist first before buying this kind of stuff.

lway

slowsteady wrote: »

Going back to the OP and the issue of sweat causing soreness on the bridge of the nose. I had a similar issue with the sweat falling like rain on the glasses on long runs. A solution I tried, which I have stuck with, is a headband. Was unsure to start but have got used to it and it does the job - €7, the recessionary answer;)

Picked up one from Lidl in their running gear sale a while back, the "austerity measures" answer :-) Haven't tried it yet though. Went for an 8 mile run at the weekend and the bridge of the glasses cut into my nose so a little plaster or tape might be the way to go until I sort out using the contacts.

Cabaal

This thread makes me feel lucky, bad eyesight so have to wear glasses but luckily I've never had any issues with them when it comes to running.

My only problem is I wish I could buy nice cheap n handy sunglasses.....must get better prescription sunglasses this year