WELCOME BACK !

re ear plugs - I use the swimmers ear plugs I buy very inexpensively at Wally world. They are purple and have silicon disc type things on a silicon post. they are comfortable and seal really well. It pretty much is a given you have to wear them for our early tri's here because the water is so cold a person gets vertigo when they are done swimming. The ear plugs solve that.

Also if i dig way back in my brain there is a liquid you can put in before swimming that helps - i have never used it and can't remember what it is (great help I am) It is not the drops you put in for swimmers ear but something else - perhaps someone on catch a wave thread would know

I put my goggle straps on first then the swim cap over them - my speedo silicon cap comes over my ears pretty well but I have never had these ear plugs leak or slip out. I even sleep w/ them when needed - they block a lot of sound