Emilio says you can swim in a pool to your heart's content.

I think it was on one of those care cards attached to the suit pieces that said you can swim in a pool. The recommendation is to rinse well with fresh water both inside and out.

I may be wrong but it might be a good idea to try to fill the suit with water before getting in the pool; kind of like the theory of getting your hair wet before getting in the pool. Your hair can only absorb the water once so its better to have it absorb fresh water as opposed to chlorinated water; ditto with the wet suit. I just made this part up but it sounds good. I don't wear my suit in the pool; no need to for the temp and I love the feeling of hoping in the lake with the suit on, all of a sudden swimming becomes easy-peasy!

I may be wrong but it might be a good idea to try to fill the suit with water before getting in the pool;

Ixnay, getting the suit wet will only make it harder to get on.

To the original poster, by all means, go ahead and check it out in the pool. One word of caution, though, keep your swim distances short as your thighs will be cooking with any distance over 500 yards (original T1 suit).

A great thing to do, in my opinion, is to warm up without the suit, then try 100 yd (or meter) time trials with and without the suit. Clock your times, and see what the wetsuit does for you. I also did this with 1000 yd time trials, but then you can figure out how I know about the burning thighs. Fortunately for you, my resuts showed that I had the same time savings per 100 yards regardless of the distance (7 seconds per 100 yards faster in the wetsuit)/

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Behold the turtle! He makes progess only when he sticks his neck out. (James Bryant Conant)
GET OFF THE F*%KING WALL!!!!!!! (Doug Stern)
Brevity is the soul of wit. (William Shakespeare)

Woops, I didn't mean to get the suit wet and then put it on, although that would be fun to watch. I meant to put the suit on and then try to get water from the shower to go into it.

OK -- I'll bite. Why would a particular brand of wetsuit cause burning thighs?

I think he was referring to the insulating effect of any wetsuit, and how that would interact with higher temps in a pool v. open water.

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mckenzie

Bingo. In a pool, with those 5 mm thick bibs, the legs heat up like crazy, even if you don't kick hard. After a 1000 yd interval at speed, the effect is amazing. Pool temp was somewhere around 78-82 degrees.

The "burning" effect is internal, figuratively speaking, not external literally speaking.

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Behold the turtle! He makes progess only when he sticks his neck out. (James Bryant Conant)
GET OFF THE F*%KING WALL!!!!!!! (Doug Stern)
Brevity is the soul of wit. (William Shakespeare)

I'd tend to disagree a bit with the "don't get the suit wet before" idea ......

Rubber will hold the moisture for quite a long time and it will expand a bit when that happens. Putting the suit on completely dry makes it harder to put on, causes binding in some areas (unless you douse yourself in Pam or Bodyglide), and doesn't allow as much freedom of movement.

I'm not sure exactly, but I think Emilio actually recommends that you moisten suits in general as you get closer to race day to keep the rubber more supple.

On the other note about swimming with it in the pool, I did two 2,200 yard continuous sessions with mine to get used to not only the HIM distance but also the suit itself having never done anything more than paddle out to a wave with a wetsuit before getting into tris. I had a big azz water bottle and would stop on the 500's to drink because it did get damn hot in the suit. When I was done I just made sure to rinse the top and bottom off well in the shower.

Just my worthless experience.

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Rick, "Retired" hobbyist athlete
Trying to come back slowly from acute A-Fib

Hello,

I would be the one that replies to your email, and I think I did. So you are right, your email filters are set too high.

Regarding swimming in a pool in a T1...GO FOR IT! Chlorine is fine. That I know of we make the only wetsuit that is chlorine resistant! Thanks for putting food in my fridge.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com