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Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit
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Hi ladies,

So I did a lake tri this past weekend (Tempe International), and about 500 yds into the swim I was completely fatigued (arms/shoulders).

Now I know I can swim 1500 yds, but living in Tucson, I don't have easy access to open water to swim in my wetsuit (fullsuit).

Aside from the engine, which I know needs a lot of work, what are your suggestions to reduce my fatigue?

Sleeveless wetsuit?
Specific weight workouts to strengthen the area?
Is is possible my suit is too small? I'm 5'8", 125# and am wearing a medium Zootsuit.

Any and all suggestions are welcome, and thank God for this site, cuz I know the boys would say HTFU and drive 6 hours to San Diego and swim the damn La Jolla Cove 4x a week.... (hehe, j/k)

Thanks!!





Come crawling faster
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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I always let water into my suit. This lubricates it and then it doesn't bind on my shoulders and chest. It's cold at first, but warms up quickly.

Don't know if that'll help, but I hated my wetsuit until I started doing that, now it's my friend.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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It is not a bad idea to do open water swims with your wetsuit even though you are in a climate that is warm. I wouldn't suggest long swims as you would most likely overheat but it would provide a means to become accustomed to the restrictions of your wetsuit. Before doing triathlons I did quite a few open water swims but as soon as I put on a wetsuit and tried it...my brain fried - getting through my first swim with a wetsuit (normally did open water without one) almost killed me. Looking back, it would have been a good exercise to at least swim in a pool with the suite on.

After that time I went and had to do several drills. These were weird because I could swim without a wetsuit so well.
  1. Get suit on
  2. Wade into water
  3. Put goggles on
  4. Put face in water
  5. Take breaths and relax breathing
  6. Lay in water and relax and continue to relax breathing
  7. Take a few strokes while in shallow water and get used to the restrictions created by the suit
  8. Take more and more deeper.
  9. Rinse and repeat.

I hope this helps. :)



"your horse is too high" - tigerchik
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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This use to happen to me years ago. I couldn't figure it out b/c I did the yardage. I'm not a great swimmer but I can swim long so I was surprised when it happened while I was wearing a full wetsuit. This was back in 1999 when the first Ironman wetsuits came out. Anyway I took it to the pool and had someone watch me swim. I was not bending my arm on recovery b/c the suit was not flexible in the elbow. I wanted to go sleeveless too but I ended up getting a new full suit and I haven't had the problem since. Maybe you could have someone watch you swim in the wetsuit.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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This may seem really basic, but make sure you put the suit on correctly. Most people don't pull the material up far enough, which really makes the restriction worse. When I bought my current suit directly from the Ironman Wetsuits folks at a race, they helped me get into it and it was a revelation. After I thought I got it all the way on they had me spend an extra 10 minutes or so pulling it up nice and tight. They had me bend my knee, grab the fold of neoprene behind the knee and pull it all up the leg. Bend at the waist, grab fold of neoprene at the belly, pull it up. Bend arm, grab fold inside crook of arm, pull up. Repeat. Repeat. There should be no gap between wetsuit and skin in the crotch or armpits.

Tom D wrote an editorial on his site about putting on a wetsuit properly.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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I second what Ariel just said about making sure it's on correctly. I find if I'm having the issue you're describing, I didn't pull it up high enough. I'd also recommend practicing in it more often. Last season, I made the adjustment from sleeveless to full suit and it definitely took some getting used to, but I found the more often I practiced in the suit, the less it would bother me. Good luck!

M

------------------------------------------------------------
The beatings will continue until morale improves
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [mdraegernyc] [ In reply to ]
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M, did you find a full suit made you faster than sleevless?

I have been swimming in a full for a couple of years. it was an easy choice b/c I am always cold. Now, however, I am getting frustrated with how much worse I seem to swim with my wetsuit on. In fact, I am ordering a sleeveless one this week, just in case I happen to be one of the low % of the % of people that actually swim quicker in sleeveless. I relaize the pro's use sleeves but they probably get a lot of coaching , practice, and feedback about how to use it properly.


I think I am one of the few triathletes who loves wetsuit-illegal swims......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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Hi LovePugs! I was having a similar problem and was very worried before Ironman Oz. I've worn wetsuits for about 5 years and have always had the same problem. Someone posted this link for me and I found the hints really useful. It's Chris McCormack giving a demo on how to properly put on a wetsuit. I scoffed initially - but he really has a couple of helpful hints to make it feel heaps better around the shoulders.

Good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsHw_TkFEdE
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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I had a similar issue with my wetsuit this year, however mine is a sleeveless. I didn't really have the swim fitness I normally do starting this season so I added some paddle work(few hundred yards) to my swim workouts which seems to have helped. You should still check the fit and make sure you have it on correctly.

http://www.rdsupplier.com "making race directing easier"
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [mdraegernyc] [ In reply to ]
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I third Ariel - make sure it's pulled up enough. At IM CDA, my husband put on his suit and went for a swim, was very uncomfortable, shoulder pain, etc. Got out and talked to the wetsuit rep at the lake - they grabbed his suit and yanked it up, had him put his arms in, yanked it up some more, etc. He got back in the water and went from being a very worried swimmer to kicking some ass and having no issues at all during the swim. I had done many open water wetsuit swims before that also, and used the new knowledge (pulled it up as much as possible) and was much more comfortable swimming - and finally didn't have the sore shoulders the next day after that.

**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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Have you worn this suit before? Was it your first wetsuit swim of the year? Emilio DeSoto always recommends soaking your wetsuit prior to your first swim of the year.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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Ditto what the others said about wetsuit size and getting it on properly. I had a small one and wasn't pulling it up enough to have wrinkles at the pits and was getting horrible shoulder fatigue immediately. Then I met with the blueseventy guys and they showed me how to put it on properly, and I'm in a bigger suit, no problem ever again.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [runlikeamother] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all the great info ladies! I'll do a run through putting it on to see if was getting wrinkles in the armpits... etc...

Thanks again!





Come crawling faster
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [WeRide] [ In reply to ]
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It's hard to say because I switched after I left NYC and my beloved masters swim, so my form and conditioning have been worse. This is probably the first season that I'm going into with comparable swim fitness, so I'll be able to tell you more in a month when I start racing again. I mainly switched for the warmth factor, as the Pacific Northwest swims are WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY colder than the ones I did in the Northeast. I have a QR sleeveless that fit me really well and I had no adjustment issues swimming in it - you might find sleeveless to be the answer that you're looking for...

M

------------------------------------------------------------
The beatings will continue until morale improves
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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I have a slightly different problem w/ wetsuits, that I could use help with if anyone has some suggestions. When I wear my long-sleeved wetsuit, I lose the feel of the water, particularly on the catch. I don't get the same sensations through the suit to help me know if my form is correct. How do you adjust for the wetsuit. Sadly I too do not have easy access to OW to practice.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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I seem to recall that you are from Tucson. If that is the case I wanted to let you know that several members from Tucson Desert Heat will be going to Patagonia on a somewhat regular basis and you are more than welcome to join us. The next trip is scheduled for this Sunday and if it is like the other trips we've done, we will be meeting in town at around 6am and heading out. If you are interested let me know and I will get you the details.


http://www.kickballracing.com
I have many hobbies...make that too many.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [Litespeedx3] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Litespeedx3... I might take you up on that. I'll be in Vegas this weekend for the UFC fights, but will definitely need a swim focus this summer. Will there be instruction, or only practice?

Desert Heat had a great showing at Tempe International last weekend! You guys were awesome! There were about 5 Tucson Tri Girls there... what an interesting race... think I like Soma and Nathan's better.





Come crawling faster
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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Your suit is not too small. I weigh more than you (smae height) and am in the same size....
Did you pull the shoulers and arms all the way up? if you riase your arm does the fabric lay flat against your arm pit? That will help a lot.

--------------------
Jeanne Roth
Team Timex 2007/2008
http://jeannejeannie.blogspot.com/
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [LovePugs] [ In reply to ]
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Did you try on any other brands of wetsuits? I'm a former swimmer, so I have pretty broad shoulders, but I found that Zoots fit the tightest/most restrictive through the shoulders of any of the brands I tried on. The QR full-sleeve that I have had the thinnest material in the shoulder area and seemed to be the most comfortable for me.

Probably not helpful advice, since it sounds like you just bought your suit, but that was my experience. For making do with what you've got, I'd say that everyone else has given great advice about letting water into the suit and making sure that its pulled up far enough.
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Re: Talk to me about early fatigue while swimming in a wetsuit [FeS] [ In reply to ]
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I have the same problem. I am a life-long swimmer and have broad shoulders for my size, and I finally bought a wetsuit last year for races to increase the variety of races I was comfortable doing.

The two adjustments I've made are

1. pulling the suit up around the knees, crotch, and elbows as described above

2. modifying my stroke so that I don't pull down the center line of my body, but instead pull a little further out. This way I don't trigger the suffocation feeling as much as otherwise.

I will try the suggestion of putting water in the suit pre-race at my first race of the season in two weeks, thanks!
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