Your wetsuit should, if you're maintaining correct form, make you faster. However, maintaining correct form can be difficult in a wetsuit if you've not practiced much. I wasn't able to tell from your post if your 1:45/2:00 per 100 meter time comparisons were both from the pool (meaning that your times are slipping in the pool) or if the first was from the pool and the second was from open water. Assuming you meant the latter, there are a number of factors that you may not be considering that could cause a slower time, namely, other swimmers, a course that's a little long, running into and out of the water, navigation, et cetera. All these things could add up.

My hunch is, however, that you may not be swimming with good form in your wetsuit. I've known people that swim worse in their wetsuit because they *feel* like they're reaching with their arms and maintaining their kick, but because the wetsuit is tight they're actually not reaching as far as they should (poor catch, quicker arm turnover) and because their legs are now bouyant they neglect their kick.

I'd say that every swim you do from now until your race should be done in open water, if possible.

I agree with the other post and would only add one more thing. Many swim courses are traingular and everyone lines themselves up on the inside nearest to the buoys. The shortest distance between two points is the straight line so in your next race, line yourself up with the turn buoy that is most likely 300 meters out and start from there (on the outside) and you will automatically cut some of the course out and may even have less people to swim over.

Yeah, I assume you mean your open water swim time is 2min 100's. Have you tried swimming with a pull buoy in the pool? I've heard that that somewhat simulates the flotation that a wetsuit gives you. Maybe try swiming with your wetsuit in the pool for a few laps to make sure you are comparing apples to apples (be careful not to overheat though and make sure to rinse your wetsuit really good afterwards). I've found that I'm a slower open water swimmer in a race because I zigzag the course sometimes and get off course when the sun gets in my eyes. The times where I felt like I took the shortest path, I've always had better than expected times. Of course I never trust the precise measurement of a open water course so I never really care too much about my individual time. I care more about how I did relative to my competitors.

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- Steve
http://bailey.sts.winisp.net