I recently demoed a couple of triathlon wetsuits from Brand #1 and was surprised to discover that I was able to swim faster in open water with a triathlon-specific wetsuit than I can swim in the pool. In the past, swimming in a 3/2 surfing wetsuit, in a 1.5mm heater top, or bare-chested, I've always been much slower in open water than in the pool. However, I had trouble finding a suit from Brand #1 that really fit me well. Plus they are currently out of stock in the sizes that would fit me the closest.
So I decided to buy a suit from Brand #2. There was no way to demo their suits, but they have a return policy that allows for returns after doing a swim test. When I started a swim in Brand #2's suit, I was immediately struck by how high it felt like my legs were in the water. My perception was that it felt like my feet were coming out of the water with every kick, and it seemed like I could be losing some propulsion as a result of my feet waving in the air instead of pushing through the water. Nevertheless, I was very motivated to swim fast and confirm my bias that Brand #2's suit was the correct choice and save myself the trouble of returning it. Plus, returning Brand #2's suit isn't going to make Brand #1's suits come back into stock in time for my next race anyway.
In the end, my time for a 1.2 mile swim was 2.5 minutes slower than the faster of my two times in Brand #1's suits and over 1 minute slower than the slower time which was in a very ill-fitting suit. This was despite the fact that my Heart Rate Monitor confirms that I was pushing much harder in Brand #2's suit in my desire to prove it was the one. A gap of 2.5 minutes seems very large to me, and I'm having difficulty convincing myself that it can be accounted for by factors like warmer weather or fatigue or having a bad day.
I'm well aware that I don't have enough data points to really have a convincing scientific proof here, but there isn't any inexpensive way to gather a lot of data points or do apples-to-apples comparisons for wetsuits. And my OWS opportunities are very limited as well. So that's why I'm posting here to see if anyone else's experience or knowledge can confirm or contradict my own experience.
Is it possible for a wetsuit to have too much buoyancy in the legs, slowing you down by reducing the propulsion from the kick because the feet are coming too far out of the water?
So I decided to buy a suit from Brand #2. There was no way to demo their suits, but they have a return policy that allows for returns after doing a swim test. When I started a swim in Brand #2's suit, I was immediately struck by how high it felt like my legs were in the water. My perception was that it felt like my feet were coming out of the water with every kick, and it seemed like I could be losing some propulsion as a result of my feet waving in the air instead of pushing through the water. Nevertheless, I was very motivated to swim fast and confirm my bias that Brand #2's suit was the correct choice and save myself the trouble of returning it. Plus, returning Brand #2's suit isn't going to make Brand #1's suits come back into stock in time for my next race anyway.
In the end, my time for a 1.2 mile swim was 2.5 minutes slower than the faster of my two times in Brand #1's suits and over 1 minute slower than the slower time which was in a very ill-fitting suit. This was despite the fact that my Heart Rate Monitor confirms that I was pushing much harder in Brand #2's suit in my desire to prove it was the one. A gap of 2.5 minutes seems very large to me, and I'm having difficulty convincing myself that it can be accounted for by factors like warmer weather or fatigue or having a bad day.
I'm well aware that I don't have enough data points to really have a convincing scientific proof here, but there isn't any inexpensive way to gather a lot of data points or do apples-to-apples comparisons for wetsuits. And my OWS opportunities are very limited as well. So that's why I'm posting here to see if anyone else's experience or knowledge can confirm or contradict my own experience.
Is it possible for a wetsuit to have too much buoyancy in the legs, slowing you down by reducing the propulsion from the kick because the feet are coming too far out of the water?