DeSoto Tres wetsuit test

Triathlon Forum
1

I thought I would report the results of my wetsuit test. Short answer: swim 1x2500 no wetsuit 39:40 PR. With wetsuit 35:00.

Details:
I just received my DeSoto Tres wetsuit, I’ve never worn a wetsuit before. Starting 2 months before my A race (2 of them this season, both 1/2IM) I’ll swim a workout on Friday at lunch consisting of a good warmup then 1x2500 at 1/2IM race pace. This typically takes me 39:50 - 40:10. My PR is 39:40. I’ve done this same workout probably 10 times since May. The pool is the same every time, a 25 yd indoor pool. I’m guessing that the water temp is 78*-80*. The water temp was very high for a wetsuit swim and I probably lost a full minute to the heat.

Question for experienced wetsuit swimmers. I swam this test to see how much faster it was and mainly to swim in a wetsuit to make sure everything was fine before my next race. Is there any value to more pool swimming with a wetsuit? I expect I’ll only get one chance to swim in open water with the wetsuit before my next race.

2

I’m trying to decide between the T1 and Tres. There seems to be such a small difference between them–except for the 100 Dollar price tag. Can anyone help?

3

I will recommend you to use it a bit more before the competitions. (Mainly open water, but if that’s not possible - in the pool.)

  • Try if a bit different stroke is faster with the suite. (Longer, more gliding movements).

  • Get used to take it on and off.

  • Be familiar with the feeling - to insure your stroke is perfect race day.

4

I wouldn’t bother with more wetsuit swimming now that you know everything works fine. Your results are similar to a test I did at IM Lake Placid. One lap of the swim course with wetsuit takes me 36 minutes. Without the wetsuit, it takes 43 minutes. I could repeat this as many times as I wanted with a variance of only a few seconds each time. I was stunned at the difference, which probably means my body position stinks and that the wetsuit fixes it in a big way.

This difference was twice what I expected. In the past I have left the wetsuit at home for sprint races. That is obviously a mistake. At the local tri in LP my swim time went from 8:30 to 7:30 when I put the wetsuit on.

In the open water it was real obvious what was going on. It was taking me 23 strokes between buoys with the suit and 28 strokes without. My cadence was the same, so it took 20% longer without the suit. Very depressing.

5

I think it was somewhere on desoto’s web site that they suggested getting the tres unless you had shoulder problems that would make the better rubber of the T1 a factor. Check out their site, I’m sure you’ll find it.