Please tell me what you think of the Speedo, TYR Fastskin Tri Swim Suits. I want to wear one in an ocean swim with my Tri clothing underneath. Will there be any chafing or discomfort? Thanks for your response.
I’m wearing a speedo fastskin II kneeskin with shorts underneath for St. Croix. Putting my top on in T1. I think if you wear a full-suit or a top underneath, there could be chafing. The fastskins/aquashifts are meant to worn TIGHT. The other big thing is you have to put a string attached to the zipper in the back (like a wetsuit lanyard), cause getting them off is tough. I basically have to dislocate my shoulder to put it on and off without a string.
I have worn then new TYR aquashift short john suit in a couple of races now. I put the suit on over my normal race top and bottom, which by the way are already skin tight and probably don’t drag at all to begin with. The Aquashift fits great by itself but is a little tight in the chest for me to consider running in. If it had a front zip I would just zip it down for the run and we’d be all set.
Anyways, I rigged a shortened shoelace onto the back zipper to help in putting it on and taking it off. I tuck the shoelace over my shoulder and down the front of the suit during the swim and pull it out as I am running to T1. Suit pops off pretty quickly although this last weekend I had hamstring cramps in T1 and couldn’t get the suit off, well couldn’t walk much for that matter either. The only chafing above and beyond what my tri-suit might give me was when the shoelace came a little loose and got my neck for a bit.
Really dont’ know if the suit is worth it though. I’m swimming in teh 21 minute range for an olympic. Noticed quite a few ITU racers just wore the suit the whole race or unzipped the back during the run. Didn’t see any type of lanyard or string haninging out so I wonder how they did this, I can’t imagine reaching that zipper without one.
I’m personally tempted to cut the suit in half and have it taylored into a seperate top and bottom…
Whats TYR fastskin tri swim suits? is that a) whatever the TYR name is for the equivilent of speedo’s fastskin? or b) the TYR 1 piece tri suit?
anyhow…
if it is a) i think thats a stupid decision… fastskin stuff is far to expensive to be worn a) on top of trisuits, and b) for a triathlon…
I think the performance benifits of wearing fastskin are only apparent when your swimming 1min/100’s (or around that speed)…
I would recommend either a) sucking it up like a champ and wearing a speedo! or b) if modesty is more your thing, throw a pair of jammers overtop your trishorts… I race olympic distance, have done both and noticed no difference at all. and no chafing!
I’m curious about this sort of thing too. I’m doing Kona and am trying to get my head around what to wear in the swim…and am coming up with the same questions as you. I want to wear a ‘speedy’ suit, but have something underneath that I will wear for the rest of the race. Is this possible? I’ve seen Peter Reid do something like that.
Thanks for your response. I’m still undecided about what to wear. The real problem is that I’m not used to swimming in the ocean. In fact, I like wearing my wet suit in the lake for security reasons. I’m not that great a swimmer and like the extra security blanket of the wet suit. But in Kona they are illegal so I thought maybe the Fastskin would solve my problem. However, it only adds to more questions. The Fastskin would not especially be for speed or bouyancy or technique but for protection - from the ocean itself and maybe jelly fish? Thanks.