Just wondering how long it took some people here to say “Hey I think I’ll do this tri without a wetsuit” and what distance was it?
I would like to do an Oly swim without the wet suit next year but I’m scared sh*tless that someone is going to whack me and somehow and I’m going to panic and drown. It may be a farfetched idea but how do I get over this fear? I’ve done the distance without a wetsuit many times, just not in a crowd.
I’ve swam now 6 OLY’s and the wetsuit is just ridiculous how buoyant I am. Can not sink so I have no thoughts of body contact.
I hate being in a wetsuit and they nearly killing myself or leg cramps getting out of it. I’ve practiced tons of times. I just hate it.
Any thoughts will help. Thanks
I have done 70 or 80 tris in my career, mostly around KC area. Two wetsuit swims in that span (one was in lake michigan).
I only wear one for a sprint if the water is cold. No matter how many times I’ve done it it’s still a PITA in T1 for me so I skip it as much as possible in a sprint. For OLY’s I’ll typically wear one since the gains in the water out weigh the PITA factor in T1.
This year was my first year doing triathlons. I did not use a wetsuit in a OWS sprint and Olympic race even though they were both wetsuit legal (just below 78…water felt great). I don’t own one yet but I’ll be picking one up so I can pick up a little speed. I’m not really bothered by the contact. I’m bothered by the extra kicking I have to do versus the folks that are using a suit.
Didn’t use a wetsuit until probably my 15th race. After that there were only a few races a year that warranted using one.
first race. i hate cold water or being cold in general.
I was afraid that answer was going to pop up. Is the wetsuit faster? And should I just put up with the PITA factor in T1.
I’ve done a couple OLYs against a D1 swimmer that is sans a wetsuit and he is 23yo and is 19-20:00 in water. Both years he’s out of the water first.
I asked him if he would be faster in a wetsuit and he said he tried one and could not stand the feel and said as long as the water temp is >50F and he is in the water less than 1 hour he is fine. They temp of water was 65F both those times.
Maybe I’ll just stay in the sausage suit, since I’ll never be like that kid 
In almost 30 years of tri’s, I’ve done a total of 4 sans wetsuit. My first, two “retro” division where wetsuits weren’t allowed, and one where I loaned a newb my wetsuit, but did the swim with him anyway (he was in the rec race which was some 3 hours after my race – I just did the swim portion of the rec).
Of course in the PacNW, it’s rare that the water is warm enough to disallow wetsuits.
I’ve never worn a wetsuit! I pick my races based on water temp. I won’t do freshwater and won’t do wetsuit swims. I’m a BOP swimmer in Hawaii - can’t imagine how hellish it would be to even attempt to train in a wetsuit in 75+ degree water temps.
You should wear a wetsuit. If you are at all concerned about panicking, you should be wearing a wetsuit.
I was afraid that answer was going to pop up. Is the wetsuit faster? And should I just put up with the PITA factor in T1.
I’ve done a couple OLYs against a D1 swimmer that is sans a wetsuit and he is 23yo and is 19-20:00 in water. Both years he’s out of the water first.
I asked him if he would be faster in a wetsuit and he said he tried one and could not stand the feel and said as long as the water temp is >50F and he is in the water less than 1 hour he is fine. They temp of water was 65F both those times.
Maybe I’ll just stay in the sausage suit, since I’ll never like that kid
Yes, a former D1 swimmer will swim fast without a wetsuit, but would also probably swimmer faster with one. Are you a former D1 swimmer? You don’t notice to many pro not wearing a wetsuit when it is cold.
Also, is he the first person out the water or just faster than you. Because if he is first, I want to know where a 19-20:00 gets you first out of the water.
In terms of getting the suit off, can you cut down the length of the legs? I did that this season and it has made getting it off much faster. Just 2 inches off of the bottom. Verify your wetsuit allows that.
My very first was without a wetsuit. I’m in Florida. No big deal.
Just wondering how long it took some people here to say “Hey I think I’ll do this tri without a wetsuit” and what distance was it?
I would like to do an Oly swim without the wet suit next year but I’m scared sh*tless that someone is going to whack me and somehow and I’m going to panic and drown. It may be a farfetched idea but how do I get over this fear? I’ve done the distance without a wetsuit many times, just not in a crowd.
I’ve swam now 6 OLY’s and the wetsuit is just ridiculous how buoyant I am. Can not sink so I have no thoughts of body contact.
I hate being in a wetsuit and they nearly killing myself or leg cramps getting out of it. I’ve practiced tons of times. I just hate it.
Any thoughts will help. Thanks
Aren’t you a 1:40-5/100 paced swimmer for the distance? You’ll be fine without a wetsuit.
If you’re faster with the wetsuit, def wear it - take every legal advantage you can get.
I’m one of the weird folks who swims the same speed, or possibly even slower with a wetsuit (yup, tested both sleeved and sleeveless in a local splash n dash series, and I’m slightly faster without a wetsuit), so I go sans wetsuit whenever possible.
My very first tri was without wetsuit and it was cold! I bought a sleeveless after that and used it for a couple of races before meeting Monty and buying a T1 (first year they were out) from him. Been using a T1 ever since. For the past few years, I’ve been doing a lot of open water swims, where wetsuits aren’t allowed. So now I’ve gotten used to not wearing them, to the point that I really don’t like them. So, my only tri I did this year, I elected to not wear a wetsuit (wore a LiftFoil, instead). Leading up to the race, the water had been 68-70° but race morning it dropped to 62. Cold, but I’ve been in worse. The swim was long, also – normally 1/2 mile, it was about 3/4 mile. Nevertheless, I had about a 2 minute lead out of the water and the fastest T1 split. Honestly, I’ve never thought about the wetsuit for its possible life saving ability.
Funny that you should ask this. I started tri’s in 1993 and then stopped in 1995 for 16 years before starting up again. My first was a 1 mile swim, 46k bike, 15k run in hot San Jose, CA. I had run my 1st marathon a few months earlier and had already been mountain biking so going to a road bike wasn’t that difficult. However, I just learned how to swim so I was freaking out thinking about the 1 mile OW. I just bought a farmer john wetsuit and never even tried it out, but that particular day it was 85 degrees by swim time so I decided not to wear the wet suit. The vast majority of people still did, so I felt really stupid having left my wetsuit in the car.
Well, it went HORRIBLE and I was so scared I went over to a surfboard and asked for help. The guy told me to just swim on my back (which I tried) and then later said just to do my best and they would follow me. That calmed me down, but I still struggled with so many waves of people pounding me to pass me. I ended up DEAD LAST!!! When I got out of the water, there were 5 surfboards still following me. I think they were clapping when I got out of the lake. It sure made finding my bike easy…it was the ONLY ONE in the parking lot.
I have never done a triathlon without a wetsuit since. In fact, I would NEVER consider not using a wetsuit (except for Kona if I ever get into it).
Just wondering how long it took some people here to say “Hey I think I’ll do this tri without a wetsuit” and what distance was it?
I would like to do an Oly swim without the wet suit next year but I’m scared sh*tless that someone is going to whack me and somehow and I’m going to panic and drown. It may be a farfetched idea but how do I get over this fear? I’ve done the distance without a wetsuit many times, just not in a crowd.
I’ve swam now 6 OLY’s and the wetsuit is just ridiculous how buoyant I am. Can not sink so I have no thoughts of body contact.
I hate being in a wetsuit and they nearly killing myself or leg cramps getting out of it. I’ve practiced tons of times. I just hate it.
Any thoughts will help. Thanks
Did a bunch before modern Tri/swimming wetsuits were ever invented… back then people would only resort to the awful bulky surf suits when it was like 59* or something ridiculously cold like that. Still see it as kind of a lame crutch when it’s not cold, but now that it’s pretty much standard you’re just giving away time if you’re at all competitive and don’t wear one.
Just wondering how long it took some people here to say “Hey I think I’ll do this tri without a wetsuit” and what distance was it?
I would like to do an Oly swim without the wet suit next year but I’m scared sh*tless that someone is going to whack me and somehow and I’m going to panic and drown. It may be a farfetched idea but how do I get over this fear? I’ve done the distance without a wetsuit many times, just not in a crowd.
I’ve swam now 6 OLY’s and the wetsuit is just ridiculous how buoyant I am. Can not sink so I have no thoughts of body contact.
I hate being in a wetsuit and they nearly killing myself or leg cramps getting out of it. I’ve practiced tons of times. I just hate it.
Any thoughts will help. Thanks
i’ve never worn one and only do events without them. sprint, HIM, IM (first year).
It wasn’t until my 3rd race that I didn’t wear a wetsuit. It was a 500 meter swim.
First race I was pretty scared and backstroked most of it.
The second race I was slow but not scared.
By the third race I had been working with someone that helped me gain confidence in my weekly open water practice.
Not a D1 swimmer here. I just started swimming Feb 2012.
He was first out of the water this year and last. He came in 7/45 this year OA. This year 20:20 and last year he was 19:xx in the swim. Last year it was a riot per my wife because he was so far ahead of everyone else. His father said he would have been faster if someone was pushing him. I wish I had the results to post here but Scorethis does not have archived past results. Last year he was 13/51 OA though. He keeps getting caught on the bike. He does National OWS of 5-10K. Now that’s crazy. You should see how the coaches feed their swimmers. Long poles with water bottles. They have numbers on them like in NASCAR!
http://results.score-this.com/SearchresultsPageMS5split.html?raceid=20130615OSWG
19-20 min swims gets you out of the water first in a lot of OLYs. I just did Finger Lakes Tri OLY in Canandaigua, NY and the fastest swimmer was only 21:24. http://results.score-this.com/...30908FLTAResults.pdf
I’ll look into the leg cutting. Thanks.
Yep in the pool solid 1:40/100 for 500yd even but the fear factor sucks. At what speed per 100yd should I not have the worry? I don’t know, my fear maybe completely irrational.