HI
just wondering t1 in wales is 1k from the sea exit and you have an extra bag for a second pair of trainers.
What i was wondering does anyone know if people keep there wetsuit on till they get to t1 or take it straight off before running
not sure how comfortable it will be but can imagine that its much of a problem
cheers
jon
Strip your wetsuit downtown your waist as you run up the beach to the zigg zaggs.
Have a bottle of water and old trainers in your swim bag. Spray the sand off your feet with the water and then put your trainers on
Run up to t1 with your wet suit still on your bottom half. It’s a long run and carrying your wetsuit is a bit of a faf.
The correct answer to this in EVERY race is take off your wetsuit immediately after you get out of water (jog while stripping to waist, stop and remove right after). It makes zero sense for every transition where the bike is further than the jog to strip to waist to wait any further for the following reasons:
Running to bike is faster with no wetsuit around legsRemoval of wetsuit from legs is easier the earlier you do itYou have to remove the wetsuit from your legs anyway, so if you wait, you penalize yourself on 1 and 2
For the life of me I don’t know why people wait to get to the bike. It makes no sense to me even at the pro level. I’ve seen many pros floundering at the bike with an almost dry wetsuit fighting to remove it and wasting time in amateur hour mode.
The correct answer to this in EVERY race is take off your wetsuit immediately after you get out of water (jog while stripping to waist, stop and remove right after). It makes zero sense for every transition where the bike is further than the jog to strip to waist to wait any further for the following reasons:
Running to bike is faster with no wetsuit around legsRemoval of wetsuit from legs is easier the earlier you do itYou have to remove the wetsuit from your legs anyway, so if you wait, you penalize yourself on 1 and 2
For the life of me I don’t know why people wait to get to the bike. It makes no sense to me even at the pro level. I’ve seen many pros floundering at the bike with an almost dry wetsuit fighting to remove it and wasting time in amateur hour mode.
I think I remember that it is not allowed everywhere to remove the wetsuit further thain the waist until in the dressing tent. Anyway I can be wrong but I would inform myself before using your drill.
It has been a few years since I did IM Wales (2012), but it was explicitly allowed to take your wetsuit off in T 0.5, so I did and would recommend it - just remember to remove it **before **putting your shoes on 
As I took my wetsuit off I was overtaken by a few who ran straight through, but on the long run through town I overtook all them and many more. Running whilst carrying your wetsuit is much faster than running in your wetsuit and you have to remove it somewhere, so why not as early as possible ?
Wetsuit off, or stripped to waist if you prefer. The tip above to have a bottle of water to rinse the sand off your feet before putting your running shoes on worked brilliantly for me. I also had a half bottle of flat coke in my bag and drank some of that as I ran. Yummy!!!
Best of luck! I will be supporting this year after racing last year.
Pathetic anecdote: I peed for the longest time in my life ever at the end of lap one of the run. It was the best 60 seconds of my life.
Definitely Off.
Did Wales in 2014 and as I recall just about everyone took theirs off on the zig-zag path and then ran through town carrying their wetsuit. Great crowds even at that early time in the morning.
Enjoy the race - its the best IM I’ve ever done - the hardest for sure, but easily the best for atmosphere.
Cheers all
I have head it’s a great race and I’m looking forward to it
.
Cheers all
I have head it’s a great race and I’m looking forward to it
And DO NOT leave your purple T1 shoe bag behind, or drop it anywhere, after putting your shoes on after the swim.
Seeing about 10 names on a board in the finish tent listed as littering DQs specific to the run to T1 makes you realise how much it would suck to do that distance and finish to a DQ.
It has been a few years since I did IM Wales (2012), but it was explicitly allowed to take your wetsuit off in T 0.5, so I did and would recommend it - just remember to remove it **before **putting your shoes on
As I took my wetsuit off I was overtaken by a few who ran straight through, but on the long run through town I overtook all them and many more. Running whilst carrying your wetsuit is much faster than running in your wetsuit and you have to remove it somewhere, so why not as early as possible ?
The way devashish_paul and doug_steel suggest is thus the way to do it.
I did the full strip on the steps and carried wetsuit in 2014 T1 time 9:04
I just went to the waist in 2015 T1 time 8:02
Everything else was the same; bottle of water to wash feet and drink & gel in T1 bag
Personally I found it less of a faff to strip to the waist and run to T1 like that rather than carry the wetsuit. I could stuff the purple bag, hat, goggles and water bottle down the front and have hands free to drink and have Gel. No problem getting wetsuit off in T1; a bit of baby gel round ankles and on wetsuit helped
If you do go for a full strip there are two flat sections on the ramp where it turns 180. I grabbed my purple bag and did the full wetsuit strip on the flat section
Enjoy the day. Brilliant race
Like others here suggest, take of your wetsuit on one of the flat sections on the ramp, rinse your feet with water. I also did put on my socks there.
Also, take a gel to refuel after the swim. You can take it in during the run into T1. Once there, just put away the purple bag containing your run-shoe’s, put on helmet and race away…
Best of luck, it is still one of the races I hold very close to my heart and very high in regards of athlete experience with the local support.
Steven