Ok, now that I have your attention. I’ve got my first tri of the season (sprint) this weekend, and tried on the one-peice tri-suit for this morning’s workout. Found I was getting a bit of chafing around the shoulders. Unfortunately, no local tri store so I can’t get any bodyglide. Recommendations? Since the suit is cloth of some sort, will petroleum jelly work ok?
Chris
(Never thought I’d be asking for recommendations on how to lube myself up!)
petroleum jelly is bad for the neoprene.
Can’t you order bodyglide online?
Do you have a local running or bike store? They should have something that would work. There are several similar products to body-glide for other sports (they just don’t usually work in wetsuits.)
Old school runners used to use petroleum jelly, it should be fine on a tri-suit, just no wetsuit.
Hmmm. Well, you can buy Bodyglide from their website or other online retailer (obviously).
Failing that, using another type of roll-on such as a slimey anti-perspirant (not the white, powdery ones that are very dry feeling) may provide some protection from chafing. I have used roll-on anti-perspirant inside boots in an arid climate to prevent blisters and it worked very well.
If I’m not mistaken, you are not refering to a wetsuit, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shirt made from neoprene. Vasoline should work.
I actually found bodyglide at Sport Chalet…kind of odd, but it was there…try calling up your local sporting good stores. If they don’t have it, just suck it up and order it online.
Thanks people for the advice. I have no problem ordering the body glide online, it’s just that my triathlon is in 3 days. Not likely to arrive here on time. I know, next time I’ll be more prepared!
Chris
I have a couple wacky ideas you might try…pretty easy options I can think of…first check your local area for dive /scuba stores…one of them might have wetsuit lube or wetsuit shampoo and you could just go nutty using that and it would act as a lub
You might also try KY jelly (not the warming kind, unless it’s really cold 
While the KY is water soluble, it will probably “last” enough for the swim portion…just ideas off the top of my head…
The last one that everyone knows is using liberal amounts of PAM spray…
I’ve seen people use Pam cooking spray. Never used it myself, but hey, if it’s all you’ve got.
Do you have a local REI, or Big 5 Sports?
And there’s always express shipping…
Or you could probably bum some at the race from another competitor.
You can try petroleum jelly. While the lore is that it is bad for neoprene, I and tons of others have used it plenty of times without any problem.
The problem, however, is that it won’t do that much to help. I have tired several different suits and mutliple types of lube and it reduces, but does not solve the chaffing issue. I have a long torso and just assume that I can’t find a suit that fits well enough to stop that rub…try pulling the suite up higher in the neck maybe, or squirming around to get a better fit? For me it seems that the neck burn is something that is part of the sport, unfortunately.
Butter flavored crisco.