I will be doing a non-wetsuit IM swim in Cozumel in a few weeks. I do not own a speed suit. However, I would like to minimize the length of time I spend swimming and in T1. My question is whether I should wear my sports bra and tri shorts under my 1-piece swim suit for the swim. The sports bra and tri shorts alone (with no swimsuit over them) create too much drag. When I raced IM Hawaii in 2005 (the only other IM I’ve done that’s non wetsuit), I saw some women with their sports bras on under their bathing suits, but no one with bras and shorts on under their suits. I swam in a bathing suit only, which was fine during the swim, but when I got to T1, it took me forEVER to pull a dry sports bra on over my wet body, and it was almost as hard to pull on dry shorts. I don’t want to waste that much time in Cozumel. I don’t mind jumping on the bike with wet shorts or a wet bra; I’m wondering what will be fastest. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.
Sports bra under the suit, definitely. I would find shorts that have a drawstring and wear them over the suit. Swim and race the whole she-bang in that get up. I find it quite comfy 
Also keep in mind: being an IM, you may want to take the suit off and put shorts on anyways - salt water swim and all. The time you spend in T1 may be worth it for the comfort later in the day.
Good luck!
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I’ve done races in the 2XU elite tri suit with a sports bra underneath. You can do the whole race in it (but I’ve never done races in salt water so I don’t know that will be a problem for you). I really like this suit and I think its really comfortable. I bought mine online but I can’t remember the name of the store. They were selling older models and I got one for ~$100.
I think cycling 180km in a bathing suit would result in some serious discomfort.
That’s what I do for non-wetsuit swims. Then I just pull the suit off as I’m coming out of the water.
I’m with you on the “bathing suit + 180km bike ride = serious discomfort” equation. There is no way I’ll do the race in a bathing suit. Sounds like mmrocker’s tried what I was considering (wear the bra and tri shorts under the suit and strip the suit off in T1). I’ll try that in a pool and see what it feels like and how much drag it introduces.
If your suit is in decent condition, and not really baggy, I’d say it’s not much different at all than swimming in a regular suit. I HATE swimming in just my sport bra and tri shorts…I feel like a parachute.
I’m so glad to hear that, because that’s exactly what I feel like when I swim in only a sports bra and tri-shorts. It’s like I’m pulling a parachute behind me. Easily a few seconds per 100 slower than in just a swimsuit, and it’s worse the faster I try to go.