While at the pool a few days ago I met a fellow triathlete who was swimming in a pair of LG tri shorts. I know it’s good to swim in your full kit before a race so you know what it’s going to feel like, and that you may be forced to do it in a pool, but since he didn’t have a tri top on I didn’t think this was the case. So I asked him about it. He said that he had the shorts for about a year and swam in them regularly; he would simply wash them as soon as he got home to get the chlorine out and hang them up to dry.
So, anyone out their do this? If so, how does it affect the life of your tri shorts?
Also, the pool I swim at has a water extractor in the locker room-there’s no heat involved, it just spins your shorts around really fast to force most of the water out. Anyone know if this has any negative affect on jammers or tri shorts?
i’ve heard that the chlorine will break down the pad quicker. But if you use an old pair I don’t see anything wrong with it. I get at least one new set of tops/bottoms from my sponsor each year, so I use an old pair tri shorts once in a while if I’m doing a swim/bike workout.
Honestly the biggest “issue” is cool factor and the fact the chlorine will eat it much faster than sea/lake water would have. I see a guy regularly swimming in his full kit at my pool and it just doesn’t fit in. It’s kind of like biking in a tri-kit rather than cycling gear - it makes you stick out in a way that isn’t favorable unless you are killing it. Though, most tri-shorts look enough like jammers it would take a snob to notice and make a comment.
The water extractor puts strain on suits since they use a lot of force to pull the water out (over time they will rip/degrade slightly faster) in my experience, especially nice speed suits (pool grade) and lighter fabrics (speedos vs drag suits that can handle it).
Well based on the responses so far, it looks like I might mix in my my tri shorts(not top) on occasion if I need too.
i have quite a few tri kits to make it work w/o any significant wear
i train on intensity opposed to volume and stick to mainly 70’s and oly’s, so my shorts don’t take a lot of wear anyway( i have several that I have had for almost 2 years now and they are still going strong due to time spent in the saddle and rotating through them)
3)i could care less about the cool factor. I don’t like the feel of cycling shorts or jerseys and wear my tri kits 99% of the time(i occasionally put the 2 cycling kits i have in to rotation for laundry reasons
I’ve used the water extractor quite a few times, looks like i’ll stop that
IME, tri shorts last about a long in the pool as lycra speedos/jammers (for me that’s about 3 months).
Given the cost of good tri-shorts, I save them for race day and use poly/PBT suits in the pool (ex. speedo endurance+ and TYR durafast; they last for several years until the stitching finally fails).
If you have some tri shorts you no longer use, no harm in letting them die in the pool; but I wouldn’t swim regularly in this season’s race kit.
I wore a pair of 2xu tri shorts every pool swim last year. I always washed them with water in the showers right after the swim, then used a swim suit dryer. They made it about 80 miles before the fabric gave up. I use them now as my winter outdoor shorts (put over tights), and each time I wear them, they noticeably disintegrate right before my eyes. I’ll never do that again. I now swim in speedo endurance squares, and they seem to be unaffected by chlorine.
i’m definitely not going to do it in my kit for the season. i have a kit that from my tri club last season made by Champion that i think is absolutely horrible(I don’t know how people love their products). I only use the kit if I’m doing short intervals on the trainer.
also,when i rotate between 2 pairs of jammers and make sure i take care of them right, they last me close to 14 months total(so about 6-7 months each), if not longer
Why anyone uses expensive tri shorts in the pool is beyond me. It’s absurd to think you have to use them in training.
I rotate two poly suits for $30/each (Speedo Endurance+), so that I always have a dry suit to put on if swimming subsequent days.
A suit will last me years.
Tri shorts stretch and be destroyed in less than a year… even less than 6 months for certain brands. And they cost 2-3x as much.
the tri shorts that i might use on occasion are not expensive at all, well at least not for me;due to sponsorship subsidizing part of the cost, i only paid $30
life expectancy of shorts is based on quality,use, and care, so it’s going to be different for everyone. i have 2 pair that i’ve rotated through for the better part of 2 years and they still have a lot of life left in them
the tri shorts that i might use on occasion are not expensive at all, well at least not for me;due to sponsorship subsidizing part of the cost, i only paid $30
life expectancy of shorts is based on quality,use, and care, so it’s going to be different for everyone. i have 2 pair that i’ve rotated through for the better part of 2 years and they still have a lot of life left in them
Yeah, but you look like a tri geek. I try to hide the fact I do triathlon!
the tri shorts that i might use on occasion are not expensive at all, well at least not for me;due to sponsorship subsidizing part of the cost, i only paid $30
life expectancy of shorts is based on quality,use, and care, so it’s going to be different for everyone. i have 2 pair that i’ve rotated through for the better part of 2 years and they still have a lot of life left in them
Yeah, but you look like a tri geek. I try to hide the fact I do triathlon!
very true, but i’m also the guy who wear a tri kit 99% of the time while cycling(only b/c i can’t stand cycling kits)
the tri shorts that i might use on occasion are not expensive at all, well at least not for me;due to sponsorship subsidizing part of the cost, i only paid $30
life expectancy of shorts is based on quality,use, and care, so it’s going to be different for everyone. i have 2 pair that i’ve rotated through for the better part of 2 years and they still have a lot of life left in them
Yeah, but you look like a tri geek. I try to hide the fact I do triathlon!
very true, but i’m also the guy who wear a tri kit 99% of the time while cycling(only b/c i can’t stand cycling kits)
You obviously have never worn a quality cycling kit. Try some Assos…
I have switched to the blend jammers for training and they have held up way better than lycra. I don’t wear my tri kit in the pool ever. But I have the luxury of year round ocean swimming. I am a year into twice a week pool workouts with TYR Poly/Lycra blend jammers and they show little wear. The pool was eating a lycra pair every few months.
I’ll only wear my tri short/full kit for open water swims with my wetsuit. If I’m in the pool, I go speedo. And I never use the water extractor. Those things will destroy anything you put in them over time.
I usually bike to the pool, on other days I run after my swim. but even when I don’t I always swim in tri-shorts.
Sometimes I even swim in boardshorts. Always something more or equally hydrodynamic than I would wear in a race.
I don’t want to get used to anything, then have more resistance on race day, I want it the other way around.
I always wash my shorts right after. The oldest ones are less elastic I noticed, especially the bands around the thighs.
But I figured that’s juts the lifespan of them. All that running and biking I do wearing them, I figured it’s normal.
Was swimming in my tri shorts when I first got started. That lasted about 3 - 4 months, then noticed that the crotch area was starting to become a little see-through. Thought they were defective, and emailed perl izumi, they said the material in the tri shorts will break down in the presence of chlorine. But they did send me a replacement pair.
Good way to ruin a pair of $100 shorts in my opinion.
I am fairly new to the tri game. With that said, I have been swimming in my 2xu Comp Tri Shorts for the past 8 months and have not noticed any issues with the shorts besides some fading in the colors.
I’ve put 3 kids through full age group swimming careers have spend a couple grand on swim suits over the years, and most of those suits have been used to the bitter end of their lives. Pools destroy lycra.
For full time swimmers, suits only stay in race worthy condition for about 3 months at best and practice condition for about 6 months. The general practice for kids is to rotate the race suit to a practice status the next season (2-3 seasons per year). As kids get older and start spending even more time in the pool, the suit rotation needs to be supplemented so they (i.e. parents) generally buy the bullet proof “practice suits” that seem to last forever or regularly hit the bargin bin at the swim shop.
If you use your tri shorts in the pool, they will wear out. Now, for a tri swimmer, it might take 6 months or a year but eventually the pool will distroy them.
If you only have one pair of tri shorts, save them for competition and buy a bargain basement swim suit to train in. That way your tri shorts will last for years. If you are the type of person who upgrades the tri shorts every year, or more often, feel free to rotate the old pair to training status.
