Despite having competed in a few races and owning a wetsuit, I suck at swimming. Having spent a lot more time in the pool this winter (3 x per wk, compared to maybe 1) what can I expect to gain come open water swim times. When people speak of being XXsec faster per 100 w a full wetsuit is that compared to swimming in open water without a wetsuit or compared to pool swimming?
Thanks.
I just did this test today in the pool
without wetsuit: 1:22 / 100 yards
with full suit: 1:10 /100 yards
Open water, I haven’t tested… but I am a horrific sighter- in races I lose time just from swimming extra distance so I’m sure the full benefits of the wetsuit aren’t exhibited in my race times.
Jodi
Is that a sprint or a steady effort? If your stroke changes with effort I’m sure the wetsuit’s influence would too.
I did them both at the same effort level. Hard but steady- Half IM race pace. I didn’t time a 100 easy effort though. Interesting thought.
Jodi
I am a decent swimmer, though by no means lightning fast. You really cannot answer the question you posted. The wetsuit will help your body position if you tend to drop your hips and drag your legs. That will gain you some efficiencies, but it is going to be dependent on where you are at. You could gain many seconds or a few. Technically I have a good position, so don’t see a lot of gains there (FWIW - about 2 minutes on a 1500). YMMV. However, based on my observations leading the open water swims for my club last year, whatever you gain in a wetsuit as a weak swimmer is lost in poor sighting. Many weak swimmers compromise their stroke technique during sighting, or drift way off course, so they end up swimming 1700 m at an oly instead of 1500 m.
Best advice, get your suit and get into open water as much as possible. Refining your technique there, making sure you can sight and keep a straight line will make you more gains than just donning a wetsuit for a swim. No fair swimming in the Rideau - it is already lined up for you.
I have always been 10% faster with a wetsuit on.
Dave
Thanks for the response. I typically drag my legs somewhat so hope to make some decent gains there. Having said that, my sighting leaves a lot to be desired so that might be an area to really work on.
Just some completely anecdotal info for you: Last Friday I swam 500yds in 6:56. It was a hard effort, and was the first time I have ever swam that distance in less than 7:12. I was really happy. Today I hopped into the pool in my wetsuit (training for IMAZ). I cruised the first 500 of my swim in 6:41. In total I did a 2000 yard straight swim, and my 500 times were 6:41, 6:55, 6:55, 6:50. I would have kept going, but the pool was REALLY hot, so I decided I needed to take the suit off.
-C
Very nice, yeah if I can don a wetsuit then swim at a continuous pace similar to my “all-out single effort” 500m pace, then I will be very happy.
There is some real peer-reviewed science on this in Dr. Phil’s book. I’ll cite it for you when I get home.
It does make a substantial difference.
These are all the reasons that I swim ~10% faster in a wetsuit in open water over 1500-3800m vs the same distance in a pool:
additional buoyancy no turns I can draft quite well in the water…some people can, some cannot I can swim in a relatively straight line in open water I can sight without “breaking my stroke”. For example, in wavy water, I time the sighting when I crest the next wave. I see people trying to sight when in the depth of the trough when they can only see a wall of water. You can actually tell when the next crest is going to be from the pattern in the water if you swim open water in bad conditions enough times.
Aside from item 1, items 2-5 may or may not help you. If you have an efficient flip turn with huge push off, item 2 will likely slow your open water times…items 3-5 need to be practiced, but in general they apply even in non wetsuit open water swims…they will just take away from the wetsuit benefit or add to the non wetsuit open water times.
Dev
Most of the testing for wetsuits is done in the pool because it is much easier to test in that environment. In open water particularly in races there are way too many variables.
Generally speaking most people will swim about 5 - 10 sec faster per hundred meters in a pool with a wetsuit. Sometimes (Smooth calm water, no wind tides, currents, little impact from other swimmers) these benefits will be the same in open water. Other times ( rough water, wind, waves, currents tides, rips, bumping by other swimmers, poor siting) the advantages will not be as much. Still other times you will be much faster - calm conditions and an awsome draft!!
Thanks Dev,
Both my body position and pool turns are poor so I figure to save some good time there. Drafting is decent, my sighting definitely needs work. Really looking forward to seeing how much stronger I feel in open water this year.
Ok - the study I cite here shows that wetsuit swimming lowers your HR by 11% and increases efficiency in a subsequent 10 minute buke trial by 12%.
The study is Delextrat et al. Effects of swimming wtith a wet suit on energy expenditure during subsequent cycling. Can. J. Appl. Phys. 28(3): 356-69. 2003
“Really looking forward to seeing how much stronger I feel in open water this year.”
If you are one of those people that can really benefit from a wetsuit and you use a some smart strategy and draft like crazy, you can swim much faster than you will in a pool against good swimmers.
I often did my swim training with very good swimmers, who would be absolutely killing me in the pool, but once we got in open water, with wetsuits on and in a big race, I was able to not loose that much time to them. It was sometimes a bit shocking how close that I was at the end of the swim.
Wetsuits suck
.
But they sure help a crappy swimmer like me get faster. :o)
Dave
You may or may not gain time in open water with a suit as pointed out (another to keep in mind is how comfortable are you when swimming surrounded by people aiming for the same buoy).
If you are not that great of a swimmer, it can definitively help reduce the effort it would take without a wetsuit and therefore could save some energy but not necessarily gain some time…
Fred.
Generally speaking most people will swim about 5 - 10 sec faster per hundred meters in a pool with a wetsuit.
cool. So if my brother and I raced a 100 free, and I had a wetsuit and he didn’t, we’d be just about the same pace.