Here’s my conundrum. I like wearing a wetsuit on the swim because it makes me faster. But I run VERY warm, and in addition to adding sighting to my normal stroke pattern, every 20 strokes or so I also have to forfeit a stroke to use one of my arms to open the neck of my wetsuit to flush in some new cool water so I don’t feel super warm and uncomfortable.
This might be expected to occur in borderline water temperatures, like this year’s 70.3 Santa Rosa which was nearly a no-wetsuit swim, but I experience it even in “normal” wetsuit water temperatures, including at 70.3 Oceanside (which was like 63F / 17C).
What do I do? Just suck it up and flush the suit like I’ve been doing? Switch to a swimskin? Switch to a sleeveless wetsuit?
For some more context, I currently wear the Roka Maverick, but this was an issue with my old Blueseventy suit as well. I’m ~6’1" (184cm) and ~170lb (77kg), so while I could lose a little weight, it’s not like I’m carrying tons of extra insulation.
I’d go sleeveless if it means you get to forgo the flushing. You’re losing some of the speed advantage of the full sleeve if you have to open it up from time to time.
Here’s my conundrum. I like wearing a wetsuit on the swim because it makes me faster. But I run VERY warm, and in addition to adding sighting to my normal stroke pattern, every 20 strokes or so I also have to forfeit a stroke to use one of my arms to open the neck of my wetsuit to flush in some new cool water so I don’t feel super warm and uncomfortable.
Thanks in advance for the help and advice.
Are you sure you are faster overall in a wetsuit in those conditions? Not the pace that your watch gives you, but your actual time in the water and getting out of the wetsuit?
The reason I ask is many people who think they are faster in a wetsuit aren’t really that much faster, and you admitting that you have to pause to flush the suit with cool water every 20 strokes makes me think you are one of them.
If the difference is only a minute or less, not wearing the wetsuit, staying cooler in the water, and not expending the energy required to stop and start over and over may make it a wash or a gain in the bike and the run if you ditch the suit.
Notice I’m not asking pool vs OW. Have you ever swam OW without a suit and compared to swimming with the suit?
I really don’t know, I just have one of those shaped heads that they won’t stay on. Virtually impossible for me to finish with a cap, but I think really cold water shrinks them up somehow, they seem to stay on more often there…
I really don’t know, I just have one of those shaped heads that they won’t stay on. Virtually impossible for me to finish with a cap, but I think really cold water shrinks them up somehow, they seem to stay on more often there…
I haven’t tried it yet in the pro field, but I used to do every single race in my own silicon cap rather than the provided colored ones. My hair is shorter now, but latex caps just don’t stay on my head either and I would always have to end up treading water for a few seconds a few times each swim to pull it back down. No one ever said anything to me. I would assume that it’s even more okay to go cap-less considering people have latex allergies and such.
Assuming you don’t have hair that’s going to slow you down a ton, this seems like a good option.
In the millions of people that have competed in 10’s of thousands of races, can you show me one penalty or DQ for having your cap fall off?? I did one of the first triathlons ever, back when there were 30 people total in a race, cant recall one instance of this ever happening. And as I said, I just have a head shape that they continually fall off of…Except when they shrink a bit in cold water…
Most of my gains with wetsuits are below the waist. I have a 2-piece DeSoto T1 setup. For warmer water I simply wear just the bottoms. Gets my rear up and I’m nearly as fast as with a full wetsuit. I’m all pull anyhow so bottoms only work really well.
For those of you that just wear the lava pants (or bottoms of your DeSoto T1), do you just wear your tri top up top? I hate the feeling of swimming in my tri top without a swimskin or wetsuit so I am interested in hearing more.
Switch to sleeveless suit without a doubt. You will love it. If it happens to BlueSeventy awesome and you can save 20% here. After you get the sleeveless and swim in a race with it, update this post with some feedback please.
USAT Sprint Nationals in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago.
Men’s 55-59 age group. Competitor pinged for abandoning equipment agenda fell off during swim.