I am in the market for a speed suit for some of the warmer summer races here in Taiwan. Is there any speedsuit reviews out there comparing performance and features??? I am particularly interested in the
Desoto Liftfoil
Blue Seventy Piontzero3
The Desoto is on special for $119 at Trisports.com whereas the Blue Seventy goes for $200 at nearly all onliine stores I checked.
Is there any real world performance difference that anyone has been able to test in these 2 suits???
I can’t point you to any reviews or studies, but I can tell you about my statistically invalid, n=1 experience with my Xterra Velocity 0.02 Speedsuit, which Santa brought me for Christmas.
On the main set we do every Friday (30x100 free on 1:22), I would have to absolutely agree with what MarkyV and other swimmers have posted – I would say that with the suit (vs. a standard speedo), I was approximately 2 seconds faster per 100 yards. That workout is the only time I’ve tried the suit out, and I was very impressed with it. Not only did I feel faster, but I could definitely feel my hips higher in the water. A training partner tried it out at the end of our workout, and he had the same impression after swimming a few hundred yards in it.
Of course, there might have been a big placebo effect going on, but it definitely worked for me. I’m praying for warm water at Gulf Coast so I can try it out there.
I can’t point you to any reviews or studies, but I can tell you about my statistically invalid, n=1 experience with my Xterra Velocity 0.02 Speedsuit, which Santa brought me for Christmas.
On the main set we do every Friday (30x100 free on 1:22), I would have to absolutely agree with what MarkyV and other swimmers have posted – I would say that with the suit (vs. a standard speedo), I was approximately 2 seconds faster per 100 yards. That workout is the only time I’ve tried the suit out, and I was very impressed with it. Not only did I feel faster, but I could definitely feel my hips higher in the water. A training partner tried it out at the end of our workout, and he had the same impression after swimming a few hundred yards in it.
Of course, there might have been a big placebo effect going on, but it definitely worked for me. I’m praying for warm water at Gulf Coast so I can try it out there.
Ditto on the Xterra. I don’t know if there are any performance studies done on it, but anecdotally, I have found my body position improved and I actually felt less resistance gliding off the wall after the push off. I think I swam 20-30 seconds faster for the 500 free at the same effort compared to a standard speedo.
I am in the market for a speed suit for some of the warmer summer races here in Taiwan. Is there any speedsuit reviews out there comparing performance and features??? I am particularly interested in the
Desoto Liftfoil
Blue Seventy Piontzero3
The Desoto is on special for $119 at Trisports.com whereas the Blue Seventy goes for $200 at nearly all onliine stores I checked.
Is there any real world performance difference that anyone has been able to test in these 2 suits???
Thanks in advance for any info on the subject.
Shane D
The DeSoto Liftfoil is a trisuit that happens to excel in non-wetsuit races, much like a speedo fastskin. It is NOT a speedsuit. It is meant for racing the whole race. The Blue70 suit is meant ONLY FOR SWIMMING. You would not want to race the whole way in it.
My own experience is that the neoprene suits like the Blue70 and the XTerra 0.02, etc. is basically hype. You MIGHT see a small difference in a set of all out 50’s. But compared to a tight fitting swim-oriented tri-suit like a Speedo Fastskin, DeSoto Liftfoil, Kiwami Amphibian, etc., you’re probably looking at maybe 5-10 seconds over an Ironman. MAYBE. I haven’t exactly seen a whole lot of swim PB’s in races as a result of these suits coming out, have you?
“My own experience is that the neoprene suits like the Blue70 and the XTerra 0.02, etc. is basically hype. You MIGHT see a small difference in a set of all out 50’s. But compared to a tight fitting swim-oriented tri-suit like a Speedo Fastskin, DeSoto Liftfoil, Kiwami Amphibian, etc., you’re probably looking at maybe 5-10 seconds over an Ironman. MAYBE.”
so Normann really *did *swim that well in 2006? God for him!
Yeah, Normann had some help from favorable currents. He had the swimming equivalent of a headwind, which brought everyone together. I also think he improved his swimming. Read Monty’s analysis of the swim. As a beach lifeguard and generally awesome OW swimmer, he gave a good explanation about what was going on. It’s the same way in a paceline into a headwind the lead riders suffer a lot more than they would in a headwind, and those in the middle of the pack are much less affected.