I’m a little out of the loop on this. Back in high school, we wore speedos and shaved down for big meets. Olympians seemed to go from the same, to knee length bike short style suits, to full leggings, and now to full body sleeveless suits. I’m planning on doing a long distance no-wetsuit swim and just got curious. I’m trying to decide if I should wear a speedo, my trishorts, or get a new suit. Also trying to decide if I should shave down. Anyone know how these things affect speed? I’m woefully out of shape, so any advantage would be a plus.
Toss on a speedo and go for it. The new suits are very expensive and not worth it unless you need the extra fractions of a second, they’re not going to make you in any better shape than you are right now.
Are you planning on competing in any other open water races? Or, is this a 1-shot deal, possibly? If this is it, then put on the Speedo. No need to invest any $$$ if you are not looking to race on a more regular basis.
Shave down. It’s not so much that for the speed there, but for the better water feel, and the rather pavlovian reaction that will kick in after all those years where the brain and body remember how shaving down meant you were primed to go fast.
Don’t mean to be harsh, but you’re “woefully out of shape” and worried about trivial items that MIGHT shave a couple of seconds (at most) on a long distance swim? Dude, find something else to worry about that could have a large impact, like how to improve sighting for open water swims. This could mean 10’s of seconds, or even minutes, depending on length and conditions.
A big help for me was to find the optimal bi-lateral breathing pattern on race day that will yield the straightest line without sighting. This will vary depending upon wind/currents/waves etc., but easy to dial in while racing.
edit: typos
Sorry, just a little self-depricating humor. I’m actually a decent swimmer and I consider myself highly experienced in the open ocean. With all the things triathletes obsess about, I didn’t think it would out of place to ask about the fastest way to do a dedicated swim. For triathlon, a wetsuit is a no brainer. I was just wondering about non-wetsuit open water swims.
Oh - sorry!
You might consider a larger coverage suit for jellyfish protection, if nothing else, it that’s a potential issue. Did a few practice swims at a beach where this was an issue, and come out of the water same as went in, but people I was swimming with came out sooner, in pain and with welts - don’t know if it made a speed difference, but I definitely enjoyed the swim more than them.
The new skin suits are fast. At a recent swim meet one team had half of their swimmers in the Blue Seventy(sponsored by a different mfg.). Lots of personal bests, one kid dropped 8-12 seconds in 200 breast and made a trails cut. Word on the street is the .3 neoprene suits might be faster then the new Speedo suit but Speedo has the faster swimmers. This fall you will see a lot more being introduced by different companies.
You can get the Xterra Velocity swimskin for $175 until Aug 4. Use discount code XX30.
Just out of curiosity, what event are you going to be swimming in? I’m doing an open-water swim in a few days, and I’ll only be wearing a speedo, but I’m considering shaving down for it, thanks to habits developed during high school swimming.
If a “speedsuit” is neoprene at what point does the USAT official consider it a “wetsuit?”
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The new skin suits are fast. At a recent swim meet one team had half of their swimmers in the Blue Seventy(sponsored by a different mfg.). Lots of personal bests, one kid dropped 8-12 seconds in 200 breast and made a trails cut. Word on the street is the .3 neoprene suits might be faster then the new Speedo suit but Speedo has the faster swimmers. This fall you will see a lot more being introduced by different companies.
I don’t doubt the new skins make people faster, but I’d be curious to know what meet this was and where this team was in it’s training cycle. Many swimmers will only wear the new fancy suits for major meets such as end-of season championships. They’ll be shaved, tapered, and usually in faster pools than they swam in during the season. So conditions are usually ripe for people to have season’s best and personal bests even without the new suit.
If a “speedsuit” is neoprene at what point does the USAT official consider it a “wetsuit?”
The speedsuits apparently have a lot less neoprene than a normal wetsuit.
I read somewhere that USAT was actually hoping to follow the standards set by FINA and/or USS (the world and U.S. governing bodies for swimming). If FINA determined that a particular suit was legal for swim meets, then USAT would follow suit and consider them legal for non-wetsuit swims.
Not sure what event you’re doing, but I did a sanctioned 5k open water swim and not only were wetsuits not allowed, but not even jammers were allowed. Speedo’s only. I agree with a previous post…don’t worry too much about what you’re wearing if your fitness isn’t where it should be. Focus on breathing, glide, keeping your feet up…basic hydrodynamics and you’ll be more efficient than just wearing an extra $300 of lycra.
Swim suit - what is fastest?** **
Easy, the one the guy that comes out of the water first is wearing. That’s always the fastest suit.
I once heard a well respected coach say that shaving down cuts 1 second per 100 yards, and I certainly shaved for every major meet when I was a competitive swimmer even if that figure is not precisely accurate. But, I’m not sure that I would shave down for a long distance open water swim. I would be very concerned now about whether I would take my race out too quickly if I swam a longer distance race shaved. Going out too fast can really come back to bite you in a long race as I learned in my first marathon. Plus, there are a lot of other factors like how well you sight and whether you can draft appropriately that can save you a lot more time than 1 second per 100 yards in an OW race.
As far as the fancy suits go, they probably make you slightly faster and would wear one if I were a competitive swimmer now and could afford to wear one. But, they are really expensive.
I believe the one i have recently have designed will brake some records it covers 40% more of your body then most of the traditional swim skins without sacrificing any flexibility, and its wicked fast in the water.
http://rocketsciencesports.com/SwimSkin_Page.php
Cheers
Marcin
I believe Fina approved the Blue Seventy for swim meets last year sometime and only recently swimmers have come to see the benefits. If Fina approved it, I think the US swim committee has to allow it. Plus if you are not going to the Olympics it is very hard to get one of the new Speedo suits. The person racing I hear, was not tapered and a female, so I think she had her legs already shaved. The fastest suit is different then the fastest swimmer. Sponsorship plays a big role on what someone can wear at meets. My son is a good swimmer and has set records in a old style Speedo and a poly suit but reset both again in a Fastskin in finals.
USA swimming has its own rule book. They consider the FINA rule book to be minimum standards, but has generally reserved the right to make additional rules and set tougher technical standards as long as they are not contrary to FINA rules. (see the whole Kristine Quance Olympic Trials DQ case)
Blue Seventy was on the approved list for Trials, and no one’s moved to ban the suits at the sub-national level, so it’s good to go for now. (There have been some countries that have talked about doing that) However, I don’t know if it’s approved for NCAA competition since the NCAA swimming rules committee just voted to extend its ‘no new suit technology introduced after January 1, 2008’ moratorium through the 2008-09 school year.
speedsuits often use a crushed neoprene versus a blown neoprene so no little air bubbles in the material which is what gives it’s it’s bouyancy in a wetsuit
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