I’m new to tri’s and new to swimming – and slow (~ 2:00 for 100’s at a sustainable pace). I have no illusions for podium glory or anything like that, but I don’t want to give up time if I don’t have to.
Would it be worth investing in a wetsuit for the Vineman Half? Nothing fancy – leaning towards on of the Promotion sleeveless ones if I make a purchase…
If that is the only race you will use it for…probably not. There have been a number of years where the water was really warm (and a little creative temperature taking going on).
clm
Do you plan to use it for more than one race? It is a lot of money if you only use it once or twice a year. IMHO
I’ll likely do other races where the suit could be used - but the Vineman is the only thing I have planned at the moment. I live in Texas, so I don’t need one from a temperature standpoint 9 months of the year…
I’d go to your local store and try several models/manufacturers on for fit. Perhaps even offer to pay them $20 to try every one of them on knowing full well you won’t be buying one from them. That may make them more amiclable to the plan.
When you find your size in a few brands, check out endeavor sports in San Ramon/ Livermore or Forward Motion in Danville, CA web pages. They both rent wetsuits. They are both within one hour of San Francisco International Airport (1/2 hour from Oakland Int.). You can rent one for about $50 for 4 days. Both shops are full of great people who will want you to have the best racing experience you can.
The water is borderline wetsuit almost every year. They often get an upstream water dump from a lake above a few days before the race to cool it down to just under the cutoff temp. for wetsuits.
Tip of the day - Swim close to the shore on the upstream leg (less current) and as close to the middle on the way back (nice current). My splits last year were 2 minutes different because I did not do this and swam against current upstram near the center.
Have a good race, it’s a blast.
Karma
The water was freezing last year. Borrow a wetsuit.
“They often get an upstream water dump from a lake above a few days before the race to cool it down to just under the cutoff temp. for wetsuits.”
Huh? Where did you hear that? I can’t imagine the US Army Corp which runs the damn at Lake Sonoma, gives a rats ass about the race. Water is way too valuable for agriculture and drinking to waste like that. They are actually experimenting with reducing flows in the summer to recreate natural conditions and help baby steelhead and salmon from getting eaten up by non native squawfish who prowl around gobbling up the fingerlings.
I live in the area and spent my college summers lifeguarding on the river in Healdsburg so am pretty familiar with it. In any event, you barely need a wetsuit as the water is pretty damn warm. I wish they would ban them unless it is below 70 but don’t think the wetsuit companies would allow the rule change. There will still be a handful of folks do the swim without suits so either way I wouldn’t sweat it.
This is my second year doing tris, and I don’t have a wetsuit. In my four races last year, the lowest water temperature was around 72 degrees, which seemed pleasantly cool for racing, kind of like running a marathon in the mid 40s on a sunny day.
I don’t have any immediate plans for getting a wetsuit because (1) I am a reasonably competent swimmer without one so it would not help me very much, (2) I really don’t need a wetsuit given the likely water temperatures in Michigan and we don’t have a lot of discretionary money with a toddler and my wife working part time, (3) I have plenty of fun doing triathlons without one, and (4) I would rather wait to buy a good wetsuit than waste money by buying a cheap one now.
From what I read, you would probably get a lot more benefit from a wetsuit if you are 2:00/100 yard swimmer than I would get. I probably still would not get a wetsuit if I were in your position, but I am very cheap.
I did that race back in '98. The river was warm enough to swim without one, but all of my AG competitors were in one, and we were all hyper-competitive, so naturally nobody swam without one.
I guess I’d ask how competitive in your AG you want to be, and what your goals for triathlon are. There are still plenty of good deals for them, and you can always get a decent used one off of Ebay for a reasonable amount, too.
Tony
Get a Desoto T1 bottom only and use it. You will not have to spend as much if you purchase only the bottom (verses other full suits) and they benefit all but the fastest swimmers in most cases. Example: I can typically do 100 yard (SCY) repeats at 1’08’’ with both the T1 top and bottom on. When I only use the bottoms (no top), my repeats are consistently 1’09" per 100 SCY. I’m willing to give up 1 second per 100 yards to fore go the top. The T1 bottoms look like a cycling bib when you have them on and give you plenty of leg bouancy and arm freedom. I’m simply amazed there aren’t more companies making two piece wetsuits.
This will be my first tri, so I have no idea what to expect performance-wise (I plan to do couple of local sprint/olympic distance tris before hand to get a feel for the mass swim start). My background is cycling and I was a better than average racer in that sport. I’m a decent runner - not one of those 14 minute 5K guys - but not slow. I just started swimming a few weeks ago - I’ve seen big improvement, but as my times attest, I still have a long ways to go. I did one local duathlon earlier this year before ramping up my training and was surprised (and pleased) to place 2nd in my AG.
My goals are 3 fold - 1: Finish. 2: Run the entire 13.1 miles. 3: Finish in under 6 hours. I’d be ecstatic to finish under 5:30, which I think is attainable, but I don’t want to over-reach goal wise in my first race.
How much time would a wetsuit save? Are we talking seconds or minutes or lots of minutes?
Thanks to all for the info!
probably minutes but it depends on the individual. the slower you are the more it will probably benefit your time and energy.
When I did half vineman the water was cold!! Wetsuit needed. Around here they rent wet suits – check around for rentals if you do not want to buy.
TriMike is correct … we don’t get any kind of dam release from upstream. We have just been lucky the last two years beteeen weather & dam releases that coincided with the race. Last year we were at 80 degrees the weekend before the race and 74 on race day (the last two years).
It is very swimmable w/o wetsuit and don’t believe i ever swam in a suit last year on our Saturday “practice swims” in July. We never had a water temperature below 71/72 after the least week of June.
FYI … we will likely have practice swims on SAT June 25th, July 9th, July 16th, and July 23rd. Please watch the website, www.vineman.com for details. For those entered we will provide constant email updates on water temp. & details of the practice swims.
Get a Desoto T1 bottom only and use it.
Interesting idea…but question for you—does the bottom by itself not fill with water? Seems to me—without seeing this in action—that you wouldn’t have a tight enough seal to prevent an excess of water coming in.
I’m sure a trickle of water gets in but its a pretty tight seal. If anywhere, it gets in where the straps go over my pecks. But, not on the back or sides at all.
I’ve done several sprint distance triathlons using only the bottoms and have posted some really good swim splits, even holding the fastest swim split overall in a race last fall. (only to be overtaken on the bike, but that’s another story.)
But, like you, I was a little bit skeptical, so I did a little unscientific test and did some 100 repeats in the pool. I also asked a buddy to do the same with his T1.
First with T1 top and bottom - held 1’08’’ avg for several 100 repeats. (short course yards)
2nd with T1 bottom only - held 1’09’’ avg for several 100 repeats.
3rd with no wetsuit - held 1’20’’ avg for several 100 repeats.
My buddy’s results yielded the same conclusions, just different times.
After about 2,000 yards of 100 repeats, I was getting tired. But, the results proved, to me at least, that wearing the T1 bottoms alone is faster than swimming without any wetsuit yet does not cause considerable disadvantage of using both pieces.
At Ralph’s half IM, I wore the top and bottom because it was freaking cold. But, in most races in the Southeast, the water is not that cold, so I just use the bottoms. That’s why when people always say they don’t want to spend that much on a wetsuit, I always recommend just getting the T1 bottom. They can always purchase the top later.
Next week’s Gulf Coast half IM is expected to be a wetsuit swim while the air temperatures will be very warm. I also don’t ever overheat by just wearing the T1 bottoms.
BTW, I have nothing to do with Desoto. I don’t even know if Desoto would appreciate me telling people to only buy half their wetsuit. I just know what has worked for me. Good luck.
Thanks for the info…I may pursue this as it sounds like a good solution for those “tweener” swims where one could or could not go with a wetsuit. For me, a full suit can be a bit restrictive (pretty much no matter what I do or don’t do, my upper body is just a bit bigger than most and fullsuits can be a literal pain) so this might be a plan of attack in selected races.