I have a Sprint race at the end of July with a very short swim, 1/4 mile. The bike is longer than a typical sprint race, 20.1 miles, with
an average run distance of 3.1. Should I wear my wetsuit or not? It seems that any time I save with the suit, will be given
right back with a longer transition. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to go to all that trouble, when the bike is where this race
will be won or lost.
Let the expert opinions commence.
tbro
Absolutely! Depending on how proficient you are in the water, you will swim 7-15 seconds faster per 100 meters with the wetsuit compared to a speedo. Additionally tri-tops have pockets which tend to act like a parachute. Practice getting it off quickly. You should be able to get it from being zipped to being around your hips/waist during the run from the beach. It should take 4-8 seconds to get it completely off from there. There is also a lower probability of getting wresteled as much with the wetsuit on, since you will be able to swim closer to the FOP.
This all assumes you are in the race to go as fast as you can. If you don’t really care about a minute or so, then don’t stress out.
my next race the swim is only 1/4 mile too. i’m definitely wearing my wetsuit. it’s worth it and mine is extremely fast to remove (de soto t1).
the arms come out as you are running into t1 and it should take 5-10 seconds at your bike to rip your legs out much faster with the suit (thats what Monty taught us) and he basicly invented fast transitions, at least that was what the race on long island looked like that he showed us LOL
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