billyymc

My wife and I are doing a tri first week in August near Ithaca, NY. Last night the club there did a bike/run on the race course so we went and participated. We did the same race last year as our first tri ever.

After the run, my wife was talking with one of the club leaders who told her that wearing a wetsuit gains him 4 minutes in a 1500 meter swim, and 2 minutes in a 750 meter swim. So she's kind of interested in getting a wetsuit if that is truly the kind of gain she might get. She's a VERY good swimmer - doing the 750m in about 14:20 last year in the race (sprint distance).

Is improving 2 minutes due to wearing a wetsuit realistic? 1 minute? And how much additional time does the wetsuit add to transition?

Thanks.

Wolfador

Never used a wetsuit but from what I read it vary's a lot person to person. I think the best option would be to rent one and try it out.

rpeterson

The worse you are the more it helps because it will put your body in the correct position. At 1:55 / 100m your wife isn't so fast that it won't help much, but not so slow that it'll really help a lot. It increases your hip float, and gives you more surface area when you pull. If you're an awful swimmer who can't keep their legs up and you have no kick then you could be looking at going from 3:00/100 to 2:50/100, but at her level she'll probably drop 2-3 seconds / 100m. It will always be just a little faster though, and with a little practice you can take it off while running to transition, shouldn't add more than a few seconds once you get used to it. A terrible fitting wetsuit that fills with water and gets uncomfortable will slow you down though, so make sure she gets one that fits correctly.

billyymc

rp - interesting...I guess maybe the swimmers at that particular race were really slow then, since my wife's pace put her 13th overall out of almost 300 in the sprint distance race that day. There is also an intermediate distance race as part of the same event, so perhaps the stronger athletes were part of that. In any case - she's fast compared to me finishing the swim around 16:30 or so.

But from the sounds of what you're saying, I"m not sure a wetsuit would be a huge benefit to her. She's got a strong two beat kick. More conditioning is probably most helpful...she did the swim last year without a lot of pool time, but she's a former D-1 swimmer (20+ years ago) and is built to move throughout the water well -- unlike me - I'm built to move through the water like a barge.

Reality is, the run is where we both stand to make the most improvement if we work at it. But if she wants a wetsuit, that's fine...will make sure she gets one that fits right.

KoNP

It depends on the person, I have a pretty good kick and big feet which really push me in the water without a wetsuit. With a wetsuit all of that is negated but the extra flotation keeps me around the same speed

btw i consider myself a pretty slow swimmer and my normal pace is 1:30 per 100 yards

the best part of a wetsuit is not having to kick so you save your legs for the bike and run

billyymc

Hmm...well, in the pool my wife will do a set of 10 x 100's and I think she's been doing them recently coming in around 1:10 and then resting 20 seconds to start again on 1:30. I'm not sure how she can do that for 10 100's, but I see it every time we go swim -- but I would expect that to translate into a faster long distance swim than she's getting...I guess her body needs that rest in between (she was a sprint distance freestyle swimmer).

I just looked...it was a 750 meter swim for the race, not 700 meters.... so around 820 yards. So KoNP - if you're saying you swim 1:30 pace for an 820 yard swim, you would have come in 5th place in the swim in last year's race out of 289 entrants (6th place was 12:46). That's pretty darn good for someone who considers himself a slow swimmer. You'd have been about 30 seconds behind the fastest swimmer who finished at 11:43.

I do think a few factors slowed my wife down...1, she started at the back of her group because she was nervous, and had to work to the front of the pack, 2 she got way off course once, and 3 she'd never done an open water swim before.

I really don't think a wetsuit would make a huge difference for her - but I'm ok if she wants to get one.

Surfer34

I think it also depends on the type of wetsuit.

Is it a 2mm or 3 or 4 or mix ?

Is it spring style suit with no arms or is it full with arms ?

Personally, I think my 2/3 spring suit with no arms helps me about 3-4 seconds per 100 yards.

charbucks

Don't forget to factor in the amount of time it takes to remove a wetsuit!

I'm not at all a competitive triathlete (I've done two olympics and finished in the bottom third both times), but it seems to me that it adds time no matter what. I'd estimate that and see if the gains of swimming with it outweigh the loss of having to remove it in transition.

At the tris I've done, wetsuits were required. In fact, at the most recent one, they had to cut the oly swim in half because the water temperature was only 0.4 degrees warmer than the official "too cold to swim" regulations (it was 13.4 degrees celsius, 56 fahrenheit). In warmer waters, wetsuits are specifically forbidden. I'm guessing if you're asking, then you're doing tris where it's optional, but it's something to think about.

Dalai

Can't use your wife's swim times on an race course. Claimed 750m metres is usually anything but 750 metres! 1:10 laps off 1:30 is quite reasonable.

Better open water swim times will come from practicing open water swimming! Sighting, positioning and learning to draft etc. If she has good position in the water already I doubt she will see the same gains as claimed – though as mentioned the sleeves will add surface area to the arms to increase the pull through the water.

Minimal if any time is lost in transitions if practiced. Unzip and pull down to the waist running to the bike, then at the bike push down to below the knees, and stomp down and off with your feet as you buckle your helmet…