How much quicker does wearing a wetsuit make you?
in General Chat
Hi, Can anyone shed anylight on this subject. I'm just getting back into my swimming, trying to build up my endurance and currently cover 1500ms (in the pool) in around 32 mins. (i know ... i need to speed up ) Never worn a wetsuit before but heard that just by wearing one, it will automatically speed up your swim times due to the buoyancy effect. Is this true and if so how much quicker (obviously just after a ball park figure here) will it make you?
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Swimmin wetsuits are also less sturdy . cut em nails!
Wetsuits are generally faster. Tri wetsuits offer buoyancy to the legs and hips, so you'll be flatter in the water, but also slightly higher in the water. Being slightly higher means you've got less body to pull through the water, and hence slightly quicker. Also, some of the higher end suits are coated, and this coating has a lower resistance than skin, so again, makes swimming slightly quicker.
However, in a wetsuit you have some restriction of movement around the shoulders, which will have a slight negative effect.
With pool swimming, you have the benefit of the push off at each turn, which could be around 2 seconds per length.
Open water swimming you've also got the issue of sighting, currents, swell, shop etc.
So, if you swam in a wetsuit in a pool, then comparison to a non wetsuit pool swim, you would be quicker.
Personally, I find that my pool times are almost identical to my open water wetsuit swim times. The pro's outweigh the con's. But that's just me
However,
But wetsuits are definitely faster. The more expnsive the wetsuit, the faster you'll go. Indubitably. And if it has carbon bits, even more so. Get one. The 2XU Project X one is eye wateringly expensive and thus, the fastest.
In fact what actually happens is they "bend time" and the only reason other triathletes are quicker is because they are bigger benders than you.
During the swim section I am constantly thinking "That Bender has passed me...."
A similar thing happens with racers on more expensive bikes.....and fancy trainers.
Benders.
I should mention that in the pool I struggle with body positioning alot (skinny so sink), so in theory I should be the type to benefit most from a wetsuit.