WEtsuit tips
DOtriHarder
Posts: 307
in General Chat
So i am getting a wetsuit and need your collected experience.
Tips on where to put slippery stuff.
How to get it off quickly
Whether to cut the arms and legs shorter.
any other wisdom
david
Tips on where to put slippery stuff.
How to get it off quickly
Whether to cut the arms and legs shorter.
any other wisdom
david
0
Comments
Hope that makes sense.
Putting baby oil around your neck - prevents chaffing
Also put it around the arm and leg hole this will help when taking it off..
When removing it don't fold the material over its self or it will stick together...make long ripp and pull motions to remove it...also stand on it when removing the legs rather than bending down to hold which will prevent you lifting your leg high enough in one motion.
That all sounds abit complicated but once you see it done then it will all make sense
on the neck there is normally a velcro flap..when you zip up make sure the zip comes out of the top of the flap - this way the zip can't come undone when pulled as it will stop against the flap if the zip comes from the bottom of the flap it is easilly undone when pulled which can happen in a mass start
I have a sailing wetsuit and the weight difference is astounding, the new one is so much lighter.
Thursday evening I'm off to Southwater lake near Horsham for open water training with the Tri club. We are putting 11 teams into the Southwater relays (400/20/5 X3) on 3rd Sept so i need to be ready.
Also i have spent the last 6 years wearing a Met helmet and am now embarrassed about overtaking people when wearing a "slow" helmet hence another new purchase - Rudy Project Ayron+ helmet. Now i will definitely feel happy going fast
DAvid
um a helment is my wiggle wish list as the one I have got is a "gimps" helmet and makes me look alot slower than I am and given I am slow i look almost stationary.
Are those relays done individually or as a group?
I wore the wetsuit last night and the missus was over the moon[;)] Seriously i felt a lot faster in the pool, towards the end of a 2K session i managed a 14sec length which is 2 seconds faster than i can currently swim 25m so it does seem faster for me. I had no problems with the legs and managed the press down on the chest idea, it doesn't normally work my feet usually just sink anyway!
Loon Yes the suit seems like a good one, very tight fit but thats what i was expecting, it did take me a while to get into it but not the 10 minutes they suggest. Maybe i have learnt something from you guys.
The Southwater relays is a team of three who each compete the complete Tri consecutively, just like the 4x100m relay but with no gold medals, no tantrums and much more difficult![8D] I am aiming to go second or third in my team because i haven't swum in a mass start before and will happily leave that experience 'til next year.
DAvid
another tip...
when you put it on lean forward - you will probably notice a lot of loose (wetsuit)material around your stomach...roll this up towards your chest so that there is more room there for swimming... you can also do this with your arms by putting them about shoulder height.. there maybe loose material on your arms which you can move to your shoulders to give more room..basically the trick is to get as much loose material to the parts of your body that move..
Someone gave me a tip about using a plastic bag over your foot or hand when you put the suit on the hand slips through more easily - it was great until i got to the last extremity and the bag was too far up my forearm, i couldn't get the bag out of the sleeve it took ages to get the plastic bag out and off my hand. - luckily the hole for the head is much bigger and doesn't require a plastic bag[:D]
DAvid
Swimming in a pool is easy, there is a massive comfort zone around the fact that you reach the end every few seconds, there is that opportunity to stop if you feel a need and there is a bigger gap for you to breathe.
Out on the lake with 200m+ to the other side and safety with visibilty of zero +or- 1cm the comfort zone goes out the window.
I set off with 3 other guys and found i was leading very quickly i kept backing off but had gone off much too fast, it felt so easy, then after 100m or so i started to lose it. My breathing was laboured and my head started to tell me to stop - when i did stop i found that vertical in the water i was very uncomfrotable as the wetsuit seemed to be constricting my chest (or was it that Anaconda i saw[;)]) i managed to complete most of the rest of that leg breaststroke. I had also set off on the righthand side of the group and i naturally breathe to the right - so i couldn't see anyone unless i breathed on my bad side.
The second length was much better as i went off more slowly and i had already conquered some of my demons. Lengths 3 and 4 were better and i was practising sighting as well, but it seems to take so long to get anywhere.
Will I have to go through all of this again when i move up to Sea swims @ 1500m?
DAvid
As you are talking about tips for wetsuits then you have to get large throat sewing machines for quilting to sew your suits at very low cost and with best material of your own choice as i always prefers to do this..