Wet Suit Speed confirmed

While ramping up my training this month I have lost some weight so I needed to check the fit of my rental wet suit (Zoot) for a race this week end.

I usually, swim 1,000 yards three or four days a week at the local YMCA.  My average pace is 00:01:52 per 100 yards, plus or minus a couple seconds without a wet suit.


With the Zoot, I found the results were two fold:

#1) My average time per hundred over 950 yards was 00:1:39 (a 13 second increase in speed)
#2) My overall level of fatigue was noticeably lower (however my arms did feel somewhat heavy while swimming).  More importantly, my confidence in the water was vastly improved.

I have calculated the time savings for my upcoming race as follows:

740 Yard OWS

1:52 per 100 = 00:12:37
1:39 per 100 = 00:11:09

Savings = 00:01:28

It takes me just under 30 seconds to remove the wet suit so my net savings are about 1 minute.

At 18 MPH on my bike,  that time savings allows me to ride .3 miles.
At 8 minutes per mile running, that time saving would allow me to run  .12 miles.

Sometimes I feel like I am spending a little too much time thinking about all of this Triathlon stuff?