Open water swim

I've SEEN people do them in the high 50's, but I wouldn't mark it down as the smartest thing in the books.  If the temp is in the mid 70's, I'm more willing.  If not, gimme my wetsuit!

 X2

I don't like water under 70 but to each their own.  

Plenty of people summit everest without supplemental oxygen but plenty don't.  When swimmers are done swimming in OWS they

A: Bike and then run

B: Sit down and have a snack.

Since wetsuits aren't allowed in OWS races how many people use them?

A: some

B: 0

In triathlon since wetsuits offer a performance advantage you should:

A: use one and be even

B: HTFU and give up your advantage, while remembering that your mountain bike has knobby tires and you will be running in barefeet like many runners in poorer countries do (Nike is probably an advantage).   

Let's review UCI bike racing-

Drafting- you have to.  Failing to draft means not being anywhere the front. Triathlon drafting means penalties and DQ's. 

Bike breaks- mechanic jumps out of the team car and gives you a new one.  This is slightly different in triathlon.

Aerodynamic clothing- of course, Use it in triathlon?  Nope 

Cyclists racing need to have sleeves on their jerseys, triathlon suits... not so much.

Just so toughness is identified clearly: Michael Phelps wouldn't wear any suit that might create an advantage.

Yes it's a speedsuit not a wetsuit and it's pool vs. OWS but honestly the same thing applies.

People are competiting doing the best they can with what they have.  How many people have NOT DROWNED due to wearing a wetsuit?  Probably countless numbers.  Only 937 people have swam the English channel how can you compare that to the membership of USAT?

Good rant but it's comparing apples to Jupiter.

Umm... the hour and 25 minutes of the Olympics 10K OWS race I watched would suggest otherwise... or are we narrowing the definition to full wrist to ankle suits?  Because 80% of the field wore full legs or legs with farmer john torsos. 

I swam my sprint in about 60 degree water in my bike tights and nothing else.  I would not do that again.  It was three days before I seen my Thingy again

Joe

LOL!! It's almost midnight and I'm laughing my of in the living room alone because of this!

I'm still trying to decide on this same issue.  I'll be doing a sprint triathlon (1/4 mile OWS) this weekend in what I estimate will be about 61-64 degree water.  Nantasket Beach, Hull, MA.  Everywhere I look for advice and guidance, people are pointing to the wetsuit.  But its too late to rent a wetsuit online and I'm doubtful that I'll find one locally (I will look though.)  Poor planning on my part.  And part deliberate procrastination because I'm reluctant to spend money on a wetsuit for a first (possibly last) sprint tri.

My primary/back-up-if-I-can't-get-a-wetsuit plan is to swim and race in a regular 1-piece Tyr bathingsuit, a sports bra, and spandex triathlon shorts, and perhaps an extra cap.  I plan on slowly acclimating myself to the water (fully submerging) about 5 minutes before my race wave.

I swam about a week ago and, although it was uncomfortably cold getting in, once I was swimming I was comfortable and the cool water on my body felt nice and refreshing and kept me feeling fresh for the first mile of a 3-mile run I did promptly after the swim.  It was, however, probably nearly 67-degree water on that day.

 Anyhow, I'm half writing to see if people protest my daring swim plan for race day and half writing to be the voice of people who suck it up for a day.  Its only a sprint triathlon and I don't have a wetsuit.  If I can get one, I will have a different story.  If not, I believe I can deal...  or at least I HOPE so!!!!

 I think, more than anything, its really just a personal call regarding comfort, warmth, and budget.  Unless the water is dangerously cold or warm.

If you want to psych yourself up, read about Lynne Cox.  She swam the Bering Strait without a wetsuit.  And in the Antarctic.  Her story is great, I recommend giving it a read.  I often think of her when I am slogging away complaining about a one-mile pool swim, as she is a distance swimmer and her mileage is astounding.  Good luck this weekend!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox

Just did my my first tri (Dewey Beach Sprint) and was scared of the whole wet suit thing.  I just pictured myself rolling on the ground fo 15 minutes of my T1 trying to get the thing off.  I'm not understanding how it makes you faster.  It looks like it would restrict your swimming motion.  I was slower than I swim in a pool, but I think that was mostly from swimming a zig-zag route instead of a straight course. 

I can understand the whole hypothermia thing, and being real cold can't be good for muscle performance, but is it simply helping your body cope with colder water, or is there more to it?

The guy who won our local Sprint with a 400 meter pool swim wore one, and he cruised in the pool.  There is a reason that there are restrictions on wetsuit use, because they do offer an advantange.  Also, he was one of only 8 male racers who beat my T1 time.  (Transitions are the only thing that I do fast.  We were all gaping at him as he ran off the pool deck while removing his 90% of the way.  By the time he was at the bike racking area, all that he had left to do was pull his suit off his ankles.

I will purchase a wetsuit this winter in preparation for the Lake Anna Sprint in the Spring.

There is more to it, too:

1. Bouyancy

2. Aqua-dynamics.  This is smooth material and takes all of the lumps and bumps out of our Clyde/Athena bodies.  It makes your body less human, and more like a seal or dolphin

c. You will look like Aquaman!