What do you wear when you are swim training? (Page 2)

Wear?

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Jammers.  I had a guy in Masters swim class split his speedo bikini right up the back.. was really funny watching him walk to the locker room covering arse with hand!!!

Speedo with a drag suit over it. Never going back. I can swim in the same speedo for three months with the drag suit over it cause it doesn't matter if it is see through. And without the speedo underneath I am afraid something will pop out of the drag suit!

Jammers.  It gives me a similar feel for the water as the tri shorts.  I also like to wear them when I go diving under my wetsuit - less bunched up.  Basically, IMHO, board shorts are for hanging out at the beach (or I suppose if I was actually surfing, for surfing). 

I never got the point of training in shorts to increase resistance.  Do people train for the bike by overtightening the brakes, or pulling a trailer?  Or put on a weighted vest or drag a weight for run training?  (OK, when my kids were little, I got in most of my longer rides with them in a trailer - but I wouldn't choose to do it over just riding).

Man I can't imagine the effort needed to rip one unless it was a really old suit.  The only time I've had one ripped was playing 2m defense in water polo - which is why we wear 2 or 3.

Thanks for all the replies. Now the Jammers are out because I can't look like I am smuggling grapes by wearing that at the town pool. Where I do all of my in season training. The poly mesh look very short. How do the square leg suits work? Just a note I wear board shorts when I train because that is the only shorts I swim with other than tri shorts that's all I got. I will be taking a swim class over the winter and I need to pick up something that works well. There will not be any racing done in the suit just training. I also don't want to look like a beach bum wearing board shorts either.

For swim training (and triathlon in general) you're going to have to check your modesty at the door.

I've been a swimmer for most of my life, and the best way to go is the jammers or some type of Speedo suit.

Currently, I rock a pair of jammers and then a Speedo drag suit over the top for my pool training.

maybe not like that but yes to a point. Have you heard the saying "train heavy, race light"?

That is, traing with the slowest high Crr tires you can find (it is cheaper and lower chances for flats), no aero goodies, cycling clothing, butyl tubes, a bunch of water bottles/nutriton to avoid stopping, etc. On race day, race with all your aero goodies, trisuit, low Crr tires, latex tubes, maybe a bottle or two, enough nutrition and try living of the aid stations.

Similar idea with the drag suits...

Grape Smuggler Speedos











Speedo Jammers, Not grape smugglers

But do those things actually make you faster?  All of those things have pratical uses during cycling training, but am I going to be faster on race day because I trained with a heavier bike loaded down with extra gear?  I realize the extra weight might make me work a little more on accelerations, but if I'm training to power, seems like the work I do will be the same, I'll just cover less distance during that time.

Carried over to swim training, will a drag suit make you faster or just make you faster relative to when you were wearing the drag suit?

They make you work a little harder, so they probably make you stronger, but I'm not sure about faster... similar to those crazys who run in weighted vests...

Also, in college, the double suit was often out of necessity. One wears at the chest, one in the butt, so if you wear both, you're good!

For swimming, it is a lot more mental. You hop in your race with a freshly shaved and a tight-fitting suit after training with a hairy body and loose suit, and you FEEL fast in the water.

Why would that preclude jammers?  They provide the same benefit as a traditional speedo-style breif, but are more modest.  I wear mine at the local pool.

But as has been said, triathlon requires you check modesty at the door somewhat.  We are all seen out on bikes in tight-fitting lycra riding clothes.  We all run with probably too-little clothing on...  Might as well swim that way too. 

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I just wear trunks just because I'm modest.

I end up being around 10 seconds faster per 100 on race day.

Speedo polymesh drag suit.  I saw competitively before the days of "jammers"...

No problem checking my modesty at the door. But at the town pool with all my kids friends and other parents I don't want to be the talk....or Laugh of the town. I don't even like wearing the tri shorts at the town pool and I assume that is what the jammers will fit like correct?

As a swimmer from the age of the "cheating" suits, you bet your I felt a difference when I was in my full body fast skin II and when I had a drag suit on. The fastskins were made to not absorb water at all and push it off you, which reduces your weight when factored in the water you are bringing in with you while swimming. I like to wear this pocket drag suit which had four mesh pockets on it that just held water and it was like swimming with a 20 pound brick on. And thus I worked harder and the 2 hour practice hurt that much more. The trick with a drag suit is to not make it the reason you are swimming slower and HTFU and get it down at the same time if you were in the fast suit.

But honestly it's longevity of the suits. Your board shorts create more drag than a drag suit does it catches more tons more water and thus will weight more. Following the logic above you would want to train in them; however, the problem with shorts is you loose some control over what your legs are doing. I find it impossible to do breast stroke in a jammer, much less board shorts. For tri purposes and distance swimming go with what is comfortable.

I just wear board shorts.  They are indestructible, which is really why I wear them.  No point in wearing out my good jammers.  Frankly, though, I do like the drag suit properties.

On the rare "fast" day I put on the jammer - typically the last session before a race.  It is a great confidence boost.  Ripping out laps 5-6 seconds/100 faster than normal and just feeling fast do a lot for me, personally, in getting me ready to race.

Still rocking in a Speedo.  Have made the switch to the new material, though.

Generally I'll wear drag shorts over a speedo or jammers. 

Two speedos...one's really TYR... and a pair of OP shorts.
Lots of good drag.
I only swim free so there's no underwater sail effect.

Wow. This all sounds so complicated for you guys!

I wear a poly two piece Tyr suit. Simple.
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Edited by aquagirl 2010-11-17 8:48 PM