Another "should I wear a wetsuit" thread

No, don't wear one.

Be a rebel and stand alone in a crowd!  Intimidate your competition by not wearing one.

I recently did an Oly tri at 75 degrees that was legal up to 78 degrees.  I was one of the very few that did not wear one.  The water temp was ideal for swimming and it felt so good just to swim w/o a constricting wetsuit.  I'm sure I was a little slower than the competition becuase I was not wearing one but I had a good swim and enjoyed myself and have the added satifaction of knowing I swam w/o the added benefit of artificial buoyancy....which mean nothing to most people but it mean something to me.

~Mike

I disagree.  The average person saves closer to 10 sec per 100, and a 2:00/100 swimmer may save a little more.  Plus, if your wetsuit costs you more than 10 seconds in T1, you need to learn how to remove it.  The OP should save over a minute, net.  Plus, there is the benefit of going into the water with more confidence.

To the OP - Assuming your suit fits you well, you know how to put it on properly, and you've swam in it enough times to be comfortable, there is only one time not to wear a wetsuit when it's legal.  That's when the temperature is borderline, and you happen to be one of those people who is always hot and overheats easily.

Since she said very few people would be wearing one, wouldn't she be more rebellish, stand aloneish, if she wore one?

Yeah, I missed that part.  Just seems to me, given a choice, most choose to wear one....but maybe being a sprint with a lot of first timers that won't be the case.

^^^Correct wetsuit math^^^

Cool, thanks everyone.  I will wear it and be proud! 

In fact I might just head over there now!  It's gorgeous today and I just got back from a nice ride, so a dip in the water sounds great.

Hey all, I want some more info. on these wet suits...the only one's I've worn are for scuba diving.  I'm assuming the tri ones are much thinner, and user friendly, but still.  My main concern is overheating in one, and the constriction while swimming.  I've been a speed swimmer and swimming is my first sport, so putting on a suit seems very foreign.

Will it actually save time or is this just because it's bringing your body to the surface and more boyant?  It doesn't make you glide through the water and decrease resistance does it?  Will the overheating be an issue?  I don't believe in wearing swim caps for anything over 400m or around that because they cause you to overheat and I'll only wear it begrudginly at Guelph Lake cause I have to....but what about wet suits?  I'm really concerned about this piece of equipment which sounds like it can make you or break you.  And 10sec over 100m is a huge amount of time which I don't want to downplay. 

A tri wetsuit is built completely differently from a scuba wetsuit.  There is much more flexibility where you need it for swimming - elbows, shoulders, underarms and whatnot.  The material is very buoyant and helps your legs stay in the proper position (i.e. not dragging).

Over a certain water temperature, wetsuits are not legal for racing.  I think the temp depends on the race, not certain.  But yes, that is because there is danger of overheating.  If you overheat easily, you might not like it.  You can rent one at wetsuitrental.com for $45 for a week if you want to try it out.

Yes, they are constricting.  But they expand slightly in the water and theoretically, once you're swimming and know what to expect you don't notice.  I say theoretically because I haven't worn mine in water yet.  I tried today but the lines were too long to get in...

Wear it in practice before you think about wearing it for the race.  If nothing else, you'll have had the chance to take it off a couple times.  That said, I would go ahead and wear it.  Since your race is in Naperville, I can't imagine there is any water up there that would be TOO warm in early June.  Unless it's in the old Naperville "pool" that used to be a quarry, that might heat up more than larger bodies of water.  I think I had my first "open water" experience there so long ago I have no memory of it.

I tried it at Centennial Beach yesterday... it's a go!  It fit, worked great for me, and I think I was the only person not freezing in that water yesterday.  The only thing I was worried about was legality... I can't find a link on the Sherox tri website about legality of the wetsuit.

Amy

Oh no.  I'm pretty sure I swam there while in utero, and then my parents took me there when I less than three years old.  We haven't lived in the area since the mid 80s.