New Triathlete - Large Chest - questions

Hi Musico,

I agree with the above recommendations. 

I am a 36D and wear a Moving Comfort sports bra, a very tight single layer Underarmour tank top, and trishorts for the swim, run and bike.  I don't wear underwear under the trishorts, and I don't wear socks for the bike or run. 

I've tried adding other pieces of clothing at transition 1 for modesty, but found it to be a waste of time.   Also I highly recommend trying out your bra/tank top in the water to make sure it stays tight against the body rather than ballooning out while you're swimming. 

Hope this helps.

Hi there - I am a 38G or 38DDD also - moving comfort unfortunately doesn't work for me.  The enell sports bra does, and I wear it under my tri suit which I wear under my wet suit.  It doesn't pose any issue for me, with the exception that it retains water, but for me, it is not optional for the bike/run.  If it is a hot day, then it might dry out under your tri-suit from the bike and you will be kept slightly cooler during it...

If you wear the bra under a tri-suit, you shouldn't really need to throw a tank top on and you will be ready to go, unless you are feeling self-conscious.  Danskin makes a really good tri-suit that fit me well for the first couple of tris I did.

Hope this helps!

Lots of good suggestions. I always wear a good sports bra (used to be Frog bra but they quit making it as far as I can tell ) and a tri top with a shelf bra. Give a smidge of extra support and kind of holds the first bra in place, know what I mean?

One more thing: body glide the heck out of all the seams, under armpits, under your chest, especially. An unlubricated, wet bra will chafe the snot out of you.

^^^as she said, Lots of good suggestions.

Don't mess with swim bottoms and bike shorts and throwing a shirt on and whatever.

Wear your sports bra and either a tri suit or tri shorts and tri top for the whole race (including under your wetsuit).

x2 on lube for chafing. Just a note, I'm one of the people for whom Body Glide does very little, nor does it last. You might try a couple different SPORTS SPECIFIC lubes (nothing petroleum jelly or oily; it'll eat your wetsuit) before your race to see what works for you. I use SportShield roll-on.

You guys are fantastic thank you!

Now I just need to decide if I'm doing this next one with or without a wet suit.  I don't own one and I plan on losing a bit more weight so I certainly don't want to buy one right now....

So many decisions! 

I am anti wetsuit on principal. But I wrote much longer response once about how even if you want one eventually, they aren't necessary. For Sprint or Olympic Tri's you're never in the water over 40 min or so. Even if it's cold water it's not uncomfortable for a long time; and the later in the season, the warmer the water will be. Even warm water is shockingly cold to get into for a few seconds. Just jump in, swim fast, and get out. It's a race, so that's basically how you should handle it anyway. For reference I've done longer swim races (like 2-3 hours) in water colder (62-67 degrees) than I've ever seen at a tri (78-82) where you're only in the water for a fraction of that time.

Basically a wetsuit is a WANT not a NEED, like you can't do a race w/o a bike or sneakers type of NEED. Especially if you're worried about adding new stuff on race day, the expense, or the bigger expense of getting more than one wetsuit as you change sizes.

That's really good to hear.  I grew up in Minnesota and we started swimming in May - COLD!!!!

I know I'm much older now and may not be able to take the temps as well but I still have 34 pounds until I reach my goal and I just don't want to spend that money twice.  My two tris are July 24th in Minnesota and August 28th in Chicago so I am hoping the water will be fine. 

I think I will pick up my new tri clothes this weekend so I can practice in them....