Wetsuit in pool (Page 2)

I'm doing my first open water swim sprint Tri in late February.  Even with the great California weather, wetsuits are highly recommended for that race.  Actually, they're practically required. 

According to some local experienced triathletes, short of doing something that isn't otherwise permitted or legal, there are no local open water swims before that date.

Seems smart to me to rent a few wetsuits and swim in the pool a few times to figure out:

1.  Size for the suit I want to ultimately buy

2.  Where I need to use that body glide stuff

3.  A sense of how much buoyancy the suit might give me.

I don't expect to get laughed at too much.  Seems like a lot of the people swimming when I swim (given how cold it is) are triathletes prepping for some spring events.

I am sure H20Killer would laugh him out of the pool but thought I would share this anyways:  

You look silly making ignorant comments like this, but it's not stopping you.

For me, I only wear the suit a few times a year, and after a long gap the suit feels very constricting and claustrophobic. Getting in a swim pre-race for a half hour or so gets me re-acclimated to the suit. And if I can't find an OWS to do this, I have to do it at the gym.
Tough #### if I look silly. Who am I trying to impress at the gym? Mr. Musclehead and his masculine wife? Uh... no.

I've done the same as you.  I think it's the right thing to do.  A few times won't be a problem and you are doing the right thing when you rinse it off afterwards. 

Man these people who are obsessed with what others think. Geez.  Who cares.  Wear it in the pool to get used to it, to make sure it fits then don't.  The chlorine will be bad for it, but there's no other way to know if it fits right. Also, it's not a bad way to figure out any pressure points.  Especially if you have an early season race and no opportunity for an open water swim before hand. 

Thank you for this. Commenters like this guy are why i left the site for nearly a year.  I got tired of the snide, sarcastic, and ridiculing comments that too many people were leaving. Then I realized this is in fact BEGINNER triathlete and I shouldn't have been the one to leave. I'm glad this guy is in the minority though.  And anyone who would say you look "silly" couldn't have possibly gone to a triathlon. The "silliest" looking one's are usually the top athletes, what with their unitards and pointing helmets     

Yeah, I wore my wetsuit in the pool a couple times before my first OLY because I wanted to experience swimming that distance in it before the race and I didn't think I would have any opportunities for an OWS before the race. I asked the people at my LTS and they said as long as I rinse it really well, a couple swims won't hurt it...

For the record, I am not a ranked triathlete.

Don't worry about trying the new wetsuit in the pool. It's better to get comfortable in a safe environment before getting into an open water situation. In my other life I'm a scuba diver. Hundreds of hours diving in places deep, dark and cold. Guess where I go to try out and get used to new gear? The pool. Just give your wetsuit a good rinse afterward.

As far as being worried about looking silly. You couldn't look as silly as me wearing side mounted scuba tanks, wing and backplate, drysuit and jet fins doing a giant stride into the deep end.

For me I think it was very important to get used to the full wetsuit. It made my stroke a little different and added a little resistance which made my arm notice it. I will continue to do this 2-3 times every year as I think it helps me... like a weight training session for swimming.

Had a funny comment the last time I wore my suit, this old timer that usually swims the same time I do, saw me in a wetsuit as he came to the pool and turned back into the locker room. After the workout, we meet in the locker room and he told me he didn't swim today cuz he saw me in a wetsuit and thought that the pool was really cold that I had to wear a wetsuit!

Course I did get funny looks from the "real swimmers", but it stopped as soon as I started swimming, because I was almost as fast as they were. The bad side is that you really do overheat quickly.... oh-well.