Should I care about Tri-Suit color or looks?
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ChunkyB posted 15 weeks ago.
1) I wouldn't even consider what people might think of you because of the color of trisuit you wear. If anyone thinks more or less of you because of the color you wear, then they're lame and you shouldn't care what they think. I think sky blue is an awesome color.
2) The main difference would probably be chafing-wise. I don't know which one would be better or worse. It would probably depend on fit and what not. If it's loose at all, the sleeves would be annoying and would probably chafe a little bit. If it's tight you might have less chafing with short sleeves because sleeveless could chafe from your arm rubbing against the seam on the armpit or whatever.
Sorry if none of that was coherent.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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Iron Dan posted 15 weeks ago.
Here is my take on your questions.
1) No one out there will really care all that much other than you.
2) Not really, it is just a matter of what you are comfortable with. The biggest advantage that a short sleeve has is that it will protect your shoulders from the sun, which I have learned from personal experience can be nice. Also, a sleeved suit can keep your armpits from chaffing during a run. However using sunscreen and body glide if you are wearing a sleeveless can prevent both of these.
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Leroy Bonkers posted 15 weeks ago.
1) Nobody cares. Both colors are conservative.
2) Personal preference. 95% go with sleeves.
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RV posted 15 weeks ago.
Most people will really not care in the slightest.
I like sleeveless just because it is more comfortable for me.
Big rule is to wear your race gear in a couple training sessions. Find out then how comfortable (or not) it is. Want to find out if chafing or whatever is an issue before the race - not during.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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brownnugen posted 15 weeks ago.
This thing fits pretty nicely, so I guess chaffing won't be an issue. I've never worn one of these things, so I need to work out a couple of time in it to get used to the feeling.
Thanks for the comments. I'll just keep what I have and not worry about it, especially having only paid $35 for it. I've seen everything else cost $100 and up, is there a reason this thing is so cheap? Will I get what I paid for? I talked to a guy and he said that the pockets was the only thing he could nit pick (it didn't have a zipper at the top, but it is mesh at the bottom).
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Iron Dan posted 15 weeks ago.
RV wrote:
Big rule is to wear your race gear in a couple training sessions. Find out then how comfortable (or not) it is. Want to find out if chafing or whatever is an issue before the race - not during.
Come on RV, that takes all the fun out of racing. :)
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jsk85 posted 15 weeks ago.
I second what everyone else has been saying...no one cares what you're wearing except you.
And by looking at your options, both colors seem pretty toned down to me.
My rowing team switched to new unisuits last season and changed to a base baby blue color that was so flashy it could blind people. However, I felt great in it and have even considered wearing it to non-rowing events like (however it isn't really designed well for it).
I am normally quiet and shy away from attention. But when I'm performing tris or any other athletic event I'm proud of, bring on the flair. I'm proud of my accomplishments, so have no problem drawing attention to myself in that light.
Oh yeah, and I'm a mid to low ranking age grouper, so I'm not exactly breaking speed records.
Wear what you feel comfortable in
My blog: http://jsktri.blogspot.com
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Socket posted 15 weeks ago.
I'm doing my first next month and I just ordered a pair of tri shorts and a tri top. The shorts are black because that's what is available mostly (along with all the reasons in the "why is there no white tri wear" thread). The top is actually a Trifuel singlet in bright red. I like it for 2 reasons: 1) it matches my bike and 2) I'm a trifuel junkie :-)
Will I suck? Yes.
Will I stand out? Probably.
Will I care? Not a shred. I'm there for me and if I'm going to go out there wearing tight fitting rubber and spandex, I'm going to do it proudly!
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TriSooner posted 15 weeks ago.
Y'all aren't taking this seriously enough! This young athlete needs our fashion guidance! Not only must your outfit match, it must match with your bike colors. Keep in mind how your outfit will coordinate with your bike frime, bar tape, and tire wall colors. You must match! You never know when your picture will be used on the next triathlon magazine cover. And on the off-chance you find an outfit you really like but it doesn't match your existing bike frame color, then you must buy a new bike frame. It's that serious. And for heaven's sake, make sure the tire, bar tape, and your helmet color accentuate your tri suit ensemble! For example, if you go with the sea blue, you must have a nice neutral grey or white or black frame, accented with a subtle TdF-inspired yellow tire walls and helmet, but off-set with a throw-back Euro-trash white bar tape.
And for the run! You must have shoes that also match. To go along with a sea blue suit I would look for red accented shoes, or maybe Kelly green laces. But not both. You'd look like a freakin' Christmas tree. And for the hat, go with something daring, like a black hat. Everyone will think you are really so fast and cool that you can get away with wearing a black hat. Sun be damned! And it has to be from some far away esoteric race that you never really competed in. Like find an Ironman Malasia or Canary Islands hat. And for your glasses, since you have a sea blue outfit, I think you need the yellow-tint, not the mirror or smoke.
Don't worry about how competitive you are; worry about how good you look. A good rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend training you need at least :30 minutes of time browsing website looking for the newest and coolest outfit. Look on ebay for used Comrades Marathon shirts or Marathon de Sables hat. No one will know what they are, but they sound hard and foreign.
And finally, since this is a sprint, you really need a skinsuit or better yet, a wetsuit for a 300yard swim, an aero bike helmet, and race flats for the run. The extra $1,000 you spend on that carbon frame is going to help you in a 12 mile bike sprint. You can't be immortalized in your finisher photo with anything less than over-the-top fashion consciousness!
Ironman Germany (July 6, 2008)
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brownnugen posted 15 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
Y'all aren't taking this seriously enough! This young athlete needs our fashion guidance! Not only must your outfit match, it must match with your bike colors. Keep in mind how your outfit will coordinate with your bike frime, bar tape, and tire wall colors. You must match! You never know when your picture will be used on the next triathlon magazine cover. And on the off-chance you find an outfit you really like but it doesn't match your existing bike frame color, then you must buy a new bike frame. It's that serious. And for heaven's sake, make sure the tire, bar tape, and your helmet color accentuate your tri suit ensemble! For example, if you go with the sea blue, you must have a nice neutral grey or white or black frame, accented with a subtle TdF-inspired yellow tire walls and helmet, but off-set with a throw-back Euro-trash white bar tape.And for the run! You must have shoes that also match. To go along with a sea blue suit I would look for red accented shoes, or maybe Kelly green laces. But not both. You'd look like a freakin' Christmas tree. And for the hat, go with something daring, like a black hat. Everyone will think you are really so fast and cool that you can get away with wearing a black hat. Sun be damned! And it has to be from some far away esoteric race that you never really competed in. Like find an Ironman Malasia or Canary Islands hat. And for your glasses, since you have a sea blue outfit, I think you need the yellow-tint, not the mirror or smoke.
Don't worry about how competitive you are; worry about how good you look. A good rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend training you need at least :30 minutes of time browsing website looking for the newest and coolest outfit. Look on ebay for used Comrades Marathon shirts or Marathon de Sables hat. No one will know what they are, but they sound hard and foreign.
And finally, since this is a sprint, you really need a skinsuit or better yet, a wetsuit for a 300yard swim, an aero bike helmet, and race flats for the run. The extra $1,000 you spend on that carbon frame is going to help you in a 12 mile bike sprint. You can't be immortalized in your finisher photo with anything less than over-the-top fashion consciousness!
That is the funniest thing I've read for a long time :)
Thing is, I do have a black bike frame and the shoes I plan on running in has red accents.
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Anton posted 15 weeks ago.
I always go with what's on the sale rack or if I'm able to noodle a freebie out of someone or some store, I'll wear it it and not give a rats nose how I look.
Trisooner...you rock!
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
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odenwesd posted 15 weeks ago.
I'm all about fashion when I race (okay, not to the extent that TriSooner was talking.. haha), but it's not because I care what my fellow competitors or spectators think, its just that I feel like I perform better when I look good! My fiance laughs at me because he could care less if his shirt coordinates with his shorts and whatnot, but I like to match. Seriously though, no one cares what you wear. I once saw an older, overweight guy who wore a speed-o the whole race (and unfortunately he was RIGHT in front of me for a section of the bike.. eww), but really, people don't pay attention to the color of your clothes. As a common spectator of triathlons (I watch the longer tri's that my fiance and family do) I prefer the bright colors because that makes the people I'm watching MUCH easier to spot.
And fyi, my outfit matches my shoes, my goggles, my bike, AND my helmet. But I look good. :)
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brownnugen posted 15 weeks ago.
My stuff might match one day, but looking good is another story........
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theShiba posted 15 weeks ago.
I've been over this so many times. Color is the #1 factor in improving speed. You know those charts that show how much you spend per mph of speed? Like Aerobars are $1.18 per 5mph, or whatever... well colors are way cheaper.
Red costs exactly the same as blue but it's at least 5% faster. It's just scientific ;)
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scottbland247 posted 15 weeks ago.
the blue will work better with your bone structure.....green on those cheek bones will just make you look bloated......ask anyone
It is better to hurt from doing something than from doing nothing...
First Triathlon (400m/20k/2.75mile) 1:39.15 including 33 minutes in the water
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longhair posted 15 weeks ago.
My first real trisuit was a desoto clearance item, black and cyan...not the most manly combination. But it did the job, and ironically become a conversation piece. A woman setting up next to me at a sprint and I got to talking about it, and as a result, struck up a friendship. Her family and my family became friendly, I regularly hang out with her husband, she helps me and my wife with swimming, her kids love my daughter, and so on. So, you never know the benefits of one odd colored garment.
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RV posted 15 weeks ago.
longhair wrote:
My first real trisuit was a desoto clearance item, black and cyan....
Cyan? What is cyan? If it isn't in my original 8-box of crayola (black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, purple and yellow) then I'm at a loss.
Must be why I just match black with black.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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dlhnpt posted 15 weeks ago.
theShiba wrote:
I've been over this so many times. Color is the #1 factor in improving speed. You know those charts that show how much you spend per mph of speed? Like Aerobars are $1.18 per 5mph, or whatever... well colors are way cheaper.Red costs exactly the same as blue but it's at least 5% faster. It's just scientific ;)
I agree. When I got my bike, I bought an orange bike because it looks faster than a blue bike. Looking fast is important when you are slow...
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stewarba posted 15 weeks ago.
dlhnpt wrote:
I agree. When I got my bike, I bought an orange bike because it looks faster than a blue bike. Looking fast is important when you are slow...
I think you screwed that up, everyone know that Blue is faster than orange, its simple science. Don't you remember from your science classes that the blue part of the flame on your bunson burner is hotter than the orange part?
Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines – Brian Tracy
2008 Sprint Tri A race goals
S: 500m in 10:00 – FS Stroke only
B: 22mph avg over course
R: 5K <= 25:00
Place top 50% for my age group
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TriSooner posted 15 weeks ago.
odenwesd wrote:
And fyi, my outfit matches my shoes, my goggles, my bike, AND my helmet. But I look good. :)
Told you!
Ironman Germany (July 6, 2008)
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tri-ac posted 15 weeks ago.
RV wrote:
longhair wrote:My first real trisuit was a desoto clearance item, black and cyan....Cyan? What is cyan? If it isn't in my original 8-box of crayola (black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, purple and yellow) then I'm at a loss.
Must be why I just match black with black.
think "teal" from the 80's [though leaning to more lightish blue than a full-on blue/green]
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theShiba posted 15 weeks ago.
RV wrote:
longhair wrote:My first real trisuit was a desoto clearance item, black and cyan....Cyan? What is cyan? If it isn't in my original 8-box of crayola (black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, purple and yellow) then I'm at a loss.
Must be why I just match black with black.
This is my area of expertise!!!! (Sorry, Lighting Designer moment...) Cyan is actually a PRIMARY color.... In Pigment you have Red, Blue and Yellow... For additive light mixing, it's Red, Blue, and Green... and for Subtractive light mixing it's Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow...
I know you probably don't care about this, but stuff like this only comes up once in a blue moon...
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dlhnpt posted 14 weeks ago.
stewarba wrote:
dlhnpt wrote:I agree. When I got my bike, I bought an orange bike because it looks faster than a blue bike. Looking fast is important when you are slow...I think you screwed that up, everyone know that Blue is faster than orange, its simple science. Don't you remember from your science classes that the blue part of the flame on your bunson burner is hotter than the orange part?
That's what has been holding me back... Good excuse to go bike shopping! Thanks for the correction.
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kkocan posted 14 weeks ago.
In my first ever tri I made sure I:
1. Had a cool looking tri-suit.
2. Had nice shaved legs.
3. Had my bike looking as clean and ready to go as possible.
4. Had gels, towels and shoes laid out and orderly in transition.
5. Had my bike racked like all the other 'cool looking' guys and gals.
6. Did lots of butterfly during the swim warmup to make sure others saw how good a swimmer I was.
7. Had my cool mirrored goggles on for the swim.
I came out of the water ok, but within 2 miles of the start of the bike I got passed by a guy on an old road bike with downtube shifter, a rear luggage rack and he was wearing an ancient bike helmet and jogging shorts with no shirt. I don't think he looked twice at what I was wearing.
________________________________________________
2008 Main Races:
VA Beach Shamrock Marathon
Desoto TTT
WV Mountaineer HIM
IM Wisconsin
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theShiba posted 14 weeks ago.
tri-ac wrote:
and from the print world, you've got: cyan, magenta, yellow, black as your "primaries"
you're right... I forgot about that.
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mizbeebee posted 14 weeks ago.
I definitely agree with TriSooner. REMEMBER It is not about how good you are but how good you look. If you look great, you will dazzle everyone and they will forget where you placed. Hell, after looking at the pics, even you will forget where you placed!
(I do follow my own advice, but I do train hard, just in case)
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Socket posted 14 weeks ago.
Just to resurrect the thread: I just got my full race gear in and tried it all on last night.
I totally looked like a contestant on American Gladiators! 
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stewarba posted 14 weeks ago.
Socket wrote:
Just to resurrect the thread: I just got my full race gear in and tried it all on last night.I totally looked like a contestant on American Gladiators!
Sweet, but I think you shoud go with the Roman Gladiator look and get some of these Greaves (B):
It should be extreamly helpful on the mass start swim as well as passing on the bike!!
Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines – Brian Tracy
2008 Sprint Tri A race goals
S: 500m in 10:00 – FS Stroke only
B: 22mph avg over course
R: 5K <= 25:00
Place top 50% for my age group
841
Member
264 days
ChunkyB posted 14 weeks ago.
Socket wrote:
Just to resurrect the thread: I just got my full race gear in and tried it all on last night.I totally looked like a contestant on American Gladiators!
I guess you'll have to change your user name to something like "Thunder" or "Lazer".
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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azstinger11 posted 13 weeks ago.
Well if it is an open water swim start then looking like an American Gladiator will perfectly in sync with what actually happens.
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So, I'm getting ready to do my first sprint tri and it was recommended to me to get a tri suit, as it will make things much simpler and easier for me. Being the cheap guy I am, I purchased an Ironman brand tri suit from swimoutlet.com The only thing that was cheap and in my size (large) was this: http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/5935.htm in this Sea Blue/Navy washed color scheme that looks like this: http://www.thetristore.com/view_product.asp?product=196&brand=15&make=Ir...
So, I'm new to this so I have a couple of questions:
1) I was looking at some pictures and videos online of people doing triathlons and it seems most are wearing black or some very conservative color. Is there a reason for this? If I wear something bright (sea blue), and then perform poorly (since it is my first time), will people think I'm like a poseur? In a nutshell, should flashy outfits be reserved for the above average?
2) Does it matter much wearing a short sleeve versus sleeveless tri suit?
Thanks in advance