Like many other triathletes out there I love my wetsuit, I float well, I swim well........so i thought.
To begin with I was already a pretty good swimmer but always believed with wetsuit i'm an excellent swimmer, I loved it most at the ironman distance.
I was quite taken back yesterday when I had my first race (only sprint) where it was too warm and wetsuits weren't allowed. There seem to be a mad panic when the overhead speaker announced it. I wasn't in a panic but didn't like the thought of my crutch.
So is it true, a bad swimmer is an average swimmer and a good swimmer is excellent swimmer with a wetsuit.
WELL to make a long story short I did the exact same distance last two weeks ago with wetsuit and without it my time was actually 15 seconds faster.
What the heck..........I guess i'm not a bad swimmer at all.
Any thoughts.?
A wetsuit give you warmth,
A wetsuit give you warmth, and some buoyancy. That is all. A bad swimmer doesn't become an average swimmer unless they happen to be swimming in Lake Wobegon.
You we're probably all
You we're probably all pumped up, as we often are, on race day. That'll lend a little speed. That, or the course was a tad short.
Anton wrote:You we're
[quote=Anton]You we're probably all pumped up, as we often are, on race day. That'll lend a little speed. That, or the course was a tad short.
[/quote]
I'm going with the shorter course theory here.
15 sec faster means nothing (even in a sprint). I don't mean in a sarcastic way either. The course may be short or longer and you also have to factor where the timing mat is for the end of the swim. You'll need to do an OLY swim to really gauge if you are faster or slower with/ without a wetsuit.
Typically a wetsuit makes slower and average swimmers "slightly" faster and does nothing to help a fast swimmer. And by slightly I'm talking 2-3 min at most for a HIM. A wetsuit may make you more buoyant, but if your technique is horrible it won't help at all.
jarhead wrote:A wetsuit may
[quote=jarhead]A wetsuit may make you more buoyant, but if your technique is horrible it won't help at all.[/quote]
By increasing bouyancy, wetsuits often correct one of the most common technique flaws: the lower body hanging down at an angle instead of level at the surface. Wetsuits automatically correct one of the worst sources of drag from poor technique, but if you already have good form, then you're not gaining anything there...
It's good that you're not
It's good that you're not reliant on a wetsuit to swim well. Take into account the differences between race conditions (eg competitors, drafting, current, chop, etc) so unless it's in a pool it's difficult to compare exact race times from different events. Great work on beating your wetsuit time though!