I like the full suit, but my stroke does depend on the arms a bit more. I was always one of those mediocre swim team people with a relatively flat stroke who never really kicked and I'd pull as fast or faster than I swam, so the buoyancy helps me quite a bit. (Basically, I was a breaststoker who couldn't do the long axis strokes...)

I also am one of the those chilly-bones people who wears a fleece in 75 degree air conditioning. I do get hot pretty quickly when I am exercising, but for those early morning races when its in the 60s, its worth having the wetsuit on before the start so I'm not standing around shivering with my teeth chattering and lips blue, etc.

I think I remember that the first race might have been harder on the arms. I haven't noticed a difference since. I have a QR Superfull and I've had it since the beginning of the 2005 season. I don't think that you should be feeling the neoprene stretching through the shoulder, maybe try pulling the sleeves up a little further (I have long arms, so mine is about 3/4 sleeve on me.)

If you can get it off reasonably quickly, I'd say its definitely worth a try for the race. Good luck!

I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it wasn't anything ridiculous. Maybe half a dozen swims. I went and did a two hour swim last month in my wetsuit and felt fine. I do have kind of a flat recovery, which might have something to do with it, though, and my stroke is pretty much all pull like catwood's. I wish I could give you more advice, but it did get better pretty quickly and once it did I liked swimming with a wetsuit better than not.

The same thing happened to me when I got a Promotion wetsuit. Try pulling the suit up higher througout your legs so that there is more material in your upper body. Hopefully this will result in less vertical stretch in the torso rubber and eliminate most of the pressure on your shoulders.