lemurhouse

OK, you're entitled to your opinion just like everybody else. But maybe you shouldn't be so quick to call BS. I've done penty of triathlons - at all distances, and plenty of open water swims too, at distances 2 and 3 times longer than ironman swims. A wetsuit is an artificial aid. Everyone goes faster wearing a wetsuit. Poor swimmers are helped proportionately more than good swimmers. Everyone can and will get hypothermia if they are in the water long enough. Runners' bodies are typically more susceptible to it than swimmers' bodies. Cold water swimming is nothing new, and there was plenty of it in the early days of triathlon. Sorry if you disagree. Peace.

vomitron

Yeah, I agree. Try going body surfing with and without a wetsuit at least once in your life and this becomes painfully obvious.

I'm sure tri wetsuits provide an even more evident advantage since they're probably trying to emulate things like those speedo fastskins (if you're not sure what I'm talking about, take a look at just about any olympic swimmer. Those full leggings reduce drag considerably).

remorashadow

Most tri wetsuits are not designed to emulate a shark's skin as is the case with the speedskin, though it does add buoyancy and makes your body go into a more efficient form by raising your hips, and a few I may not have conveyed it well but I was more calling BS on the fact that wetsuits are more for conformity and something else to spend money on. I believe that going sans wetsuit is more hardcore and all but the sport of triathlon would definitely not be as big or popular without the accessibility provided by wetsuits. The available amount of the year to race as well as the geographical range of races is much larger with the use of a wetsuit, it allows people to do them for fun and exercise, instead of just for competition or sick pleasure. There has to be a relative assurace that there won't be injuries or scores of people going to the hospital due to the race and a wetsuit helps that for cold water. Even sometimes wetsuits aren't enough, last spring for collegiate triathlon nationals, the swim was completely cancelled and the race turned into a du because of the threat of hypothermia.

stevo

sorry, should have been more clear.....i didnt mean the open-water leg of a tri; i meant open-water events. Wetsuits have been allowed in (most) tris since i started....but to this day (at least in my area) wetsuits have always been illegal in open-water swims. Even if the open-water community did succumb to wetsuits (which i doubt since the community is very different-minded than tri), we're talking 200 bucks in equipment. Its impossible to spend $5k+ like you can in tri.

stevo

I find 65 degrees VERY pleasant without a suit after about 15 minutes. Gotta wear two caps though to survive the first 15.

and yeah, anything below 65, or below ~68 for a sprint, my suit goes on.

avisualperson

swimming is the hardest part of a triathlon/ironman; biking is easy, running is easy but proper swimming is all about technique, so much more so than athleticism. you could do the 2.4m but would you really want to do most of it backstroke because you got all winded from the first quarter mile? much respect to the swimmers; I was in the pool this weekend and it was damn hard.

Dannihilator

Pretty sure the op isn't really that concerned with this nearly 4 years laters

10 Wheels

Chris from NY rode 4200 miles CC last summer