Do you need to wear a wetsuit? I have been doing a number of triathlons lately and what I have noticed is that in the shorter events, the sprint triathlons where you are doing 400m – 500m swim the majority of swimmers are wearing wetsuits when the water is not to cold. I believe based on what I have seen those swimmers are probably slowed down from wearing a wetsuit.
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It depends on where your ability is and where your swim speed is at. If you are only doing a very short race, like a 400m or 500m swim then you are probably better off not wearing a wetsuit.
The time that it takes to get the wetsuit off and the extra time it takes to get to transition is greater than the benefit than you will get from wearing a wetsuit.
It obviously depends on the water temperature and your swim ability but personally I wouldn’t wear a wetsuit for anything less than 1500m. If it was an 800m swim I would still do it without a wetsuit. It is all up to your own personal preference; but something to consider do you really need to wear a wetsuit?
If the water is warm enough to swim in is the extra time that it take to get the wetsuit off and run to transition going to slow you down more than the benefit that you get from wearing the wetsuit?
That’s it for triathlon news this week, see you next week.
