I threw the bone out and convinced a couple runners/cyclists to team with me this summer in a couple triathlon relays. All the swim fun and triathlon excitement, none of the land sports. Woohoo! Two events will be wetsuit legal so I'll wear a short sleeve wetsuit. The third may not be wetsuit legal and I'm torn on what to wear. My tri kit seems unnecessary and isn't very hydrodynamic. A regular swimsuit would be fine. I love my NeroFit for important swim races but not sure if it's USAT legal. And I'm not really sure where swim skins fit in. It seems they're designed to be worn over a Tri kit but are more hydrodynamic. When I compare the materials they seem to be a lot like the "papersuit" style racing suits like the TYR Fusion. I'm having trouble seeing the difference between a suit such as the TYR Torque pro which is 80% polyester/20% spandex and the TYR Fusion which is considerably less expensive and 79% polyester/21% Lycra. What would be the ideal thing to wear? Are some of the swim speed suits not USAT legal?
Wear what you want. I don't think anyone will care. I'm pretty sure that USAT doesn't govern, nor have any rules in place for Tri/Du relays. Perhaps a check with the local organizer to see if they do. But otherwise I think it's your call.
Dan
I'm a triathlon official as well as a swimming official, but in Australia not the USA.
As triathlon officials, we basically don't have time to check what people are swimming in (beyond no wetsuit in non-wetsuit swims, not wearing fins etc - the absolutely obvious stuff). We're too busy making sure people have safe bikes and safe helmets.
If you happen to have a suit designed for non-wetsuit open water racing, that is probably the best choice (esp if the triathlon is Olympic distance or longer), but anything you feel comfortable in will almost certainly be OK. I once saw a *triathlon technical official* do a 1500m triathlon swim leg in a bikini?!
I bought a TYR carbon tri short a few years back and have used for sprint tri's when I was not wearing a wetsuit. Very comfortable to swim in and not much difference from jammers. Think I got it on sale for about $90 or less. It has a small bike seat pad and didn't seem to impact my swimming. You can check it out here: www.tyr.com/.../men-s-carbon-9-tri-shorts-28399.html. It was dry in a few minutes and the pad was fine for a bike leg under 20+ miles. I'm not sure why they don't offer a women's carbon, but the women's competitor is:www.tyr.com/.../women-s-competitor-6-tri-short.html and 8" is:www.tyr.com/.../women-s-competitor-8-tri-short.html. Sizes run a bit small so check the chart and maybe order one size up.
I"ve used full wetsuits and sleeveless, but never tired a skin and wonder how they would be and if they would be considered illegal above wetsuit temps (USAT 78F, I think).
