I plan on doing the 5K championships without a wetsuit, but I also plan on a non sanctioned 6 mile swim and some other team tri's this summer where I wetsuits are permitted.
I was wondering how much faster a 1000 time would be with a wetsuit. Anyone have good experience or numbers for this?
I may put it on and try a pool 1000 to see what the difference is, but I would like to avoid the test.
I would like to use the wetsuit if it will be faster.
rtodd:
I think there is a big difference in the rules for the sport of triathlon and for swimming. Since the triathlon is a 3 sport race and the swimming portion in my opinion was not as important as the other 2 disciplines, they allowed for the use of a wetsuite in the early stages of the sport. As the popularity grew, some open water swims allowed for a separate wetsuit division to attract triathletes. I have never heard of a Professional Open Water race allowing for wetsuits but maybe they have backed off the rules when the tempertures are extreme and dangerous.
FINA has gotten involved with Open Water swimming in about the last 20 years and like George Park said Professional rules long ago were different that Amateur rules. Both organizations representing both agree and have been consistent in that they see that open water swimming is an endurance sport that pits a lone swimmer against all that a body of water can offer. In the history of Open Water and Marathon swimming these organizations refuse to allow the use of a wetsuit. In the history of mankind, swimmers were forced to swim in whatever conditions that were offered. To have swimmers permitted to where a wetsuit would provide extra buoyancy and this can lead to artifically increased speed and apparent endurance of the swimmer wearing the suit. It also can protect you from being cold and also be a shield for jelly fish stings.
Even if the water is beyond humanly cold, these organizations will refuse to monitor or recognize swims involving the use of wetsuits. That is why people like Lynn Cox and Lewis Gordon Pugh do there swims without wetsuits because they want to honor history and swim the way swimmers of the past had swam before them, meaning you swim in all and any kind of conditions and in a swim costume that has not changed at all in the history of Open Water swimming. American swimmer Ted Erikson, who swam the second two-two way crossing of the English Channel in 1965, said that wearing a wetsuit in a marathon swim is like someone completing the Tour de France on a moped.
So in Open Water swimming there is a difference to what the wetsuit provides to the swimmer. In the triathlon culture, its been part of the rules and strategy to the point where you train and compete with the wetsuits and if you don't your at a competitive disadvantage. Plus it makes up for not having or lacking the swimming skill that would be increased by not being allowed to have one.
rtodd:
I think there is a big difference in the rules for the sport of triathlon and for swimming. Since the triathlon is a 3 sport race and the swimming portion in my opinion was not as important as the other 2 disciplines, they allowed for the use of a wetsuite in the early stages of the sport. As the popularity grew, some open water swims allowed for a separate wetsuit division to attract triathletes. I have never heard of a Professional Open Water race allowing for wetsuits but maybe they have backed off the rules when the tempertures are extreme and dangerous.
FINA has gotten involved with Open Water swimming in about the last 20 years and like George Park said Professional rules long ago were different that Amateur rules. Both organizations representing both agree and have been consistent in that they see that open water swimming is an endurance sport that pits a lone swimmer against all that a body of water can offer. In the history of Open Water and Marathon swimming these organizations refuse to allow the use of a wetsuit. In the history of mankind, swimmers were forced to swim in whatever conditions that were offered. To have swimmers permitted to where a wetsuit would provide extra buoyancy and this can lead to artifically increased speed and apparent endurance of the swimmer wearing the suit. It also can protect you from being cold and also be a shield for jelly fish stings.
Even if the water is beyond humanly cold, these organizations will refuse to monitor or recognize swims involving the use of wetsuits. That is why people like Lynn Cox and Lewis Gordon Pugh do there swims without wetsuits because they want to honor history and swim the way swimmers of the past had swam before them, meaning you swim in all and any kind of conditions and in a swim costume that has not changed at all in the history of Open Water swimming. American swimmer Ted Erikson, who swam the second two-two way crossing of the English Channel in 1965, said that wearing a wetsuit in a marathon swim is like someone completing the Tour de France on a moped.
So in Open Water swimming there is a difference to what the wetsuit provides to the swimmer. In the triathlon culture, its been part of the rules and strategy to the point where you train and compete with the wetsuits and if you don't your at a competitive disadvantage. Plus it makes up for not having or lacking the swimming skill that would be increased by not being allowed to have one.
