Wetsuit time conversion factor

So I did the set again this time in the XTerra wetsuit. I did the first one on 19:42 and the second in 19:26 My average pace per 100 went from 1:22.8 to 1:17.7 (6.1% improvement) I think of equal importance was the stroke deterioration (or lack there of). I took 32 strokes on the 2nd 50 of my first 1500. I took 32 strokes on the last 50 of the 3,000 too. It was FUN to look at the clock and see that I was holding under 1:20.

I've also seen occurrences where some swimmers would be faster without a wet compared to swimming with one. Quite a large margin. Do explain. I cannot imagine this is true. Wait, a person missing both arms might be faster in a speedo than a full sleeve wetsuit. I don't think that is what you meant. I’ am one of those occurrences. In last years Alcatraz Challenge, I bested all of the wetsuit division going naked. Granted I felt very good, even though it was a first time Alcatraz swim for me, I think my navigation was spot on. However I was very surprised to have beaten the 19 year old who won the wetsuit category but I have since formed a theory. The swim was to Christy Field overall direction was to the southwest. There was a headwind coming in off the ocean that formed a chop. I believe the additional buoyancy of the saltwater and wetsuit, caused the wetsuit wearers to catch sail in the wrong way and get pushed back, where as I swam through the chop. www.tricalifornia.com/.../Alcatraz Aquathlon09 Results.pdf

I’ am one of those occurrences. In last years Alcatraz Challenge, I bested all of the wetsuit division going naked. Granted I felt very good, even though it was a first time Alcatraz swim for me, I think my navigation was spot on. However I was very surprised to have beaten the 19 year old who won the wetsuit category but I have since formed a theory. The swim was to Christy Field overall direction was to the southwest. There was a headwind coming in off the ocean that formed a chop. I believe the additional buoyancy of the saltwater and wetsuit, caused the wetsuit wearers to catch sail in the wrong way and get pushed back, where as I swam through the chop. www.tricalifornia.com/.../Alcatraz Aquathlon09 Results.pdf I think your explanaiton is possible and pretty "funny". I don't think you could have known that was going to happen before the race, though, so I would stick to wearing a wetsuit whenever allowed.

Alex Leduc, winner of 1996's edition of International Traversee Lac St-Jean once did the first leg of a tri, wearing a wet suit. Alex's best 1500 in the pool at the time was near 15:15 (in this neighborhood). He reported being disrupted by the limited range of motion that a wet imposes compared to swimming without. He hated swimming with a wet because of this. There's at least a study that confirmed this fact, although I could not find it to include a reference to it to this post. So basically what I meant was that if you're an ultra fast swimmer, used to very large volumes of training (to win an FINA World Cup Event, gotta train at least 60-80k per week), that has a sophisticated high elbow (recovery / pull through) stroke, with a very efficient and economic two-beat kick may endup being slower performing with a wet full sleeve wetsuit. I too hate the feeling of swimming in a wetsuit (or a tech suit, for that matter). It doesn't mean that I'm swimming slower in it, just that it is unfamiliar. Was this person wearing a sleeveless wetsuit? Hard to believe it would affect his ROM. I don't have them handy right now, but I've seen a number of controlled studies of very fast swimmers (college level with training volumes similar to what you describe and presumably "sophisticated" strokes, whatever that means) with and without the wetsuit. The wetsuit always helped. I haven't used one often, but the only time I feel like it actually hurt my performance was when it filled with (a lot of) water.

Do explain. I cannot imagine this is true. Wait, a person missing both arms might be faster in a speedo than a full sleeve wetsuit. I don't think that is what you meant. Alex Leduc, winner of 1996's edition of International Traversee Lac St-Jean once did the first leg of a tri, wearing a wet suit. Alex's best 1500 in the pool at the time was near 15:15 (in this neighborhood). He reported being disrupted by the limited range of motion that a wet imposes compared to swimming without. He hated swimming with a wet because of this. There's at least a study that confirmed this fact, although I could not find it to include a reference to it to this post. So basically what I meant was that if you're an ultra fast swimmer, used to very large volumes of training (to win an FINA World Cup Event, gotta train at least 60-80k per week), that has a sophisticated high elbow (recovery / pull through) stroke, with a very efficient and economic two-beat kick may endup being slower performing with a wet full sleeve wetsuit.

Alex's best 1500 in the pool at the time was near 15:15 (in this neighborhood). He reported being disrupted by the limited range of motion that a wet imposes compared to swimming without. He hated swimming with a wet because of this. If the suit fits properly then motion should not be limited. But folks at that level are VERY particular so who am I to say they are wrong!

I think that's it, in a nutshell: If you trust people's impressions, opinions, or non-controlled timed swims, you'll find some fraction of decent swimmers who are (or believe they are) slower with a wetsuit. If you prefer to trust only carefully controlled timed swims, then the fraction of swimmers who don't improve with a wetsuit is very small.

I think that's it, in a nutshell: If you trust people's impressions, opinions, or non-controlled timed swims, you'll find some fraction of decent swimmers who are (or believe they are) slower with a wetsuit. If you prefer to trust only carefully controlled timed swims, then the fraction of swimmers who don't improve with a wetsuit is very small. I guess I was one who believed a wetsuit would not benefit me that much (because of anecdotes / opinions). Boy was I wrong.