Triathlon Swimming Q&A: Swim Training in a Wetsuit

January 25, 2010

Q: Would I gain anything if I did all my swim training in my wetsuit?

A: The short answer is that all you gain by training in your wetsuit is a worn out wetsuit.  Seriously, triathlon wetsuits aren’t designed for everyday use.  Even if you get lucky and the neoprene holds up, the chlorine in pool water will eat away at the soft stitching that holds the pieces together.  This is how all of my wetsuits got destroyed after all of the experiments I have done on www.dobkanize.com!  If used daily, your several hundred dollar wetsuit will become a ball of yarn with some neoprene strips in a matter of weeks.

Even if there was a magical wetsuit that could be used daily, it still wouldn’t help much.  Training without a wetsuit causes you to work on technique and efficiency more, which you don’t have to do in a buoyant suit.  And your arms and legs don’t move any differently with or without a wetsuit.  You may not need to kick as hard with wetsuit, but you need to do some kind of flutter kick regardless if you wear a suit or not.

My recommendation is to try on a wetsuit soon after you buy it, preferably in an open-water lake without chlorine or other chemicals.  Once you’ve confirmed that it fits well and you are comfortable with it, put it away until race day.  Hope this helps!

View previous triathlon swimming tips.