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Sprint Advice

mattsullmattsull
in Racing Forum 🏎

I'm doing a sprint tomorrow with a 500 meter swim. Not sure about water temp. Should I use a wetsuit? I can get out of it pretty quickly but how much will I really gain?

My swimming fitness is good right now.

What says the Nation?

Comments

  • Beth_SBeth_S
    I vote no. Unless the water is freezing.
  • mattsullmattsull

    That's definitely what I'm leaning towards. Just thought I would get some opinions. I am faster in it but have no benchmarks. Overthinking a bit.

  • HayesSanbornHayesSanborn

    Yes wear the suit. If its legal. Never, never  turn down free speed. Your competetion will be wearing it. I would be wearing it. I'm still kicking rocks about not wearing it at the shortened hy-vee tri (was running late and just said fugg it).

    500meters - no risk of getting too hot and melting. You're looking at 7-10 secs of free speed per 100m. Get the suit down to around your waist while running to T1. It takes 10 secs to step on your suit and rip it off. You're looking at throwing a minute of speed away. Where do you want to make it up? Run a 5K a min faster? Ouch.

     

     

     

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    No. Sprints are just too short to waste time in T1 ripping it off. It COULD take 10-20 seconds if all goes right, but I've also gotten stuck in my wettie and struggled to get one stupid stuck foot out. Whatever gain you might get in 500M from wearing it you can easily loose trying to pull it off in T1. I'd skip it unless the water temps were really cold.

    That said- if you look around and see everyone else dressed up like a penguin, I'd pull it on because otherwise you'll loose the feet of the folks around you.
  • mattsullmattsull

    Thank you, Hayes!

     

  • WisemanWiseman

    Matt,

    Wear it. At that distance I find a 15-30 sec NET improvement in overall race time. Good luck.

  • HayesSanbornHayesSanborn

    Evergreen late is at 82 degrees this week, just fyi. Might be a moot point. You won't be able to win age group awards if you wear a wetsuit above 78. I really hate the rule as RD's can't determine who had who didn't have a suit.

    For what its worth. At Pleasant Prairie Sprint. A guy that looks just like me won his Age group because he had the fastest Transitions 1 & 2 and wore a wetsuit.

  • manconamancona
    If you can get out of it quickly and on the way to your bike, definitely wear the wetsuit if allowed.

    Seconds are hard to come by in a race so short. At Lake in the Hills 2-4th place were within 29 seconds, I was 4th and didn't have a wetsuit, 1st, 2nd and 3rd all wore wetsuits and all had better swim times than me (not hard to do, but still).

    I chose not to wear one at two sprints this year with 750M swims, but I did this becuase I have never swam without a wetsuit in a race and wanted to before my A-race this year. I'm sure I could have more than made up the extra few seconds in T1 to take if off by the improvement in the water, but that was not my goal.
  • mattsullmattsull

    I can get out of it quickly. If the water cools down, I'm wearing it. Not if it jeapordizes an award though You never know.

  • Chris GChris G

     Wear it.  If the race is longer than a couple of hundred yards you will end up being faster.  

    My real sprint advice [have done a whopping 4 of them now] is to remember that just cause it is a short race it still takes like an hour.  Trying to "crush it" the whole way works like poop.  I found myself hyperventilating a couple hundred yards into the swim before.  Hard and steady on the swim.  As hard as you can muster for the bike, climb at whatever, try to sit on or above FTP.  It is really hard to end up with a NP of FTP or higher in a race [at least for me] but no reason not to try.  Seems far easier when doing intervals.  Usually lots of turns and up and downs and other people in the way in the short races I have done.  Run is a 5k, you know how to do that.  Start faster than you think you should and hold on for dear life.  We expect a full report!

  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Wear it only if you have a shorty. I use my full wetsuit for COLD swims and the shorty for the sprints/olympics that are 74 to 77 degrees. Since the shorty only goes down to just above your knees you can get out of it in less than 5 secs.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Imagine that - no consensus!

    500 meters =  ± 500 seconds (for me anyway); wet suit gains me 10%, or 50 seconds. I can get out of it in less than that. So I will be wearing mine in my 800 meter swim/15 mile bike (totally flat)/3 mile run tomorrow morning. Our water temps are low 70s now, so I might go sleeveless instead of 2 piece DeSoto.

    @ Chris G - I will be using my bike split - about 39 minutes - as my new FTP for my upcoming 3 week "mini-OS". Unless it's higher than 4 w/kg!

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    I realize that this note is almost certainly after the race, but... (maybe someone else will read it)

    I believe Hays is right on the time saved - 7-10 sec per hundred, but there's one other point worth mentioning for subsequent readers: it's the higher end of that for swimmers with worse position or slower to begin with; lower end for better/faster swimmers. So, as people say, it's a balance between that and how long you expect to take getting out of it.

    Wm

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