Very un-scientific experiment of suitsuit vs. speedsuit vs. EN uniform

Daniela

Because of discussions in this forum…

http://members.endurancenation.us/T...fault.aspx

…I decided to test out the time difference between a swimsuit, speedsuit, and EN tri uniform.  In the past few days the IMWI water temp has plummeted, so the chances of the race not being wetsuit legal is pretty slim, but I was too curious to not go forward with the experiment.

My Swimming Background

Feel free to skip this section if you don’t care.  Just adding it in incase it increases the validity of the experiment for anyone.

My mother could not swim, so I was enrolled in swim lessons when I was 5.  At age 7 I started swimming competitively, and continued through my freshman year of college.  I was never a great swimmer.  Just good enough to keep going, and I liked being part of a team.  My senior year of high school I missed qualifying for the state meet in the 500y free by 12 one-hundredths of a second.  That was not a happy day…

The Suits

Swimsuit – Speedo Endurance - It’s fairly new and only been worn about 20 times, so not much drag to it yet

Speedsuit – XTERRA Velocity 0.02 – This is the version that only goes to my knees.  It is USAT legal, but not WTC legal.  Purchased in August 2009.

EN Uniform  - Louis Garneau – Purchased last fall.

The Pool Environment

The pool is 25 meters with three lanes containing lane lines.  The other three lanes are just open.  I was in the middle roped off lane. Until the second 100 of the speedsuit set, I was the only one in the swimming pool.

The Workout

WU:

300 swim

200 kick with zoomers

200 pull

100 IM

MS (all done at IM pace with 15-20sec rest between each 100, and about a minute between the last 3 sets to take off a layer):

5x100 wearing swimsuit

Quickly pull on EN uniform and speedsuit (this took 5-10min to accomplish.  Amazingly I was able to zip the speedsuit by myself...yoga is paying off!)

5x100 wearing speedsuit

Quickly tear off speedsuit

5x100 wearing EN uniform

Quickly tear off EN uniform

5x100 wearing swimsuit

CD:

200 swim

The Results

Swimsuit – all 10 were 1:33

Speedsuit – 1:29, 1:30, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30

EN Uniform – 1:34, 1:35, 1:34, 1:33, 1:34

I was kind of surprised at the results.  My stroke was feeling pretty good today, and my stroke count showed it.  I rode the IMWI course yesterday, so thought I might have some soreness in my arms.

For the swimsuit 100’s, my stroke count was 20 and felt good. While swimming the first 100 with the speedsuit I didn’t feel any faster and my stroke count was the same, so I thought I would be coming in at about the same time.  I was surprised at how fast the time was.

While wearing the EN uniforms, I expected to feel a lot of drag, and I didn’t.  My stroke count again was the same, with just a few lengths being 21.  I was very surprised to see the time being just slightly slower than the swimsuit.  It’s actually pretty much inline with my old swimsuit I recently stopped wearing because it was starting to have just a little too much drag in it.  Not horrible, just annoyed me enough to get a new suit.

Anyway, my N=1.  Take what you want out of it.

William Jenks

Nice data. Thanks! The EN uniform is in line with what I would have thought...2-3 sec/hundred. Too bad that isn't the legal suit!

Matt Samojeden

Daniela – Thank you for thanking the time to do this data collection effort! Well done. I’m my view your swimming back ground gives you an ability to “ hold a pace”. This give validity to your data in my view. A well executed test set with results that make sense. Thank you.

Al Truscott

This is in line with my real world race experience. From 2001-2008, I was doing the Xterra Maui race every year. When I switched in 05 to a "speedsuit", I found about 30-45 seconds for 1500 meters.

This test also shows there should be an advantage to wearing a skinsuit over the EN race kit for non-wetsuit swims. Much easier to take that off, than to try and put on a top in the change tent while wet and anxious.

J.T. Thompson

Thanks for posting your research. Very interesting and as other noted, in line with what I would have thought. Think I'll have to talk to "Santa" about a speedsuit for those not-wetsuit races.....

Coach Rich

Thanks for the test! I have no experience with speedsuits but I would have never guessed the difference was that great!

Next: wetsuit vs swimsuit?

Al Truscott

For me, I'm quite a bit slower getting around on a flip turn while wearing a wet suit. A good test would be swim suit vs wetsuit in open water, as that's what we're really interested in anyway. The trick there is finding the right water temp so that it's not too cold for no wetsuit, and not too hot for neoprene. 74F? Which is what my local lake is right now!

mancona

Thanks for testing Daniela!

Based on your findings which agree with what I have heard from others, it looks like you can gain maybe 3" to 4" per hundred going from a swimsuit to speedsuit. Everyone openly says the WTC legal speedsuits are not quite as fasts, so i think it is fair to ***ASSUME*** that we MAY be able to save 2" to 3" with the WTC speedsuit over swim suit. Add another seconds for the swimsuit vs 2 piece LG tri kit, so it could be more like 3" to 4" on race day. For an IM, 3" per under is about 114 seconds and 4" is about 152 seconds, so about 2 minutes.

mgraffeo

Don't forget to subtract any amount of time needed to take it off. I'm guessing only 10 seconds or so, but could be more depending on how tight, and how carefully you have to handle it to prevent ripping, etc (no experience with a swim skin).

Until I just recently upgraded my wetsuit, it was about 50/50 whether I was going to throw away any potential gains by taking a month of sundays just to get the darn thing off. New one is sooooo much better!

Daniela

I had two other options for swim locations. A beach that is over 100m across and noon lap in a 50m pool. I didn’t do the open water because I didn’t have enough confidence in myself to swim a straight line. And, I nixed the noon lap because the number of people in the pool fluctuates a lot during the hour. It starts with 2-3 people per lane and builds to 4-5, then back down. Eight lane pool with no lane lines, so not enough consistency on the waves. But, does make for a great open water swimming feel without being in mucky water.

@Al – Thanks for the real world validation!

@Rich – I was surprised, too, with the swim suit vs speedsuit. I thought it would be closer to 1-2 seconds, not 3-4. As Al said, flip turns in my wetsuit are not so much fun. And, our pool is kept at a balmy 82 degrees. Might give it a try if the 50m outdoor pool temp drops at the end of the season.

@Mike – It comes off pretty fast. Much faster then a wetsuit. Ten seconds might even be generous. I used to not wear my wetsuit in sprint triathlons because of the time it takes to get the thing off, but then realized that I not only save time by wearing it, I also don’t expend as much energy swimming. So, now I always wear it when I can.