Ironman Texas - Swim Skin vs. Shirtless
I do not own a swim skin...and I am not all that excited about spending $250 on one between now and next Saturday for IM Texas. As an alternative, I has a tri suit made through my local club team that has no pockets and is very light weight and tight. Problem is, it was a custom order and was done incorrectly (that pad in the shorts is annoying to run in). So, here are my options:
1. Fork over $250 for a swim skin. My research tells me there IS an advantage wearing one of these, especially across an IM. Everything I can find says we are talking about 1:15-1:30. If you add my tri top to this (which has a rear pocket that I fear would act as a sail in the water), I am thinking it isn't unreasonable to expect close to a 2:00-2:15 difference across the less than 1:08/1:10 in which I hope to swim 2.4 miles. That leads me to me second thought...
2. Go shirtless. That 1:15-1:30 advantage is over a swimmer wearing speedos. So, I can live with that...am I don't see why my Desoto tri shorts would be any slower than a speedo, right? The only thing I worry about here is how big of a pain in the @$$ it might be to put the tri top on in T1.
I can live with 1:15 with a 'clear conscious'...potentially hitting the 2:00 mark seems like a steep enough penalty for me to call one of these audibles.
(3. A third option would be wearing that tri suit I had made as a swim skin - it has no pockets and is tight. Then I would take it off in transition. It MAY be quicker to do that than to try to put on the tri top in T1.)
Comments
To Penny's point...anyone know if a shirt is required during the swim?
John is volunteering in the T1 men's change tent. I'm sure he'd be happy to help!