best wet suit, best price? (Page 2)

i agree with you, and certainly know that the folks racing the longer distance are pretty serious. didn't see any mountain bikes on the long course or gals in bikini tops like i have at sprints. BUT, this is my second long course. the first was on a record hot day, so many people left the wet suits behind. since duluth is colder in general, and the water colder than in the twin cities, nearly everyone had one on this time. hmmm...maybe i need to look at the numbers. between these four races, the only consistent listing with place for each event was the overall results:

Heart of Lakes Long (July 05 Swim 1/2 Mile, Bike 21 Miles, Run 5.3 Miles) 10/31 AG finish here
337/457 (73%) Swim 304/457 (66%) 18:39 2:07 Bike: 310/457 (67%) 1:05:14 19.3 Run: 346/457 (78%) 52:05 9:50 2:23:46

Brewhouse Long (Aug 05 - biggest difference: colder water, longer swim, wetsuits .8 mile swim - 20.6 mile bike - 5 mile run) 140/203 (69%) Swim: 153/203 (75%) 30:47 2:12 Bike: 112/203 (55%) 1:04:07 19.3 Run: 150/203 (74%) 45:40 9:08 2:25:29

Brewhouse Short (Aug 04 - My first tri - .4 mile swim, 11 mile bike, 2.5 mile run)
254 /333 (76%) Swim 121/333 (36%) 13:05 2:14 Bike: 191/333 (57%) 36:05 17.1 "Run": 306/333 (92%!) 28:16 11:19 1:23:47

Minneman Sprint (July 05 - 0.3 Mile Swim, 13 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run) Won 3rd place Athena here, but these are overall results for both genders
201/347 (58%) Swim 139/347 (40%)8:54 1:42 Bike: 165/347 (47%) 41:14 18.9 227/347 (65%) 26:34 8:52 1:21:01

anyway, you can sort of see what i mean. at least the top 50% overall for sprints in the swim, even for the first, and really the brewhouse was a stronger race than heart of lakes. i was biking just as fast (and placed 7th in my AG at both long races), and was even running faster...but i was swimming slower and compared to the other races (especially my ag) i was REALLY slow. based on my finish at heart of lakes, i can't believe it was JUST the harder compeition. something made the swim different this time. it could have just been the distance...or the fact that i was sighting a lot (i drafted behind a guy at heart of lakes, and we both went off course). anyway, food for thought. i will have to borrow kelly's wetsuit and do some tests


Edited by autumn 2005-08-10 4:57 PM

I have Ironman Instinct sleeveless. I think this is rather mid-to-low end one but does the job. (Does an expensive one help you swim faster??) The best thing about this is I paid only $50!!! It was a previous year's model and I am small enough to fit in the 'kid' size. I forgot where (on-line) I purchased it, but they told me there was no difference whatsoever about the way it is made for kid or adult.