Faster Without Wetsuit

While I'm not super experience in the water, my general opinion would be that if it makes you feel awkward or uncomfortable in anyway that it will have a negative affect on you. It sounds like you are comfortable with OWS and have swam in a wetsuit multiple times, so I would suggest just giving it a try.

What kind of wetsuit do you have? If you have full sleeve or full leg, you could go to sleeveless or short legged.

Great question.  I have a full suit and I always feel like my arms get more tired, almost as though it's harder from them to pull through with the suit on.

Yet so far my best times have been with the suit on so go figure.

I feel faster with the wetsuit but I am a total newbie.  The buoyancy helps keep my legs/hips from sinking so I feel like I am using all my energy for propulsion.

I suppose if you really are slower with the wetsuit you should pitch it, or find one that is more suitable.

The first wetsuit I had was a Long John back in 1995 and I don't remember having the same feeling.

Sunday was my last wetsuit legal race of the year so I have some time to figure it out.  Maybe when I swim next weekend in the river I'll set up a time trial with and without to see how it works out.

You are most likely correct on fit.  I can't seem to find anything in tri clothing that fits quite right.  I'm built thicker then most people my height and weight.

I know I place higher in non WS races.  I always prefer those......

So why is that? IF the race is WS legal, and IF one swims faster when wearing a proper fitting one, why not? If the swimmers were faster as a group, wouldn't they be that much faster with wetsuits?

I did a practice OWS this past weekend.  I was one of the few people "naked."  I felt so legit and swimmer-ish, I almost busted out some lat slaps or counter-rotating arms spins.  Then, unfortunately, I started swimming.

I am just as fast without. I'm not a perfect swimmer. I think my full suit fits well. I do not feel my arms get fatigued more with it. It's a good suit.... but I have swam without and I cover my long distances in the same time.

I do feel my suit restricts my breathing. I don't feel like I can breath enough. I "think" it helps a little with boyancy, and without I think I can breathe more/go harder. So it is a wash. So with that, I always opt to wear the suit... does not save me time, but it saves me energy. If my time is the same, then why waste energy?

My races are in cold mostly so I don't get hot. If I got hot, then that would be different. I did my OW practice one day at the resivoir late summer, I peeled out of it after the first lap. I thought I was going to boil alive. No way I would race like that.

Help me understand this.  It seems that if you are properly pacing your swim, your energy expenditure would be the same with or without the wetsuit, but your time would be faster with. 

The better swimmer you are the less benefit you will get.  I suppose if your a faster swimmer (in the 1:20 and below range), its possible your faster without if the fit is off a bit.  But either way, its probably a fit issue.

Fixed it for me.  Good post, though.

When Olympian Sheila Toarmina first began doing triathlons coming off an Olympic Gold in swimming from Atlanta, 1996 she was initially slightly slower in a full wetsuit than no wetsuit.

Taormina's stroke is fine tuned from years and years of training and its likely the suit threw off her proprioception or sense of body position in the water and she mentioned she felt restricted by the suit.

To put this in perspective we're talking about a woman I saw do a 2 mile open water ocean swim... butterfly.

So this is an athlete with superb stroke.

People like you and I, not so much. I look like a weed whacker dropped in a toilet when I swim, and the extra floatation of a wetsuit speeds me up if I slow my stroke frequency down a little. Not only am I faster, I also have to do a little less work- or at least seem to travel farther pet stroke.

Please understand I'm no expert and this is just what I think, not what is proven....

I just think I can swim harder w/o because I can breath more... but that the wetsuit does keep more of me out of the water and probably cuts down on drag more.... so when I have swam w/o the suit I feel free and go faster... but with the added drag of my hips lower I don't get a faster time. So in a race w/ the suit I go as fast I can maintain... which is about the same... So to me, I'm working harder, but it does not achieve a faster time, so why go harder and waste more energy?

That's just how I see it... it could all be nonsense.

If you really think you might be faster, it might be worth actually timing yourself either in the pool or OWS.

I actually did this last week, when I got to a regular OWS area, and had enough time to try the out and back both with and without a wetsuit, as I felt that my wetsuit was similarly making my breathing harder and altering my body roll.

Turns out I'm still faster with the wetsuit, by a decent amount, even with the variability in sighting. I was surprised, given I thought I 'felt' faster without.

If it does make you faster in the swim, but doesn't also add to your T1 time also? Always seemed like a wash to me.

I'm slightly taller and seem slender by fit standards and have to do that as well. The sleeves end about half-way down my forearms, and that may not be pulled up quite enough. My extension is still affected some. I'm still getting figuring things out with it as I started open water with a sleeveless. Legs are well up onto the calves. Not close to the ankles.

svenn did say he seems more solid than others at his height, so may not need to bring up the sleeves or legs as far. But the point is that you need to get the fit right around the main sections of the body. Shoulders especially. The sleeves and legs end where they do. This is not a dress shirt where they should be at the wrist. It is ALL about the function. If they're too long, you may be able to trim some of the end off, but make sure to check on being able to do that first.