Dear Rick:
While I try to avoid personal battles in forums and newsgroups, I did take the time to read that
article. Newsgroup postings are not credited with the same level of authority and research as even
dedicated forums, not to mention published studies.
It does not surprise me, the results. I think I said in my response that great swimmers (whether
they started as triathletes or Olympic-grade solo swimmers) are helped less by wetsuits than the
more average multisport athlete. The article even explains why this is true: more water training for
swimmers, different body composition, body position, etc.
Also, note that the article was focused on transitioning the use of wetsuits FROM triathletes TO
swimmers; i.e., to see if swimmers would also benefit like triathletes. But the purprose of
rec.sport.triathlon and the original post was the effect on triathletes, including those that come
from an Olympic-grade swim background. The three most indicative or Sheila Taormina, Barb Lindquist,
but also Joanna Zeiger, who I believe was an Olympic team alternate at one point.
I am engineer with NASA experience, and a licensed triathlon coach associated with Joe Friel's
Ultrafit group (www.svi.net, www.ultrafit.com/associates.asp#rodgers). Though my experience is
more with aerodynamics of cycling than hydrodynamics, the two are related: they both obey the laws
and equations of fluid dynamics. I've been trained by Sheila on a couple of occasions, on a clinic
tour and at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. Frankly, we could dispell a lot of
the controversy just be asking Sheila why she wears a wetsuit (the Sydney Olympic swim comes to
mind, where she ran away from everyone). I think that's more important than just about any study.
Elite athletes tend to be 3-5 years ahead of the research. The best scientists and engineers can
do is try to keep up with them and explain what they already intuitively know and have empirically
proven in races.
One thing about the study: a 400-meter test is pretty meaningless for triathlon, since the gains in
wearing the suit are not much more than time it takes to remove in transition. Still, note that the
triathletes were swimming 5:05 WITHOUT a wetsuit, which would put then in at least the top 3% of
triathlete swimmers in the Ironman. A typical good age-grouper who can break an hour in Kona without
a wetsuit would swim something more like 6:20 in intervals and maybe 5:50 in an all-out hard
400-meter swim--that on a good day without too much biking or running the week before.
And I think the test was done in a pool, and wetsuits are notoriously bad for doing flip turns,
hard to "crease" the body, and hard to drive into the turn since your upper-body wants to stay
above the water.
I did say in my post that the advantage is LESS for stronger swimmers, first because statistically
it's just less time either way, so less gap with the wetsuit. Also because elite swimmers (and you
can make that "elite triathlon" or "elite Olympic) have better body position than the rest of us,
and the primary advantage of the wetsuit is body position higher in the water. The so-called
"cross-sectional" theory doesn't hold a lot of weight, because in fact the wetsuit holds in body fat
so that its thickness does not add to cross-sectional drag, and in fact a smaller cross-section may
result. This is definitely true of the pool-legal full-body suits used in the Olympics.
The other factor not mentioned in the study is experience. A triathlete who regularly trains and
races in a full-body wetsuit, whatever their previous experience, will receive more advantage than
an Olympic swimmer who is trying one for the first time, or has only used one a couple of times in a
"just for fun" triathlon or limited lab test. Again, the study does mention the significant
differences in body types between swimmers and triathletes. Take a look at Sheila Taormina now,
where she often gets second behind Barb Lindquist in ITU events, the way she looked for the Olympics
after only three years in the sport, and the way she looked when she won her gold medal in 1996.
Totally different body, bigger legs and hind section, more muscular all-around. Look at Barb
Lindquist and compare her to other great swimmers: her body is just DIFFERENT.
We can argue HOW MUCH a wetsuit will help, and I think it's different in every race. I'm about to do
Ultraman in Kona, a 10,000 meter swim that exits Kailua and goes down the coast all the way to
Keahou, and wetsuits are legal. Trust me: NO ONE will be swimming without one, including elite
swimmers like John Nickels who set the record in 1999. No the degree of help will be different based
on currents, swim talent, etc. Some swimmers, usually the elites, will select sleeveless even though
THEORETICALLY full-sleeved is faster. Confidence and comfort is a factor. You can go to races in
Germany where it's quite cold and still swimmers do the Ironman without a wetsuit, and I'll bet
finish pretty well. But none of these will be in the pro ranks and none will likely win their age
group, either. Germans are tough but smart ones appreciate technology.
I doubt many ITU blazing swimmers have the time to read rec.sport.triathlon. So for the 99% of the
rest of us, we need our wetsuits, and really should focus on selecting the right one, the right
size, and learning how to use them. Definitely, upper-body strength is more important in longer
open-water swims in a wetsuit. Weight training helps a lot more than in those just doing pool swims.
I've been in the engineering debates with the best in the world: NASA, Lockheed, Boeing, Motorola,
etc. In the end, people go with their gut feeling for better or worse. Sometimes the confidence and
execution mean more than the testing and the theory. But I say again: all these great athletes who
have access to the best coaching, testing, and want to win more than anything else would NOT be
wearing wetsuits if they did not help, not by 10,000 to 1. Now if you want to search for tests for
the fluke one in ten-thousand, you keep looking. I'll keep knocking out 400-meter intervals in the
pool (including a few in my wetsuit in the colder outdoor 50-meter pool in September), while others
keep reading studies. We'll see who races faster--and who learns more to help their coaching
clients as well.
"Swanger" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Colin Priest" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > one word: sponsorship
> >
> "Swanger" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news
[email protected]... Does anyone think that a wetsuit slows
> Sheila down, other than the extra time of having to take it off? What could possibly be the
> explanation for her faster Olympic times when compared to her open water wetsuit times?
What
> about her Olympic open water times? Obviously, that doesn't exist. So
why
> does she swim in a wetsuit every time they are legal if she's faster
without
> one, especially when not having to take it off?
>
> Rick Swanger
>
> "Colin Priest" <Colin
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:7fXab.113787
>
[email protected]
>
> one word: sponsorship
>
