Do you practice in your wetsuit prior to race day?
You should.
Generally speaking your wetsuit should help you swim faster at any given effort level. But it’s not a given.
Wetsuit swimming is different to non-wetsuit swimming and as such should be practiced if you want to optimize the experience and swim at YOUR best.
Practicing in your wetsuit, even if it’s in a pool, allows you to:
– Get familiar and comfortable in your wetsuit
– Recognize when your suit is on correctly and what that feels like
– Experience the interaction between your race suit and wetsuit
– Practice getting your suit on and off
– Identify and adjust changes to stroke mechanics
– This includes conditioning your shoulders to swim in a wetsuit
– Sneak in a heat acclimation session at the same time
Be sure to swim at various intensities, including ‘race pace’ and also practice skills such as sighting.
We recommend a swim a week for a four week block leading into your race if you can’t access the open water regularly.
Happy swimming!