- What's the best wetsuit for poor swimmers, then?
- Yeah, I should come here at quarter to,
not quarter after.
- Excellent angle, aren't all Instagram selfies
taken from ...
- Hola, Trainiacs, the new addition to the family,
IE, this wetsuit, got me thinking about,
not just what the best, best wetsuit is,
but moreso, what the best wetsuit for poor swimmers is,
and the reason for that is because
I had a poor swim this morning.
At one point, Coach Pat said,
"Hey, for the next little bit of this swim,
make sure that you step it up to race pace."
To which I said, "I've been trying
to hit race pace this whole time."
The look on Pat's face, I tell you, he was just horrified.
It's like when you were a kid
and your parents say, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
On the bright side, the biking and the running
is just absolutely out of the park these days.
Swimming, uh, not so much.
So, now, am I gonna say to you that this
Tier Cap 5 Wetsuit is the best wetsuit
for poor swimmers, just because they sent it to me
and I didn't pay for it?
No, not my style.
But, what I'm gonna do is talk about the features
of this wetsuit that I find you should be looking
for in other wetsuits, if you aren't a good swimmer,
and I'm gonna preface that by saying,
I consider myself not a good swimmer,
and basically what I define as not a good swimmer,
is somebody who didn't grow up with a background of swimming
or doesn't consider themselves an elite swimmer.
Typically, these are people that say things like,
"Ah, you know, I wish this swim wasn't a wetsuit swim."
Or they're able to absolutely smash
the entire field in a triathlon swim,
like leaps and bounds ahead without even trying.
However, for the majority of us, I think,
like 90 plus percent, even me, even though I'm like,
kinda front of the second pack of the swim group,
I'd consider myself a poor swimmer,
basically somebody that can use the help
of some features in a wetsuit that'll make me
a better swimmer than I would be just in my speedo.
I'm not gonna be as good looking as I am in my speedo,
but I'm gonna be a better swimmer.
Now, the things that I am looking for in a wetsuit,
not coming from a swimming background is this,
I'm looking for legs that
have thicker neoprene than the chest.
What I want is for the legs
to basically have more buoyancy,
let's say these are the legs and this is my head.
I want my legs to have more buoyancy than my chest,
because what you're fighting is there's air
in your chest from your lungs,
so your chest is going to be buoyant naturally.
Your legs are gonna wanna sink naturally.
That sinking is gonna create drag.
That drag is gonna make you slower,
but if you have less buoyancy in the chest
of your wetsuit and more in the legs,
it'll kinda counteract that and it'll bring your legs
up closer to the surface.
Pretty good deal, right.
Almost every company has some sort of version
of a wetsuit where the legs have more buoyancy.
Maybe it's air pockets, maybe it's thicker neoprene,
but more buoyancy in the legs than in the chest,
so look for that.
Now, the second thing that I'm gonna look for
is something that keeps the core,
like right around the back here,
down your lower back, and all
around the fronts of your hips,
something that keeps your core stable,
and what I'm looking for there is I'm looking
for a wetsuit that doesn't allow me to do this,
because if you're going side to side like this,
on the side, when you fishtail out,
you're creating a lot of drag again.
The third thing that I'm looking for
in a wetsuit design for poor swimmers like me
is some sort of design in the form
that allows you to feel the catch at front of your stroke,
so in the case of the Roka Maverik Pearl,
it had a panel of just, like sheer material.
It wasn't even neoprene.
In this Tier Cap 5, you've got like hooks
here on the forearm that you're gonna
be able to feel that catch of the water.
Very important for new swimmers to be able to feel
like you're grabbing water instead
of just slapping away.
Slapping the base.
And then the last thing that I'm looking for
in a wetsuit designed for not natural swimmers like me
is on this suit, it's called buoyancy panels,
so it's panels that are either on the side
of the wetsuit or right down the center chest,
and basically what I'm looking for is a design
in the wetsuit that is going to encourage me
to go side to side, because if I'm pushing just forward
and constantly having a horizontal body,
I'm gonna be like a tugboat.
What we want is to be like a shark that's going
on the side with less frontal drag.
Most wetsuit companies have a lot of these features,
however, these wetsuits tend to be really high-end
kinda wetsuit, like 600 dollars plus,
but if you wanna be fast spend some cheddar.
Now, for your sadistic pleasure,
here is the brutal swim I had this morning.
(hip hop music)
Oh, hey, warm up?
- Yeah, need it for a warm up.
- I'll be leaving soon, though.
- Okay, good.
- Yeah, I think coming here more like
quarter to, not quarter after.
(hip hop music)
So, just as happened with Compache last year,
as I start ramping up my run volume past,
I don't know, 40K with a fair bit
of intensity throughout the week,
find that my left achilles, and it's actually
not like the narrow achilles, it's like all
the stuff on the side of the achilles,
and a little bit on the heel,
so it's like a cross between achilles pain
and plantar fascitis pain.
I got a little bit of it going on right now,
so I'm spending a fair bit of time walking around
on my tiptoes and waking around the sides
of my feet and the inside of my feet, right, Grace?
Can you confirm?
Can you, can you give me kiss?
Thank you.
Scrunching up my toes and icing my heel.
If you've ever had foot problems,
tell me in the comments below,
'cause they are a biz-nitch to fix sometimes.
You know how in golf, there's always
a gadget for everything?
Well, there are a ton of foot gadgets,
and you know what, some of the best money
spent on injury prevention, foot gadgets, mark my words.
Tell me what you like the in the comments below,
and, and, and if you've had foot problems
and you don't have gadgets,
check out this video right there,
that I did on my foot health routine.
Alright, Trainiacs, I'm out.
Now, Gracey, now.