If you look closely at the picture you will see that the butt belongs to David, not me, but the image is there to highlight a problem which regularly rears its ugly head for triathletes.
We as a community do not fanny (one for the Americans) about when it comes to swimming. I personally do about 2-3 hours a week in the pool at the moment and if you look at Randy's blog you will see that he swam over 40,000 yards last month. Swimming pools are full of chlorine and other particulates that attack our swim suits. This 'attack' does not result in holes in the material or a breakdown in stitching but instead it thins the material to such an extent that it becomes transparent which can be a bummer for other pool users.
It seems like only yesterday that I bought a new pair of swimming trunks but it was in fact the tail end of last year. I tend to go to swimoutlet.com online and order a semi-decent pair that are on sale. I used to think that the more expensive suits e.g. speedo fastskin, TYR aqua shift lasted longer but now I am not so sure that that isn't a load of arse. For the latest technical suits manufacturers have the cheek to charge over a $100 a pair for swimming trunks which will apparently do everything but kick for you, but even the cheaper, highstreet jammers retail for nearly $50.
I currently have a pair of TYR aqua shift which, although I was originally over the moon with, have very suddenly thinned on me to such an extent that I am suprised I wasn't kicked out of the pool by the seat of my pants yesterday. I had noticed that they were thinning where the inseam meets the crotch but I thought I had a little time left. What I had failed to appreciate is that higher up the back of the suit where my buttocks meet there was a nice mug sized see-through patch.
Bottom line, and something I was not aware of before, is that all triathletes need to check their suits regularly and be prepared to buy a new pair with the same sort of periodicity as they would replace running shoes, if not more often. This also applies to race shorts as I have seen several blokes (unfortunately this affliction seems to only effect male triathletes) on race day wearing the same trusty pair of race shorts that they have raced in all year proudly displaying their bare rear end to anyone unfortunate to be stuck behind them. If anything the problem is exacerbated with tri shorts as they are prone to saddle rub in addition to swim rub.
As an aside whilst writing this post I have come to realise that the Americans have a whole bunch of words for buttocks that the British don't e.g. can, fanny (means something completely different in the UK), duff, heinie, keister, tuchis and tush. It is great to see that this foreign exchange program is going such a long way to broaden my knowledge base.
2 comments:
Yeah I would stay away from the expensive TYR, Speedo fastskin suits. They are great suits, but should be only worn during competition meets (typically you replace your fastskin after one championship meet - 3 days of prelim and finals).
If you are looking for a suit that will last, you should grab a speedo training/drag suit. Mine lasted all 4 years of my college career. Typically you wear a speedo under it.
Check out http://www.swimoutlet.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=1438&Click=205964 - that should get you started.
-Mark
Thanks for the advice Mark, much appreciated.
Post a Comment