A tri suit is an investment. An adult wetsuit may cost from $54.99 to $600.00 while children’s wetsuits range from $39.95 to $160.00. So it is just right to take care of your garment.
There are a variety of tri suits on the market available from several popular brands such as: Orca, 2XU, Zoot Sports and Nytro.
Tri Suits are designed with efficiency in mind. They are usually designed to be quick drying and they compress the muscles to help reduce fatigue in long triathlon competitions. Triathlon suits are designed to fit your body in such a way to keep out the cold water yet they allow total full body movement.
Tri suits are made of neoprene. This material is effective in keeping an athlete buoyant and warm in cold water. However, it is also very delicate and needing of special care.
Below are some tips on how to keep your tri suit performing beautifully longer:
- Trim your nails or wear gloves before putting on your suit. Wetsuits are easily punctured by nails and a punctured suit will not protect you from cold water.
- Wetsuits should always be cleaned. After swimming at the beach or in a pool, rinse the suit with freshwater. Both chlorine in the swimming pool and salt from the beach ruin the fabric if not removed. Regular swimmers should sometimes add a capful of wetsuit shampoo for best results.
- Do not urinate in the triathlon suit if you can help it. Urine is one of the most difficult things to remove, so do not put any on your suit to begin with.
- Hang the tri suit right to dry away from heat and sunlight. Hang it on a wetsuit hanger or a ladies padded hanger.
- Store the wetsuit hanging from the hanger or lay it flat to prevent folds. Storing them improperly may leave creases that become permanent. Creases reduce the capability of the suit to insulate the swimmer from cold water.
- When the triathlon suit gets punctured, especially from fingernail cuts, immediately repair the holes using a neoprene adhesive or the glue used to repair a bike’s tire inner tube. Start by folding the wetsuit where the cut is, so that the two inner surfaces of the hole that need to be glued back together are exposed. Then apply a thin layer of glue on both surfaces. Do not let them come into contact until they are dry. This takes 1 to 3 minutes. Rejoin the surfaces and pinch them together for a few seconds. The suit may be used immediately although it is best to let the glue bond for 4 to 6 hours.
It may be a little tedious but not very difficult to maintain your tri suit. Every step above keeps it working properly and lasting longer. Afterall, it is not practical to keep buying a new suit.
When To Not Use A Tri Suit
Athletes that are new to triathlons are going to ask themselves whether or not they should actually train in their triathlon suit. First of all, you will be more comfortable training in something designed for each event and secondly most veteran triathlon athletes prefer to train in a two piece triathlon suit rather than a one piece suit because it makes for easier bathroom breaks, its an easier fit since you do not have to worry about the top being too big or the bottom being too small like you do with a one piece suit and its much easier to clean 2 pieces.
Secondly, you do not want to train in a triathlon suit because the chlorine in swimming pools can actually break down your tri suit. Not everyone has access to a salt filtered swimming pool and most public pools use a chlorine filtering system so the chances of your triathlon suit being ruined while training is pretty high.