Feeling distinctly sluggish in my wetsuit at the moment.
Same one I’ve hard for 6/7 years but has only got used 3/4times for the past 4 years (a couple of practice swims and race day.) Stored in dark cupboard.
No rips or anything like that, and I haven’t put on weight. It just feels tight and heavy to swim in.
Have I just got crap or can suits lose their ooomph even if they aren’t used much.(I don’t know how - maybe break down internally, become brittle and not stretchy etc )
( I know if you swim in a suit a lot then like anything it will wear out)
Shouldn’t think so unless you’ve not looked after it properly. Do you store it in a cool dark place? My Snugg is still going strong since 2008. I’ve just had some new arm/shoulder panels put in it as the seams were full of black witch, but it wasn’t slowing me down before that. The legs/back & backside are all original, chest panel is 9 years old (I changed because I wanted the ‘new’ diffuser panel in 2010) and Snugg didn’t think I needed a new suit. He did say it was in remarkable condition for an 11 year old suit though (I train & race in it)
If they are left in direct sunlight, UV does degrade the rubber; but I’m pretty sure most people never do that. Especially in this country!
Wetsuit repair glue. Snugg said that the issue is that it goes hard over time. I guess there are places you can buy ‘proper’ wetsuit glue on the Internet; never looked though.
Same here, my pool swimming isn’t miles off where it was in the past, although my last CSS test wasn’t great. I’m not kidding myself that I’m around 65-68 minutes for an IM as I’ve done in the past.
My current Helix is about 5 years old and I haven’t looked after it too well in recent years but I can’t see how it’s lost a lot of it’s flexibility, although I’m a bit bigger (fatter) than I was.
When I finally try on the Roka I’ll find out if I am just rubbish, although the new suit could have a slight placebo effect.
If a wetsuit hasn’t been used in a while it can dry out and lose some flexibility for the first swim, it should be back to normal for subsequent swims (so long as they are within a few weeks). I generally soak my wetsuit for 20mins in a bath before the first swim of spring.
I’ve had my 2xu t2 wetsuit for 10 years. This year I’m finding it hard to take off, especially to get my arms out! Would bodyglide help or any other tips?
