Bike shorts or trisuit for half or full IM?

[anakiwa]

I've done 3 half IM's, all wearing tri-shorts.

For the first one I had a terry butterfly saddle and a road bike. By about 25 miles I was in agony. I spent the rest of the bike portion moving around constantly to try to get my butt comfortable.

For the second one I had the same bike but switched the saddle to a terry liberator. This was a lot better- it's a little bit wider and I was okay on it with the tri-shorts.

For the third one I had a tri-bike with a terry liberator saddle. I had no butt problems whatsoever. (I think the aero position takes some of the pressure off the butt, I was a little worried about the bones in the front but they were fine.)

So I think it comes down to how well your saddle works for you- if it's a reasonably good fit, you'll probably do fine in tri-shorts- if your saddle isn't quite right, it might be torture. Try a long ride or a shorter tri to test it out first (I had done an Olympic distance race before the first tri and noticed my butt was starting to bother me towards the end- I hadn't realized how bad it would be over 56 miles.)

Good luck!

[Wahine]

I've done 8 HIM and one IM. The first HIM I put on bike shorts over my swim suit at T1 after that I just went with Tri shorts and top and I've never looked back.

One thing to consider if you're going to use Tri shorts and are a little heftier in the legs (as I am) is that you will get some chafing in the upper inner thigh from being wet on the saddle, if your shorts ride up or are 3" inseam. So I prefer a longer short and I always try to make sure that they won't ride up by doing lots of moving about, squats to the floor and generally making a fool of myself in the store.

Another good rule of thumb, the more panels and tailoring in the shorts, the less likely they are to creep.

[susanm8048]

This might be a silly question, but do the tri shorts work for non-wet suit swims? Do they cause significant drag to slow you down through the water?

[Tri Girl]

No, the tri shorts don't cause too much extra drag on the swim. They're bike shorts, so they're really tight anyway. I have found that I need to get a tighter tri top than I would normally wear (and I mean skin tight). When wet, that puppy will hold some water, so the tighter the better (and once in the water, it stretches out and then it's not too tight for the rest of the tri- and it's not like anyone is checking out MY bod in a tri, so I don't worry about it if my rolls are more prominent than normal on race day anyway). Sorry, that was a mouthful.
Short answer: no they won't cause excessive drag, and yes they'll work for non wetsuit swims.

[susanm8048]

Thanks, Tri Girl.