Internal Mono(b)log

I picked up a Tyr Torque Pro Speedskin for IMPanama.  Apparently the water temperature will be in the 80s (26-27C) and definitely not wetsuit legal and wanting to get any legal boost I can, I figured a speedskin is a plus.   My Torque arrive a few weeks ago and on Sunday I finally had a chance to take it for a dip.

The suit arrives in a specially designed box that rivals any packaging Apple could come up with.  You immediately get the feeling that you’ve bought a quality product that has spared little expense.  The suit itself is well made: the zipper is strong, the stitching smooth and flawless from what I can see and the fit, while snug, is flexible and “suitable” (sorry, couldn’t help it) for the task at hand.

I took the suit for my Sunday easy swim: just an easy 2k at the local Y.  Sometimes the pool is empty, but lately, with all the New Years resolutions in play, it’s been pretty crowded so my expectations of doing any kind of 2k time trial were very low.  Unfortunately, my expectations were correct.  The pool was kinda silly-busy and the “fast” lane was filled with breast-stroking, unaware, “casual swimmers”.  What this meant to me was that I wouldn’t get any hard data about how much faster the suit would make me.  I did manage to get some data and some perceptions though and I’ll share those here.

I did manage a few lengths over the 2k without being impeded, those lengths were clocking in at the 1:32/100m range, where my normal swimsuit pace lately  has been about 1:40-45/100m.  One place that the suit was VERY noticeable was pushing off from the wall: it’s hard to describe but with the same effort you seemed to cover more distance and just felt smoother.

I’ll definitely get more data on the suit and have a post-race followup on it, but my first impressions on the design, manufacture and textile selection are all very positive.

There is one negative with the suit.  After my 40 minutes in the water, most of the adhesive logos were literally falling off the suit.  I’d left some in the pool somewhere.  Some were just barely holding onto the suit.  The rest came off in my hands with no effort.  I contacted Tyr asking “what gives?!” and they just directed me to the retailer that I got the suit from (I kind of felt brushed-off).  The retailer Swim2000 tells me that this is a common complaint and the cause for many returns.  That Tyr will accept the return without issue, even after IMPanama I can just exchange it.   So on one hand, it’s great that Tyr and its’ retailers stand behind the product and offer a great return/exchange policy; but, I have to admit, given the price-tag of this suit, such a blatant manufacturing glitch should be addressed before the consumer gets the product in the first place.  Further, I think that Tyr’s response should be (at least it would have been better received by me): “We understand this problem exists with some suits and we’re working to address it in manufacturing. Please accept our apologies and get in touch with the retailer where you purchased the suit to arrange an exchange.”

Anyhow.. I’ll stop ranting.  The purpose of the suit is not to display Tyr’s logo, but to make you faster in the water. It’s goals seem to be met. More data to come.