Taking Care of Your Tech Suit
The tech suit is one of the most expensive investments you will make during your competitive swimming career. Here are ten (10) tips for making those expensive and best time-smashing suits last.
1. Don’t wear any more than you have to.Racing suits don’t last long, and thebest knee=skins for swimmers, despite all of their space-age material and fabric, deteriorate when faced with abrasive pool chemicals. After about a dozen wears, they begin to stretch and degrade fairly quickly. Don’t be the swimmer that wears a $600 suit totraining.
2. Save them for Championship Swim Meets.Unless you feel like burning through $500 for a new tech suit every couple of meets try to save your racing suits for the championship meets towards the end of your season.
3. Wear pants or shorts over the suit between races.Last thing you want to do is snag it on something. Avoid placing sharp objects around your suit.
4. Take it off slowly.If you’ve had a bad race resist the urge to rip it off as fast as you can. Don’t add a stretched suit to a bad swim.
5. Rinse it out with cold water in the shower.Avoid soap and shampoo on the suit. If you aren’t in the mood for a shower take it out of your swim bag when you get home and rinse it with cold water in the sink to rinse the chemicals out.
6. Put it in a towel and roll it up.Don’t wring it out or blow dry it.
7. Do not put it in the dryer.Ever.Ever-ever. If you need to dry it between sessions lay out a towel when you get home or to the hotel room and let it air dry.
8. Put it on when you are completely dry.Putting on a wet tech suit requires pulling, yanking, and stretching. This is not good for a suit.
9. Go to the bathroom before you put it on.This can be tricky. Between the nerves and the 8 refills of your water bottle, going to the bathroom is inevitable. Time it so you don’t have to wrestle your way out of your suit before your race.
10. Don’t hang it up to dry.The weight of the fabric, the clothes line or the hangers will often cause the suit to stretch.
Bonus tip:Cycle in your old tech suits to make the new one last longer. Use your older tech suits for preliminaries or training if you want to feel the sensation prior to Championships. This will help extend the shelf life of the new suit. You will appreciate the speed sensation change up for Finals.
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