Helix Wetsuit - First OWS

I took my "new" Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit for a its inaugural dip in Lake Spivey the other day.  I haven't been swimming with a wetsuit for at least a month so I thought I'd better give it a try before the water temperature gets too high.  I came close to my Ironman 100m pace goal on the 1.17 mile swim to the dam averaging 2:00 per 100m.  The 1.07 mile return trip was a bit slower at 2:15 per 100m.  It's difficult to gauge how much my new wetsuit helped, if at all.  My old suit is broken in and I could definitely notice some distinct differences between the two suits.  The upper portion of the Helix, and especially the sleeves, is very thin.  Like a thick, sticky Under-Armor shirt.  I felt more restricted in the new-er suit and it took forever to get the sleeves situated properly.  Once they were on though, it felt fine.

Susan followed me in the kayak with a noodle (the blue float) and some Gatorade juiced-up with Perpetuem.

Taking a break before my return swim

I took a few pictures of the inside of my wetsuit which better illustrate the different panels that make up the construction of the Helix.

The front of the wetsuit with the various panels in orange and black

The Helix has a top to bottom to close zipper, opposite from my Reaction wetsuit.

The back of the wetsuit with the backwards zipper, key holder, and name plate area 

The sleeves are constructed of orange and black panels.  The black panels on the sleeves are very thin which makes them very flexible.

The sleeves with panels of varied thicknesses

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Blue Seventy Helix

I bought myself a new wetsuit for my birthday, (thank you Susan).  It's a 2012 Blue Seventy Helix which is not completely new.  I found it for sale on Slowtwitch for half the retail price of a new 2013 wetsuit.  A brand new Helix wetsuit sells for $650.00, so $300.00 wasn't a bad deal at all.

I already have a Blue Seventy Reaction wetsuit that I bought in 2010.  My old suit had finally gotten a few nicks in it, so with Augusta only 85 days away, I thought I'd better check my options.  Since I was happy with the fit of my Reaction suit I decided to stay with Blue Seventy.  I just happened upon the Helix for sale and decided to go for it.

I'm hopeful that the new suit will improve my swim time by a few minutes during the 2.4 mile swim in Florida in November.  I swam the 2.4 miles in 1:16:35 in 2011.  That equates to a 1:59 pace per 100 meters.  I'd like to reduce that time to 1:10:00 which would be a 1:49 pace per 100 meters.  I'm pretty sure that a new wetsuit can't do all that so I'd better improve my mechanics as well.

Yes that's the Tour de France on the television in the background.

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