Swimrun Undergarments
Welcome to the fourth Low Tide Boyz swimrun gear review show! This review is once again co-hosted by our friends at Swimrun Labs and this is going to be a regular thing going forward to we’re very happy about that.
Like our swimrun shoe Shoedown episode, this episode covers that nebulous category of Swimrun gear that goes beneath your Swimrun gear. Think under shirts, bras, undies, nothing and socks! Welcome to the Underwear episode.
Let’s get right to it!
Global Considerations in Selecting Undergarments for Swimrun
Chaffing Abatement
Warmth
Storage Capacity
“Bogginess” (wet diaper effect)
Chaffing a big issue so we broke this down a bit. Body Glide, Vaseline, 2Toms Sports Shield or Tri Slide are essential to try to keep your wetsuit from chaffing your neck, arms or thighs. Brooke uses multiple layers of Body Glide and 2Toms on her skin and separately her wetsuit. Lubing up neck, armpits, any other opening, bra line and the “nether regions.” Another option for abatement which we learned from Team Envol Baywatch (listen to Episode 6 with them here) is the use Rocktape or KT Tape around the neckline where the wetsuit would make contact.
Anyway, chaffing is annoying and can get debilitating the longer the event. Take it seriously and avoid it like your life (or at least your skin’s life) depends on it!
Next, we’re going to breakdown undergarment choices going from head to toe.
Head: What do you wear under your swim cap?
The main thing in this region is wearing something under your race swim cap if the conditions call for it. There are neoprene caps (with or without chin straps) that Roka, Blue Seventy, Ark Sports and others make and non-neoprene caps like TYR Warmwear caps.
“Wetsuit Region”: What do you wear under your swimrun wetsuit?
One challenge with Swimrun is the gear that you need to carry on board for longer races and the lack of storage capacity in most Swimrun wetsuits. Ark Sports and NU make special undershirts that have kangaroo pockets for extra storage under the wetsuit. NU also makes some sports bras for women (or men we guess) that also have a pocket in the front.
For warmth, an undershirt would help. For ladies, one product that worked for Brooke was the Smartwool Merino Wool racer back sports bra. Swimrun Labs also did a review of the NU Lapa Bra, so be sure to check that out!
A question that we get a lot is “what do you wear under your swimrun wetsuit?” There are a lot of options to choose from but we recommend something with compression and made of synthetic fibers so that they don’t ride up under the suit and also wick water away. Sporty underwear should be the first place you look at. The main thing to about is anything with big seams (due to the potential for chaffing) or things that might ride up and create rolled-up material that would be super uncomfortable.
Feet: What socks do you wear for Swimrun?
The question that we get the most is what socks to wear for Swimrun. We recommend NOT using cotton socks or socks that have extra padding or cushioning in the footbed or toes (to prevent bogginess). Using a wicking sock like a thin running or cycling sock that is higher than ankle length is the way to go. Ankle socks could lead to getting more rocks or sand in your shoes. A couple of brands that we like are Gococo (the official sock of Ötillö), CEP, Stance (the run infiknit socks) or Swiftwick (Aspire is the best model that we found for Swimrun).
Brooke uses neoprene socks for racing, specifically, ankle neoprene socks called the Seavenger Zepher. Blue Seventy makes booties that can also be used. This is definitely an area where you want to test to make sure that using booties is going to work for you in a race.
So…
This was a lot of information and we covered a lot of ground. The main takeaway should be that there are a lot of different ways to get to the finish line. All four of us used different products and were happy with it. We suggest starting with what you have and experimenting from there.
That’s it for this week’s special edition show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.