Budget Buys - Speedo LZR Tri Comp Shorts

Does my bum look big in this?

My latest budget buys piece is a review of my brand spanking new Speedo LZR Tri comp shorts. 

It's not every day I go into a tri shop and pick out a bit of proper tri gear (in fact this was the first time) but I was desperate. I picked them up as a last minute panic buy the day before the Derby triathlon because I had nothing to swim in. Luckily it was my birthday recently and I had a little bit of birthday money left over. Seeing as I had to dish out on new swimming shorts anyway, I decided to upgrade my kit to tri shorts. A quick look online found end of season sales meaning the budget buy was on. But was the upgrade worth it?

Well first things first. My first thought was one of surprise. I was surprised at how comfy they were when I tried them on in the shop. My first time out in them, a short bike ride from Dads to Mums the day before the Derby triathlon, I was even more shocked how comfy they were. My first time racing in them they were just as comfy and they dried out so quickly it would have been hard to tell I'd swam in them if I hadn't been doing the swimming myself.

Comfort through the race was a major plus. Last time I went for the budget option of wearing trunks I already owned for the swim then just putting a pair of shorts over the top for the bike and run. This was fine but it wasn't exactly comfortable and, delightfully, as I neared the end of the run I started to suffer from a chaffing feeling in my inner thigh and testicles. While it was only short lived because I soon crossed the finish line, it would have been an absolute nightmare if the race had been longer. But the less said about my testis the better.

I bought my tri shorts from Total Fitness Nottingham. Proudly being from Derby, Nottingham is not a place I particularly like going to and I definitely wouldn't recommend going there. But if your unfortunate enough to be in the area (and lucky enough not to have been shot) I'd recommend going in. There's some great stuff in there but to me the prices were so steep I tried not to look. The girl in there was helpful, I told her it was my first pair of tri shorts and I just wanted the cheapest they had. She picked out the cheapest and recommended I tried them on. I did, they fitted great, surely job done? Well they had a £40 price tag and when I checked online the night before most of their shorts were reduced cheaper than that. She checked online, I was right, down to £33. One mention of student discount later and 10% off, down to £30, deal done. My top tip, check the online prices first and always try for some discount, there's no harm in asking.

So the final bit of the review, my verdict...

Rating: 4/5

Cost: £30

ETS: 30s

Value: £1/s

Would I recommend getting tri shorts? If you have the money, yes. Would I recommend the pair I got? Definitely, they felt just like trunks in the swim, they had enough padding to be comfortable on the bike and they were just as good in the run. But I would say if your looking to save money, tight fitting swimming trunks can be as cheap as a fiver. If your racing no longer than a sprint, keeping your swimming trunks on for the whole race will get you round without having to splash out on tri shorts.