I purchased my fastskin for Nationals last yr for Tempe and have only worn it for the Tempe and Rutgers meet. All the regular meets I just wear a regular speedo jammers. Out of curiosity I decided to wear the fastskin this past weekend in a USS meet being not tapered and see what type of results I would have. To my surprise, I could not believe the time drops from the previous week before where I just wore the regular jammers. Below are the differences.
50 free- 24.5 to a 23.8
100 free- 52.5 to a 50.9
200 free- 1:57.0 to a 1:52.9
100 fly - 56.6 to a 55.5
200 fly- 2:07.5 to a 2:03.2
I guess my question is. When at masters meets, I notice a lot wearing the fast skins. Sure I would like to swim fast all the time, but when Nationals rolls around, would it still have the same effect versus wearing it for first time that yr. I do believe in tapers and normally hit my tapers pretty well at the big meet, but in all honesty, I would like to continue to swim fast times in the not so big meets so I know what it feels like time wise so I can go into the "tank" and give it that little extra at the next meet.
For those wearing fastskins at all meets and attend Nationals, do you still have that significant drop?
If you want the help a reasonably fast suit can provide, but don't want the expense of using a Fastskin too often and wearing it out, you might try the Speedo Aquablade kneeskin suit. These are significantly cheaper and only a little slower, in my experience. I just got a new one on Ebay for $54 plus $6.95 in shipping.
I am not sure if Speedo still makes Aquablades, but they're a good compromise between speed and moolah. Alas, they also wear out reasonably fast.
If you want the help a reasonably fast suit can provide, but don't want the expense of using a Fastskin too often and wearing it out, you might try the Speedo Aquablade kneeskin suit. These are significantly cheaper and only a little slower, in my experience. I just got a new one on Ebay for $54 plus $6.95 in shipping.
I am not sure if Speedo still makes Aquablades, but they're a good compromise between speed and moolah. Alas, they also wear out reasonably fast.
