Just wondering if any of you can recommend a competition suit (women's--breaststroke as primary stroke) that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. I am getting back into competition but am not training nearly enough to justify spending $100+ on a suit. Is there something in between the pricey Fastskins and the cheap old lycra suits that anyone else wears?
Did you swim at Cal? I was there from 83-86...Yes. 84-88* so you must have been there my frosh/soph years. Funny how little the men's and women's teams had to do with each other. Besides one or two co-ed dual meets I remember almost nothing we ever did with the men's team. I do remember getting to sneak into the (deserted) men's locker room in the early mornings so we could use the speed circuit equipment, though...
Thanks to everyone for the suit ideas. Have 3 kids (one who's still under 4) so I'm not sure how many times in the near future I'll be competing. We're in TX so the Woodlands and Austin are convenient. Hate to invest a lot of cash in a suit if I'm only going to use it once and if I'm only swimming 2-3 times a week. Think my old Cal paper suit would be OK?!:laugh2: Since I have a couple that are now 20+ years old they might not be very reliable in terms of staying in one piece. Could make for an exciting swim, I guess...:eek:
Yes. 84-88* so you must have been there my frosh/soph years.
Hmm... Was Karen (Moe) Thornton coaching at Cal then? I thought she coached there for awhile then took some sort of administrative post later. We went to UCLA together in the 70's. She was, of course, an awesome swimmer. We were both lifeguards on campus. Needless to say, she never had any trouble making the cutoff for the periodic swim test. :).
Skip Montanaro
Hmm... Was Karen (Moe) Thornton coaching at Cal then? I thought she coached there for awhile then took some sort of administrative post later. We went to UCLA together in the 70's. She was, of course, an awesome swimmer. We were both lifeguards on campus. Needless to say, she never had any trouble making the cutoff for the periodic swim test. :).Yes, she was there until sometime in the early 90's. She was a great coach. Very good at educating her swimmers. Unfortunately, as I said in another post, I was a bit of a head-case at the time. I did well, but probably not as well as I could have if I had had things together mentally.
Karen was an assistant AD for quite a few years. Then she got fired a few years ago. She just won a settlement against the UC in a discrimination lawsuit. I knew one of the AD's at Cal a few years ago and he thought her case was very valid. Obviously, the court did as well.
Why wouldn't a paper suit be ok? I have some that I still use for meets.
I don't know. Men's paper suits don't have quite as much material that might be compromised in the event of sudden deterioration:joker:
I think I could actually get the paper suit on after all these years but have to admit my body's shape has shifted just a bit in 20 years and 3 pregnancies. Not sure I could race in it! I can see me taking my mark...RRRRIIIIPPP!
Not a pretty picture:blush:
If you have yet to buy any of the new suits beyond the speedo brief version, I would try a new jammer (knee to waist suit) to see how it feels first. Cheap ones are around $30 and nice ones for racing are around $80-$100.
Oops, sorry, that would be correct for a Men's suit. Guess you are looking at $100+ to get started for a Woman's suit.
I like the tyr fusion 2 suits. Less than the fancy speedo ones but still has a lot of the latest buzzwords. Even if it doesn't do anything it makes me feel like I'm going faster so it's got to be worth something. I think they're all under $100.
Just wondering if any of you can recommend a competition suit (women's--breaststroke as primary stroke) that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. I am getting back into competition but am not training nearly enough to justify spending $100+ on a suit. Is there something in between the pricey Fastskins and the cheap old lycra suits that anyone else wears?
i dont know about price. but just by an aquablade suit. it was the fastskin of the 80's basically. it's used in all of our teams suits that the school buys us.beter than plain old suit but tons less expensive than a fastskin.
Wow, thanks! Never thought of eBay. Have no idea what size I'd be in a full-body suit. A 32 is a tight fit (especially shoulder straps) at first for lycra but ends up being fine after many swims. Also not sure if I would want a full-body suit for breaststroke or not. Seems like breaststrokers often wear smaller ones for more leg mobility?
