Not sure if it's the suit, the Olympic year, or a combo of both - but I do get the impression that the LZR racer is the fastest suit out there. It's not yet available, but I am sure some people will pull some strings and show up with the suit in Austin.
I think we should all agree to ban the suit from Austin and spread the word to everybody. I know it's not binding - but I think we are all "old enough" to work on the honor system.
Any thoughts ?
Former Member
Not sure if it's the suit, the Olympic year, or a combo of both - but I do get the impression that the LZR racer is the fastest suit out there. It's not yet available, but I am sure some people will pull some strings and show up with the suit in Austin.
I think we should all agree to ban the suit from Austin and spread the word to everybody. I know it's not binding - but I think we are all "old enough" to work on the honor system.
Any thoughts ?
Awesome idea! I often go around wondering how I can make things more fair for my competition. :lolup:
Don't know if I agree with that. This morning I almost blew chow during my journey.
I was attacked by one of those deep-end filter eluding hairball jellyfish that surfaced on my journey today.
I propose a time weighted time handicap for anyone who has moved from a semi-rural coastal setting to a hip and trendy city just so he can train with a better team in a better pool.
Nothing is ever "fair" in masters competition.
Should we ban those who swim more than 4x a week? Or ban those getting weekly massages? Or ban those over 6'4"? Oops, then I couldn't meet Tall Paul.
Exactly my thoughts! I don't have kids - that should be an automatic ban. :lmao:
The Olympics recognize the principal that a suit has to be available to everyone or to no one. Presuming the suits actually do make you faster it seems quite reasonable that the winner should not be determined by who has the best connections.
art_z: exactly!
While it is lamentable the a swimmer would have to choose whether to shell out $550 in order to be competitive at least they should have the choice.
What's really needed is a reasonably objective suit handicap system, something like 1.0s per one hundred added to your time if you wear a technical suit. Then people could choose whether they would rather wear a suit and touch the wall first or compete on their swimming ability. It would be interesting to see how it would break down.
Or perhaps technical suit and non-technical suit divisions like open water wet suit non-wet suit divisions.
If you are improving your times because of the suit you are wearing I don't see whats the point of comparing your times to what you did prior to wearing the suit? You didn't improve as a swimmer, you improved as a consumer. I can get to work faster in my Porsche than I can in my Subaru, all that proves is I drove a faster car, not that I suddenly became a better driver.
So, Art, does that mean that you are training in your wool suit? Are you swimming in a pool with no lane lines? That was a silly waste of time; I trained in one with no lane lines. Are you riding a 40 pound road bike? What golf clubs and tennis rackets are you using? If you were really consistent, you (or anyone who complains about the changes in swimming) would use the original equipment for any sport that has ever been invented. No real point in comparing how you are doing in the present state of any sport to the way it was years ago.
How about running in shoes before Bowerman's developments at Nike? Why aren't we all running in those shoes? How about the great old Converse basketball shoes that were not cushioned? I used to play in those when I played basketball in high school. It's no good to say that the newer shoes are safer for the body. I always thought it was pretty wimpy of athletes to complain about their joints in those kinds of shoes. I've never had joint problems like that. Back in the 'pure sport' days, the ones with the toughest joints survived. That's what REAL sport is about not about making it available to everyone.
Of course I can compare my times with how I swam previously, just as much as someone who learns an innovation in a stroke and has an improvement as a result. They aren't swimming the same way anymore, so it's not the same stroke and how can you possibly compare before and after? I have coached swimmers who thought they were swimming freestyle but really weren't. After some work, their strokes improved and they really were swimming the stroke. You can bet that they took the improvement with pride...
Nothing is absolutely stable. Everything is going to change and technical improvements are going to come no matter who or how much someone rails against it.
In terms of the elite swimmers. Speedo has had tables at the Grand Prix meets that have allowed various swimmers to "check out" the suits and race in them.
I can all but guarantee that Speedo will provide a suit to whomever wants one at trials - they did this in 00 with the Fastskin I and in 04 with the Fastskin II.
I cannot believe people are whinning about fair or unfair. When on Earth has life ever been fair? There is a huge range amongst us (and the elites) in terms or practice facilities, coaches, time spent, money spent, etc. Life is NOT fair. If people get their hands on these elusive suits prior to Austin and wear them there then good for them. I'd love to see the suit in person. I highly doubt that any of those people are then going to beat me by a tenth or two and that will then seriously change my life. I will be going for best times regardless and if I achieve those and beat others in the process great, if not fine.
I thought the whole point of organized competition was to have people compete on a level playing field? No?
