After seeing a woman break 24 seconds and I think we can stop the discussion of "IF" the LZR suit is faster and start thinking "how much faster".
The previous line of suits (Fastskin and so on) were pretty similiar to a shaved swimmer. Sure - they do feel like they make you float, but overall the times seemed to move along "in line" with what I would expect to see in terms of improvements in the sport. If the previous suits would have been that much faster than shaving, you would have never seen people just using the legskins. By the way - for us Masters swimmers there was always the added benefit of keeping in all the "extra layers of skin".
So how much faster are the LZR suits ?
If I had to guess based on the results so far, I would say 0.25 to 0.30 per 50 and double that for the 100. I can see the Bernard going 48 low in the 100 and I can see Sullivan getting close or just breaking the 50 record. It makes sense that Libby Lenton would swim a 24.2 or so in the 50.
I think one of the top regular teams out there should do a test - you need a good amount of world class swimmers training together to be able to do a test. Here is the test I would propose:
8-10 swimmers
2 days of testing
4x50 on 10 minutes all out
Day 1 - swim 2 with a Fastskin2 followed by 2 with the LZR
Day 2 - swim 2 with the LZR followed by 2 with the Fastskin2
Get the averages of all 10 swimmers - maybe drop the high and low and there you go.
Why do the test ? I would HAVE to know. Swimming is a big part of your life and you just set a massive PR using this new technology - my very first question would be " How much was me and how much was the suit?"?
I swam at a USS meet a couple weeks ago wearing the B70 for most events. I was unshaved/untapered but went times almost exactly the same as my shaved/tapered times from last summer when I wore an FSII. Some swims were slightly faster (200 free, 100 back), some slightly slower (100 fly, 200 back) but all within a couple of tenths of my rested times.
The only time that was well off my rested time was the 200 fly (almost 3 seconds off last year)...and I didn't wear the suit at all because I couldn't stomach the thought of constricting my chest while coming home in the 2-fly. Then again, that is an event where I tend to drop a lot of time when I rest (often 6-7 seconds) so I wasn't displeased.
The big question for me is, will I get the same kind of time drops when I taper as I am used to getting (normally I wear briefs or jammers when I am unrested). Maybe wearing the B70 reproduces the feeling of shaving to some extent, so it helps more unrested than when rested. I guess we'll see in a week or so...assuming my current beach taper pays off :)
I like the suit in terms of durability and ease of putting it on. I didn't really feel any buoyancy advantage, though I know many (most?) disagree. Maybe it depends on body type and stroke mechanics; I tend to ride pretty high in the water anyway. It may have helped my underwaters, hard to say for sure. (If so, I would expect it to be a greater advantage SCY/SCM than in LCM.)
I swam at a USS meet a couple weeks ago wearing the B70 for most events. I was unshaved/untapered but went times almost exactly the same as my shaved/tapered times from last summer when I wore an FSII. Some swims were slightly faster (200 free, 100 back), some slightly slower (100 fly, 200 back) but all within a couple of tenths of my rested times.
The only time that was well off my rested time was the 200 fly (almost 3 seconds off last year)...and I didn't wear the suit at all because I couldn't stomach the thought of constricting my chest while coming home in the 2-fly. Then again, that is an event where I tend to drop a lot of time when I rest (often 6-7 seconds) so I wasn't displeased.
The big question for me is, will I get the same kind of time drops when I taper as I am used to getting (normally I wear briefs or jammers when I am unrested). Maybe wearing the B70 reproduces the feeling of shaving to some extent, so it helps more unrested than when rested. I guess we'll see in a week or so...assuming my current beach taper pays off :)
I like the suit in terms of durability and ease of putting it on. I didn't really feel any buoyancy advantage, though I know many (most?) disagree. Maybe it depends on body type and stroke mechanics; I tend to ride pretty high in the water anyway. It may have helped my underwaters, hard to say for sure. (If so, I would expect it to be a greater advantage SCY/SCM than in LCM.)
