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?"?
Allen, I didn't consider myself to be very rested for those swims. I had just come back from four days on my feet working at the coaches clinic in Las Vegas, including one night where I walked the Strip round trip. I did get to swim in a nice pool for three of those days, but the workouts were mostly recreational (no lane lines, no backstroke flags, no pace clock) and the swims only served to relieve the stress in my legs.
So that's why I was surprised that I swam so fast.
Bill, I'm not convinced the B70 -- or the LZR bodysuit -- is for breaststrokers because, as Allen said, that air pocket is there. There is no way to ignore it, and it becomes distracting. Maybe if I wear it once a week, my mind will learn to forget that it is there.
I've worn the B70 twice: once while unrested and once at nationals when tapered. Based on this limited experience I felt the biggest effect was at the unrested meet -- it was like an "instant shave" and I swam times right around what I did the previous year when rested.
It is hard to say how much the effect was when rested, I swam faster but not out of line with what I would have expected without the B70. Season-ending drops were mostly less than I usually get. My opinion is that the effect, if present, is less when shaved. But that's just a guess.
The "bubble" thing was distracting during warmup but I didn't notice anything while racing. A friend -- not a breastroker -- was very distracted and didn't like wearing it at all, he even switched back to his old tech suit.
Allen, I didn't consider myself to be very rested for those swims. I had just come back from four days on my feet working at the coaches clinic in Las Vegas, including one night where I walked the Strip round trip. I did get to swim in a nice pool for three of those days, but the workouts were mostly recreational (no lane lines, no backstroke flags, no pace clock) and the swims only served to relieve the stress in my legs.
So that's why I was surprised that I swam so fast.
Bill, I'm not convinced the B70 -- or the LZR bodysuit -- is for breaststrokers because, as Allen said, that air pocket is there. There is no way to ignore it, and it becomes distracting. Maybe if I wear it once a week, my mind will learn to forget that it is there.
I've worn the B70 twice: once while unrested and once at nationals when tapered. Based on this limited experience I felt the biggest effect was at the unrested meet -- it was like an "instant shave" and I swam times right around what I did the previous year when rested.
It is hard to say how much the effect was when rested, I swam faster but not out of line with what I would have expected without the B70. Season-ending drops were mostly less than I usually get. My opinion is that the effect, if present, is less when shaved. But that's just a guess.
The "bubble" thing was distracting during warmup but I didn't notice anything while racing. A friend -- not a breastroker -- was very distracted and didn't like wearing it at all, he even switched back to his old tech suit.
