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?"?
They wore them on the 800 free relay at conferance and they didn't wear them on the 800 free relay at NCAA's.
I also just talked to some swimmers that were training with one of the US's top sprinters a few weeks back and all testing the suit. This elite male swimmer popped a 22.7LCM 50 in workout followed by a 50.4LCM 100...
In my mind there is something incredible going on with this suit...but I also think there are other factors at play and have serious doubts just as Gary does about PED's.
Been busy at work and so I just got around to catching up on my "important" reading -- I read the article on PEDs in the Mar 17 issue of Sports Illustrated. They make the point that PEDs are used widely outside of sports -- they mentioned Hollywood, hip hop artists, and aging baby boomers. Probably not news to many of you but I guess I'm out of touch. The larger point is that the use in sports reflects our larger culture, and not the other way around.
Relevant quote: "Joe Biden 'There is something simply un-American about using PEDs.' But it's not un-American. It's entirely American, that search for an edge, that effort to be all you can be, that willingness to push the envelope." (Italics in original article.)
I don't know enough to really comment intelligently on that larger point, but it is interesting, anyway.
About the LZR: I have been hearing about awesome, near-WR performances in practice for at least 25 years now, long before the LZR was a twinkle in Speedo's eye. And I've known many swimmers who can do near-PB times in practice (which is what your example is, just at an elite level) without using a special suit.
I'm not saying the suit isn't awesome, fast, whatever. (How can I? I've never even seen one in person, much less worn one.) But let's not get carried away by these anecdotes and isolated observations. The best way to seriously address the question of the extent of the LZR's performance enhancement is to do well-designed experiments under race(-like) conditions. Another possiblity is to do post-race data analysis with proper sampling to control for confounding variables (like the effects of taper).
Picking one relay race because it confirms your suspicions just doesn't do anything for me (sorry).
They wore them on the 800 free relay at conferance and they didn't wear them on the 800 free relay at NCAA's.
I also just talked to some swimmers that were training with one of the US's top sprinters a few weeks back and all testing the suit. This elite male swimmer popped a 22.7LCM 50 in workout followed by a 50.4LCM 100...
In my mind there is something incredible going on with this suit...but I also think there are other factors at play and have serious doubts just as Gary does about PED's.
Been busy at work and so I just got around to catching up on my "important" reading -- I read the article on PEDs in the Mar 17 issue of Sports Illustrated. They make the point that PEDs are used widely outside of sports -- they mentioned Hollywood, hip hop artists, and aging baby boomers. Probably not news to many of you but I guess I'm out of touch. The larger point is that the use in sports reflects our larger culture, and not the other way around.
Relevant quote: "Joe Biden 'There is something simply un-American about using PEDs.' But it's not un-American. It's entirely American, that search for an edge, that effort to be all you can be, that willingness to push the envelope." (Italics in original article.)
I don't know enough to really comment intelligently on that larger point, but it is interesting, anyway.
About the LZR: I have been hearing about awesome, near-WR performances in practice for at least 25 years now, long before the LZR was a twinkle in Speedo's eye. And I've known many swimmers who can do near-PB times in practice (which is what your example is, just at an elite level) without using a special suit.
I'm not saying the suit isn't awesome, fast, whatever. (How can I? I've never even seen one in person, much less worn one.) But let's not get carried away by these anecdotes and isolated observations. The best way to seriously address the question of the extent of the LZR's performance enhancement is to do well-designed experiments under race(-like) conditions. Another possiblity is to do post-race data analysis with proper sampling to control for confounding variables (like the effects of taper).
Picking one relay race because it confirms your suspicions just doesn't do anything for me (sorry).
