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?"?
Parents
Former Member
After all, consider that we went from inexpensive nylon suits (from the 70s, swimming's dark dark age) that lasted a long time and could be put on in 2 seconds, to uber-expensive suits that last 1-2 meets and take 20 minutes to don. And as an extra bonus: even if they don't fall apart, by next year they will be out-dated anyway.
Here's my Theory of Women's Swimsuits. (Perhaps true for men, too, but to a lesser extent as their suits don't "wear" the same way women's suits do.)
For years, the swimsuit manufacturers forced "planned obsolescence" upon us, in the form of Lycra swimsuits. Getting three months out of a women's Lycra suit was practically a miracle. But the stretchy Lycra fabric was so much more comfortable than the old 1970's non-stretch nylon suits that no one in their right mind would want to go back to the non-stretch stuff.
Enter stretch polyester fabric... It's not new. I bought a suit not long after I began swimming Masters (1987) that was made of stretch polyester fabric. I think it was an Arena suit. It lasted much longer than my Lycra suits. After it finally wore out, I kept my eyes open for another stretch poly suit but never saw one.
I became convinced that the manufacturers were purposely selling only Lycra suits because they knew that we'd be buying new ones every couple of months. ("Planned obsolescence.")
Finally, 15+ years later, the manufacturers started selling stretch polyester "workout" or "training" suits. They're easy to find, now. And there are a lot of them on the market.
What changed? Why would the manufacturers give up the security of knowing that their customers would have to return every couple of months?
Here's what changed: "Technical suits" came into being. Suddenly there were suits that cost $100.00, $150.00, $200.00, and more.
I think the manufacturers realized that women would be inclined to spend more money on "technical suits" if they didn't have to buy a new training suit every two months. If a swimmer could wear the same training suit for a year, she might be more likely to spend $200 or $300 on a "technical suit".
So thanks to all of you who are spending the big bucks on the tech suits, swimming has become more affordable for cheap swimmers like me who wear the same polyester suit for two years!
Anna Lea
After all, consider that we went from inexpensive nylon suits (from the 70s, swimming's dark dark age) that lasted a long time and could be put on in 2 seconds, to uber-expensive suits that last 1-2 meets and take 20 minutes to don. And as an extra bonus: even if they don't fall apart, by next year they will be out-dated anyway.
Here's my Theory of Women's Swimsuits. (Perhaps true for men, too, but to a lesser extent as their suits don't "wear" the same way women's suits do.)
For years, the swimsuit manufacturers forced "planned obsolescence" upon us, in the form of Lycra swimsuits. Getting three months out of a women's Lycra suit was practically a miracle. But the stretchy Lycra fabric was so much more comfortable than the old 1970's non-stretch nylon suits that no one in their right mind would want to go back to the non-stretch stuff.
Enter stretch polyester fabric... It's not new. I bought a suit not long after I began swimming Masters (1987) that was made of stretch polyester fabric. I think it was an Arena suit. It lasted much longer than my Lycra suits. After it finally wore out, I kept my eyes open for another stretch poly suit but never saw one.
I became convinced that the manufacturers were purposely selling only Lycra suits because they knew that we'd be buying new ones every couple of months. ("Planned obsolescence.")
Finally, 15+ years later, the manufacturers started selling stretch polyester "workout" or "training" suits. They're easy to find, now. And there are a lot of them on the market.
What changed? Why would the manufacturers give up the security of knowing that their customers would have to return every couple of months?
Here's what changed: "Technical suits" came into being. Suddenly there were suits that cost $100.00, $150.00, $200.00, and more.
I think the manufacturers realized that women would be inclined to spend more money on "technical suits" if they didn't have to buy a new training suit every two months. If a swimmer could wear the same training suit for a year, she might be more likely to spend $200 or $300 on a "technical suit".
So thanks to all of you who are spending the big bucks on the tech suits, swimming has become more affordable for cheap swimmers like me who wear the same polyester suit for two years!
Anna Lea
