I am just back from the SPMA meet where all the top finisher were wearing the latest generation tech suits,mostly B-70s(or were named Jeff Commings.)I have here to for been in favor of the suits,but now I am not so sure.First,they eliminate the old bench marks.I went my fastest 100m BR in 5 yr in my LZR,but it was only .3 sec faster than I did untapered 5 wk earlier in my first swim in the LZR.So was my swim good or not,I'm not sure.Also,instead of focusing on technique or pace I found myself ruminating over aspects of the suits,how many more swims did the suit have,is it the right size,was the reason I didn't get better results from my B-70 because it was too big?etc.The B-70 has somewhat mitigated the "too expensive,not durable" problem,but for how long.
Lets say a company comes up with a suit that is much faster,say 4 sec/100.Further that it is very expensive(say $1000) lasts 4 swims and is very hard to make so that quantities are always limited and the fastest way to get one is to bid up to $3000 on ebay. Now lets say your nemesis has one,or that getting one is your best chance to get TT or AA or a ZR or WR,or that your child is close to making JO cuts,or finally beating his/her nemesis etc. Is it worth it and where does it stop?
Parents
Former Member
And there is the rub. You are buying speed. You have taken a sport that didn't have all the gizmos and googahs and turned it into NASCAR. Only the wealthy will own records.
What is done is done. You can't put a fart back, even if it really stinks.
So to make you happy, we should go back to the days of wool suits, no caps and no goggles? Take out the deep pools, high tech lane lines that cut down on waves and get rid of the starting blocks?
You say swimming didn't have a lot of gizmos and googahs before tech suits were invented...I say you are wrong.
Goggles are considered a far more radical invention than the high speed suits. Goggles have been credited for changing the sport in radical ways, from turns to length of training to how swimmers train and race. Guess we should get rid of those too.
And there is the rub. You are buying speed. You have taken a sport that didn't have all the gizmos and googahs and turned it into NASCAR. Only the wealthy will own records.
What is done is done. You can't put a fart back, even if it really stinks.
So to make you happy, we should go back to the days of wool suits, no caps and no goggles? Take out the deep pools, high tech lane lines that cut down on waves and get rid of the starting blocks?
You say swimming didn't have a lot of gizmos and googahs before tech suits were invented...I say you are wrong.
Goggles are considered a far more radical invention than the high speed suits. Goggles have been credited for changing the sport in radical ways, from turns to length of training to how swimmers train and race. Guess we should get rid of those too.
