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?
Maybe it's something to do with the core stabilization? Perhaps this feature of the suit helps men more. Perhaps women's suits have always affected core stabilization while only the current crop of suits have helped men in this regard.
I thought about that too...except the page states that the results from the 2000 and 2004 trials for both men and women were no better than predicted. If what you say is correct, I would have expected a larger prior improvement for women by the previous generation suits.
But I'm just speculating, I haven't looked at the previous data closely enough to be very confident in my assertions.
Maybe it's something to do with the core stabilization? Perhaps this feature of the suit helps men more. Perhaps women's suits have always affected core stabilization while only the current crop of suits have helped men in this regard.
I thought about that too...except the page states that the results from the 2000 and 2004 trials for both men and women were no better than predicted. If what you say is correct, I would have expected a larger prior improvement for women by the previous generation suits.
But I'm just speculating, I haven't looked at the previous data closely enough to be very confident in my assertions.
