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?
Leslie, can you recall your first meet that you used a B70? Since you only swim USMS meets, there should be a list on your USMS member page of all your times in all events before and after B70 wearing.
I would like to see the data. Consider posting to your blog the complete list of sanctioned times (and you can include the ones that you did that weren't sanctioned after the fact) in each event you have swum with and without a B70, indicating type of suit.
Obviously, there are other factors involved--time in the season, how good your training that year was, injuries, etc. But it would still provide an interesting glimpse into the general trends with this particular suit. If, for instance, over the past 5 years, 80 percent of your best times were in a B70, and 20 percent were in another suit, that would indicate something different than if it was 50-50, say. Or if all your best times were in a B70, then something different still.
Please do not get me wrong. You and everyone else, from CremePuff to Michael Ross, who have done extraordinary performances in B70s are extraordinary swimmers regardless of suit. But I suspect the suit does make a greater difference than most of us would like to think it does, because that would take just a little luster off the personal glory halo. When Jim Clemmons joked that getting into better shape and not the suit made the difference, adding "this is my story and I'm sticking to it," I think he was clearly winking and nodding at a certain disingenuousness.
PS depending upon the degree of my bankruptcy post-audit, I had hoped to scrimp up for a B70 myself. I would love to try one out and see if it would let me drop a bit of time here and there. But if it's going to get outlawed, I don't want to waste the money to try to bank some good times between now and the day of official illegality, say 2010--then spend the rest of my dotage wondering why I suddenly got so much slower.
Leslie, can you recall your first meet that you used a B70? Since you only swim USMS meets, there should be a list on your USMS member page of all your times in all events before and after B70 wearing.
I would like to see the data. Consider posting to your blog the complete list of sanctioned times (and you can include the ones that you did that weren't sanctioned after the fact) in each event you have swum with and without a B70, indicating type of suit.
Obviously, there are other factors involved--time in the season, how good your training that year was, injuries, etc. But it would still provide an interesting glimpse into the general trends with this particular suit. If, for instance, over the past 5 years, 80 percent of your best times were in a B70, and 20 percent were in another suit, that would indicate something different than if it was 50-50, say. Or if all your best times were in a B70, then something different still.
Please do not get me wrong. You and everyone else, from CremePuff to Michael Ross, who have done extraordinary performances in B70s are extraordinary swimmers regardless of suit. But I suspect the suit does make a greater difference than most of us would like to think it does, because that would take just a little luster off the personal glory halo. When Jim Clemmons joked that getting into better shape and not the suit made the difference, adding "this is my story and I'm sticking to it," I think he was clearly winking and nodding at a certain disingenuousness.
PS depending upon the degree of my bankruptcy post-audit, I had hoped to scrimp up for a B70 myself. I would love to try one out and see if it would let me drop a bit of time here and there. But if it's going to get outlawed, I don't want to waste the money to try to bank some good times between now and the day of official illegality, say 2010--then spend the rest of my dotage wondering why I suddenly got so much slower.
