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?
Jim, it sounds like you didn't build in any time for Creepy Old Man activities here. Heather will be disappointed.
In terms of the 8 lb. wt loss, do you think THAT made a significant difference? The reason I ask is that one of my friends here in Pittsburgh, Glen Battle--he's had No. 1 times twice in the 200 back, SCM--told me he's experimented with this and found he swims pretty much the same times regardless of whether he's a added or lost pounds. He's convinced that it doesn't make much difference.
The yards, however, I am sure make a big difference. I saw you in the well over 500 mile level in Go the Distance.
Do you know what has happened to Jim McConica and Paul Trevisan? It seems that JM hasn't raced since the 25k, and Paul has been missing since last spring. You and Phil Dodson have leapt with ferocity into the evacuated power vacuum of our age group.
This really makes no sense. Since skiing and cycling have already been brought up, that would be like saying FIS should allow skiers to wear jet packs and whatever the cycling federation is should allow motorized bikes. There's a difference between reducing weight of equipment, reducing rolling and aerodynamic friction, etc. and increasing propulsion.
Knelson
The two examples you cite (jet packs and motorized bikes) involve an external source of power -not just more efficient utilization of the individual athlete's own biological energy.
In addition to reducing drag, using paddles and flippers would also enable a swimmer to convert more of his/her muscle effort into more efficient propulsion -which is in fact the most effective way to increase swimming speed. So why not allow them too?
As I've said in my other posts, if FINA allows the use of so called drag reducing suits, why don't they just adopt a "Lazie Faire" approach and fling the door open to any other kind of "personally applied component" that can improve a swimmer's efficiency also?
Dolphin 2
about wearing tech suits in unrested meets
I really believe that besides the obvious difference the suits have made, there is a secondary performance boost -- people can go very fast in season.
Old-school thinking was that you can simply not swim fast times unless you are shaved and tapered. This philosophy was almost a self-fullfilling phrophecy. We used to keep rankings for shaved and unshaved. The suits have changed that -- you can "shave" or put on a suit at any time. You can see the difference in some of college in season meets - people go amazing in season times. Different way of thinking -- swimming fast at any time -- all you want is more ...
Thanks for the encouragement, Jim. You did some absolutely blistering times this year. Do you think the B70 helped?
You mean besides the training six days a week, a million plus yards, getting up unreasonably early, swimming in the cold and dark mornings, dropping about eight pounds, watching my diet, trying to get enuf rest, sprinting in meets more to get speed work in :blah: ?
Absolutely...the B70 helped at least a little bit.:bliss:
would those who support a complete separate division for wetsuit wearers in open water also support a complete separate division for old school speedo wearers in pool competition?
thats the question i would like to know the answer to.
(guess how i voted)
Possibly, though there are differences. In OW competition people wear wetsuits also as protection from cold and because they lack confidence in their swimming ability.
IMO the main argument to allow a wetsuit division in national championships (remember that they are already allowed in all other competitions) is to broaden the appeal to triathletes and OW-novices; that argument doesn't apply here since I very much doubt that allowing tech suits increases participation.
But maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone know someone who would stop competing if tech suits were banned? This is all very abstract since I don't think it will happen, but who knows? There definitely seems to be a little backlash...but I suspect that the rules will just be refined to regulate it better, not resulting in an outright ban for all competitors.
Thanks, Jim!
On the entry form for the CZ meet, they said you could put down your yards time and they would convert it to meters for you. So I put a somewhat optimistic 400 yards time for the IM. They didn't convert it.
The same thing happened with the 100 IM.
I could have used latex Phelps-feet (TM) fins for both events!
I was able to switch the heat for the 400 from the fastest (where I would have delayed the timeline) to the slowest (where I raced a fellow who finished around the 17 minute mark.)
I opted not to switch for the 100 because I figured an 8 second delay wouldn't throw the whole meet off too badly!
Thanks for the encouragement, Jim. You did some absolutely blistering times this year. Do you think the B70 helped?
I have yet to try one of the fastest suits, i.e., a B70 (which sounds like it has some "closed cell" foam properties, which makes it float a bit, a la a wet suit-lite), but I have swum in Aquablades, FS1s, a FSPro that got stolen after the first day, and most recently a Tyr Aquapel.
The latter is actually really cheap now, on sale for less than $60, and I must say I like it as much as the old Aquablade from yesteryear, which I profoundly wish they still made.
Gotta tell you I was proud of you stepping up like that for that 400IM knowing that you tend to stick with the shorter stuff. Be careful or you may start preferring it.
Here's to ya :chug:
At the very least, we swimming-challenged types should be allowed to take latex molds of Michael Phelps' feet and have these turned into "feet fins" we can wear in meets to equalize the cruelties of DNA inheritance.
Ditto for Ian Thorpe latex "hand paddles" and, eventually one can only pray, John Dillinger latex "Fifth Extremity" equalization technology.
I really believe that besides the obvious difference the suits have made, there is a secondary performance boost -- people can go very fast in season.
Old-school thinking was that you can simply not swim fast times unless you are shaved and tapered. This philosophy was almost a self-fullfilling phrophecy. We used to keep rankings for shaved and unshaved. The suits have changed that -- you can "shave" or put on a suit at any time. You can see the difference in some of college in season meets - people go amazing in season times. Different way of thinking -- swimming fast at any time -- all you want is more ...
I think this is a significantly bigger difference than the "top end" performance gains. The disadvantage is that maybe you don't tend to drop as much time at the end-of-the season meets. But I haven't had enough seasons to check this.
Swimming, particularly for boys, is just not as popular as other sports. This is all the more reason to keep it as inexpensive as possible. Also, college swimming programs having to increase their budget to purchase these suits is not a good thing when there is already a battle to save men's programs.
I say ban the suits everywhere except for masters where we grown-ups just want to have a few toys of our own.
