...at the FCST winter meet in SugarLand, TX. I had previously only worn briefs, but I did try TYR legskins for Nationals in Austin. I was just experimenting and didn't want to drop $300-$500 to find I didn't like the feel, so I bought the FS-II Backstroke suit for $50 on-line.
Didn't feel any faster or sleeker in the water although I did go a PR 22.57 in the 50 free and a respectable 59.97 in the 100 IM.
What was weird is how different I felt in the backstroke, how it felt as if the suit was forcing me to assume a certain body position and I felt myself fighting it ( I had not tested the suit AT ALL prior to the meet so it was shocking).
Would I get that same odd feeling from a normal FS-II or a B70?
Speedo doesn't like to broadcast this, but once every couple hundred thousand FS II backstroke suits, you get one that is possessed. It seems old Hank Ryerson was on the assembly line back in Ought 7, and his attention was momentarily diverted by a poster of Natalie Coughlan doing a SDK, and, well...
To stop the line at that point just to remove some body matter from the fabric would have cost the company a fortune. So the decision was made.
Anyhow, that's probably what causes the sensation of "the suit was forcing me to assume a certain body position."
Poor old Ryerson. God rest his tormented soul.
My experience: backstroke is the one stroke where I don't notice the suits at all while I'm swimming. Certainly I don't feel it changing my stroke (unless the suit is tight on the shoulders or something).
Thornton burns his old speed suits and the fumes affect both his speech and writing patterns. Hopefully, someone will give you a real answer soon about the backstroke feel. Since I don't swim the cursed stroke, I'm no help either.
there is a masters team in granby? never would have thunk it
There is but they don't compete. I train on my own here and compete elsewhere. Best training I have ever done since I have the run of the place.
What was weird is how different I felt in the backstroke, how it felt as if the suit was forcing me to assume a certain body position and I felt myself fighting it ( I had not tested the suit AT ALL prior to the meet so it was shocking).
Would I get that same odd feeling from a normal FS-II or a B70?
What position was being forced -- too high in the water?
I've only raced in a B70 and jammers. My experience in a B70 is that I feel the major positive impact, oddly enough, in freestyle and breaststroke. Like Chris, I don't notice it in backstroke. On fly, I probably would notice it if I wasn't concentrating on when the next wall was so I could rest!
On both free and ***, though, I feel like the B70 gives me a higher body position in the water, especially in the legs.
