I'm having a hard time with the Blue 70.
I love it. I swam faster than I deserved to in it (I bought it until it ripped, then returned), and I had fun swimming faster again!
My question/statement is this:
It is more than obvious from my own experience, and MANY swimmers I've talked to, that you drop at least 3 seconds per 50 in any event wearing this suit. I know that last year I swam a morning race and went 38 without the suit, put one on and swam the same event and went 35. I sure as heck didn't taper in an hour! And I can't remember dropping 3 seconds in a 50 in recent decades.
Highly respected "people" in USMS that I have had conversations with say it is undoubtedly "legalized cheating". I agree. I'm not quite sure how or why FINA approved it. (And I'm not saying it should be banned. It is what it is.) But when a SUIT improves performance it is no longer necessarily the swimmer achieving those times.
My hubby brought up the cost as well. (I have a suit fund going, so we don't have to shell out $400 all at once, if I even buy one.) It definitely separates the haves from the have nots. There are many more Masters Swimmers who cannot afford this suit than those who can. Several of my teammates would love one but can't afford it. And while this may be more a "social" question, it is still a factor in our swimming races.
My thought, as I was looking at recent results was this: Because the B70 is such a factor in racing performance, I would love to see some kind of a notation (notice I didn't say the dreaded Barry Bonds asterisk!) next to results of swimmers who wear a B70 in a race. Or have a B70 division for all results? We already have a wetsuit division for OW, why not have a B70 division for pool races? (It is almost a wetsuit anyway!)
This past weekend I watched an already elite swimmer wear a B70 and annhilate their already super fast times. If I were a swimmer from another part of the country, I'd be thinking, "Good God, how much faster can they get?" When if fact they aren't necessarily much faster, they are now wearing a B70.
When is technology too much?
2cents
Karen
I am in a real quandry about cheating. Do I buy a $400 suit and beat people cheating?
Doesn't phrasing the question that way answer it? You aren't racing for money, or even fame. You are basically swimming and racing for your own dignity. So if you think you'd feel as if you were cheating, then don't do it. There are still plenty of people for you to race, starting with yourself.
On the other hand, if you wouldn't feel bad about yourself for using one, and if you have $400 to spend on a personal luxury, and you think that spending it that way would give you more pleasure than spending it some other way, then why not? To use myself as an example of the "victim" of such cheating: You have already beaten me in direct competition at least once while you were wearing a B70 and I wasn't, and I am perfectly OK with that. (PM me if you want the details.)
I am in a real quandry about cheating. Do I buy a $400 suit and beat people cheating?
Doesn't phrasing the question that way answer it? You aren't racing for money, or even fame. You are basically swimming and racing for your own dignity. So if you think you'd feel as if you were cheating, then don't do it. There are still plenty of people for you to race, starting with yourself.
On the other hand, if you wouldn't feel bad about yourself for using one, and if you have $400 to spend on a personal luxury, and you think that spending it that way would give you more pleasure than spending it some other way, then why not? To use myself as an example of the "victim" of such cheating: You have already beaten me in direct competition at least once while you were wearing a B70 and I wasn't, and I am perfectly OK with that. (PM me if you want the details.)
