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
Are people wearing them in non-championship meets too? Enquiring minds want to know!
Definitely. I have, but I like racing in it. I busted a hole in mine at a meet recently and had to wear a practice suit in my very first 200 IM. Ugh! I was tempted to scratch, but I was at a USS meet with my kid ...
I didn't mean to sound cantankerous, but it was this comment that kinda grabbed my attention: "If I were a swimmer from another part of the country, I'd be thinking, "Good God, how much faster can they get?"
Maybe you had that reflexive "it's cheating" take because you haven't worn the Pro? The Pro is a big improvement on the FSII, and the B70 is an improvement on the Pro. Gull posted awhile ago that the Pro/B70/LZR were rapid advancements in a sport where suit technology improvements were long overdue. I think this makes sense, and explains why people are sometimes so aghast. It's still all very new.
As for "if it feels wrong, it is wrong" ... Nah. I haven't spent even a nanosecond of mental energy feeling "guilty" over B70 use. Why? It's just suit technology. Embrace it, go fast, and have fun.
Got it.
Now I get what you think I meant. What I was trying to say is that results are on-line and you can't actually be at the meet to see who is wearing what.
Since Gull's buyin'... maybe he'll send one you're way! :afraid:
I have a tired little guy (sitting in the very high chair profiled at left) who is late for his afternoon nap. I'll put him up and check back.
What I was trying to say is that results are on-line and you can't actually be at the meet to see who is wearing what.
We know you got 'em! (funny internet miscommunication though)
Do you have a link to your meet results? (minor hijack)
I got one for xmas, girl! (much better than jewelry)
I was actually PMing Chris Stevenson to direct him to those results, to see I speak the truth, when the laptop died!
It was our PMS SCM Champs in Oct 2008.
www.pacificmasters.org and go to the left and click on competition and then results- scroll down to the 2008 section and click on the tab for the meet.
If you want to check: I'm 38 (and a girl!). I wore the B70 for everything, but the 1500, the 400IM and the 100 back. In fact, my first 100 of my 200 back was a second faster than just the 100, and I felt like I was going out pretty easy. (Thus my first 50 of my 100 back was a 38.6 sans suit, and when I led off a relay, with the suit, for 50 back, I went 35.4)
Also, anyone who knows me, knows I can't sprint freestyle out of a wet paper bag, yet I went 30.9 and 1:07. For me, that's really fast.
Again, I hadn't been training much at all. Maybe twice a week on average.
I was actually PMing Chris Stevenson to direct him to those results, to see I speak the truth
There is no need to do that, I certainly don't think you are lying. I simply think the statement "The B70 drops at least 3 seconds per 50" is greatly overstating its effect for the majority of swimmers.
I am in a real quandry about cheating. .
I don't really think that the aging process is fair (although it is better than the alternative!). I look at the B70 as partial payback.
Are they sponsoring people to wear this? I would think normal swimmers would not be able to shell this kind of $$$$ out!
The trick is slipping it past your spouse.
This past weekend I watched an already elite swimmer wear a B70 and annihilate their already super fast times.
I know people love to wear, and to hype, their B70s, but the effect really is not that dramatic. For instance, according to the records page on this web site, Laura Val had swum a 5:29 in the 500 in March 2007. Last Sunday, in a B70, she swam a 5:27. (Last year at the same meet, in a FS1 I think, she swam a 5:32.) Two seconds in a 500 is not "annihilating" the previous time. I myself swam three seconds faster in the 500 this year than last year, and Jana Matena swam one second faster this year than last year, and neither Jana nor I wore B70s. Laura swam faster this year than last year in the 200, too, but still 2 seconds slower than her national record from May 2007.
I am sure it's a sweet suit and faster than a workout bikini, but it's not fins or an outboard motor.
Absolutely - I called it "Christmas in July" when I got mine for LC Champs. But then I got sick so I wore my FSII instead and saved the B70 for SCM season.
My wife went on a shopping spree when she found out. She told me she was trying to stimulate the economy.
