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
Kristina-
Are people wearing them in non-championship meets too? Enquiring minds want to know! :bow:
Karen, I saw quite a few B70s at the Fog City meet last weekend (including on myself). One of the really nice things about the suit is that it seems to last much longer than an FS Pro/LZR. Heck, Jim already has 31 swims on his. If you look at it on a per-race basis, the suits wind up not being THAT expensive. I swam a PB in the 100 free but swam slower than my non-B70 times other events so I'm not sure just how much it helped... I basically view the suit as obviating the need to shave down...
From coaches I've heard that the swimmers who benefit the most from technical suits will be the slower ones with the worst technique or body shape or conditioning.
I like this. If you wear a Blue Seventy and don't swim fast you can just attribute it to your great technique and training!
B70 is not a magic bullet. I beat a guy (and we're the same in practice) at the 10K OW 2008 national championship and he was wearing a B70. I was not. My fastest LCM 400 FR time was done in an FS II. My B70 time was SLOWER.
I'm somewhat familiar with the 500 FR, and there are a LOT of ways to take off chunks of time in the 500 via different training methods. I'm not so sure Laura's 5 second time drop was attributed 100% to the B70. Why not her training? When I went from a 5:23 to a 5:12 a couple of years later I was not wearing a B70 in either instance (they had not come out yet.) I worked my butt off and totally worked on becoming a different swimmer. . . and I still have a way to go.
You asked "Do I buy a $400 suit and beat people cheating?" The top 10 swimmers in our AG and almost all AGs are wearing the B70s or at least FS or Pros. The question is do you not buy one and get beat by people who are not cheating. . .
If you want to stay competitive you need the training AND the equipment. Just my two cents. Good thread.
I have many swimmer friends say that there is a distinct advantage wearing it.
Ask them if there is a distinct advantage wearing goggles and a swim cap.
Join us, Karen. Resistance is futile.
Are you buying me a B70 my cardiologist friend?
That might be difficult to explain to my wife. As it is, when she sees me on the computer she asks if I am corresponding with internet girlfriend.
I have raced just once in my B70 - but I can't compare to my past swims because the B70 race was SCM and I almost never race SCM. I also did not execute the races particularly well because the glide in the B70 was so good in my breaststroke races that my timing at the wall was all messed up.
I too do not believe it is worth 3 secs per 50. There is no data (except with the OP) to back that up. Ande races all the time and he is faster than ever -but his drops due to the B70 are nowhere near 3 secs/50.
As said above I agree that the benefits of the B70 will vary. I think it stiffens the core of the body which improves the body position and streamline. On freestyle flip turns I believe I spin faster because my body position is higher in the water. I'm looking forward to my next SCY meet at the end of March and I'll have good comparison data.
Enter dolphin 2 stage left...
Here's my experience with two taper meets:
4/26/2008: FSII jammers
- 100 BR: 1:05.20 (last event of 2 day meet)
- 200 BR: 2:25.81
12/14/2008: B70 kneeskin
- 100 BR: 1:03.30
- 200 BR: 2:25.81 (not a typo)
Not sure what to make of that...
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.
Gull, you saw it too?! :afraid:
I've never floated one, but I'd venture a guess that it does float as it has wetsuit materials in its composition. I'm not sure if it's neoprene or something similar?
I saw that B70 rep Dean post a few times awhile ago, maybe he could answer? Again, I don't have one or I'd check the label.
Jim, I know you wear your B70 to work (as you work faster and more efficiently with it on, with less effort of course), could you check the label?
:thhbbb:
Could you imagine a group of non swimmers watching "serious" competitive swimmers test-float a suit at the pool?
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Oh, we're just seeing if the $400 suit floats."
It does indeed float. My daughter's science project was "Which model swimskin is the fastest?" One of the data collection items was float or not float? So we threw the suits in the water and watched.
