The Suits can stay -- but swimmers must decide !

Former Member
Former Member
I think we can all be certain that the suits are here to stay -- love them, hate them, it does not really matter -- Speedo, TYR and the others will not allow the suits to all over sudden disappear. But, we as Masters swimmers have to make a decision about our own reasoning to compete -- why do we compete in swim meets ? There are many reasons - social, participating in a sport beats the hell out of watching one on TV and so on --- but for me, 2 of the main reasons are the competition aspects. We obviously compete against other swimmers --- but more than maybe many other sports, we compete against ourselves. I can tell you my best 100 Free from every season over the last 30 years (10 of which I did not compete). I have used most of the suits and did very well -- I set some personal bests and also achieved some record swims, but I have no idea how my times really compare to other seasons. I can keep telling myself that all that speedwork and lifting paid off - but I just don't know. I like to give a golf comparison -- let's say you have a home course and you always shoot in the low 90s going from the Blue Tees --- well guess what, if you are going from the white tees you will probably average high 80s and going from the red you may get down to the mid to low 80s. But you are not a better player because of it. The LZR seems to be the "white tees" and the new Jaked suit may be the "red tees". I think we really have to make a decision now to what matters more -- your personal records and history of swimming or the competition against other swimmers ? For me, this may change from meet to meet - but I must be able to stay honest with myself and be able to compare my times -- I do not want to be cheating myself. Old generations suits (Fastskin Pro) only for: all major Masters meets (individual swims) except for Worlds. That means, I am ok to lose a few places in a meet, in order to know what my time really means. I could just go really old school -- but I think the older generation suits are pretty equal to shaving -- and they allow you to be "shaved" and swim fast in season, which is a huge plus. LZR / Blue70 for: relays, Worlds and maybe some USS meets, if I am going for a time standard. I want to give any relay my fastest time possible - I swimming Worlds to win the title, so if others use the suits, I will have to do the same - if I go to USS meets, I may use them to get into the finals or to make a time standard for a big meet. It may take some adjustments - but I think it will work -- Who is with me ?
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  • My kick counts are around the same as Chris' & Mikes, 11 or 12 per length I asked Taylor Hill (UT's best SDKer) "What are your SDK plans for the 100 fl & 100 bk at NCAAs?" & he said 10 / 11 / 11 / 12 he added "I do 12 on the last length because I'm tired & my kick isn't as efficient, but it's still faster than swimming." I also found if I do SUIT SURGE push offs in a tech suit my DPK improves, eliminating one kick per length. 10-11-11-12 is impressive. My most recent 100 back race went 12-12-9-7 because I was winded on the 2nd 50. (My splits were fine though.) In practice I do increase my SDK's on the last 25 of a backstroke swim, but it hasn't transferred over to competition yet. The last few weeks, I've been working on a "surge" breakout in freestyle. Old breakout: when begin left arm underwater pull, switch from SDK's to flutter kick. Get in 4 flutter kicks before left arm emerges from the water. New breakout: when begin left arm underwater pull, do a maximum amplitude dolphin kick and surge towards the surface. As left arm emerges, do another max dolphin kick. Then switch to flutter kick after first freestyle stroke. So with the new breakout, I might do a total of 8 dolphin kicks instead of 6 with the old breakout, without having to hold my breath any longer than before. (Notice that I'm not calling them SDK's, since the last two are not streamlined!) My flutter kick is nothing to write home about so this is probably a good thing. I don't have a coach or whoever to tell me if I'm on the right track, but when I hit the surge just right, it feels really fast and explosive compared with my old breakout. This may lead me to try dolphin kick freestyle in a year or two...
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  • My kick counts are around the same as Chris' & Mikes, 11 or 12 per length I asked Taylor Hill (UT's best SDKer) "What are your SDK plans for the 100 fl & 100 bk at NCAAs?" & he said 10 / 11 / 11 / 12 he added "I do 12 on the last length because I'm tired & my kick isn't as efficient, but it's still faster than swimming." I also found if I do SUIT SURGE push offs in a tech suit my DPK improves, eliminating one kick per length. 10-11-11-12 is impressive. My most recent 100 back race went 12-12-9-7 because I was winded on the 2nd 50. (My splits were fine though.) In practice I do increase my SDK's on the last 25 of a backstroke swim, but it hasn't transferred over to competition yet. The last few weeks, I've been working on a "surge" breakout in freestyle. Old breakout: when begin left arm underwater pull, switch from SDK's to flutter kick. Get in 4 flutter kicks before left arm emerges from the water. New breakout: when begin left arm underwater pull, do a maximum amplitude dolphin kick and surge towards the surface. As left arm emerges, do another max dolphin kick. Then switch to flutter kick after first freestyle stroke. So with the new breakout, I might do a total of 8 dolphin kicks instead of 6 with the old breakout, without having to hold my breath any longer than before. (Notice that I'm not calling them SDK's, since the last two are not streamlined!) My flutter kick is nothing to write home about so this is probably a good thing. I don't have a coach or whoever to tell me if I'm on the right track, but when I hit the surge just right, it feels really fast and explosive compared with my old breakout. This may lead me to try dolphin kick freestyle in a year or two...
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