If the full body rubber suits do end up getting banned, why should USMS follow their lead on this issue? (i.e. assuming the suits would continue to be manufactured).
Isn't Masters mostly for each individual to pursue what they want and the level they want out of the sport?
If the full body suit is preferred by many USMS participants, why not satisfy the base by keeping it available?
What's really the point of forcing old USMS swimmers out of their girdles if FINA bans them?
John Smith
Jeff, Greg, Leslie, et al,
I am not sure that the tech suits affect training discipline per se, and if they do, it's probably a variable and idiosyncratic range of effects.
I find my own training intensity waxes and wanes throughout the season, often paralleling such factors as my job workload, family obligations, travel schedule, injuries, and time in a given season.
For example, I just got back from Nationals feeling inspired to work really hard. But my shoulder is extremely sore from racing, I have a giant deadline at work, my son got rousted by the cops last night, etc. These things will have much more effect on training intensity than whether or not I can wear a tech suit next year.
What I do fear is going to happen to some of us is major disappointment when our times get much worse in jammers vs. B70s. Maybe with everyone's times getting worse, the blow will be cushioned. Maybe there will be some kind of conversion utility invented so that we can compare our post-B70 times with our pre-B70 times (and convince ourselves we haven't suddenly developed massive congestive heart failure and/or sarcopenia of aging). Maybe we will simply discover a previously unsuspected ability to HTFU resides in our obsessive swimmer's aging souls?
Who knows.
But I can see it being a little bit de-motivating, for me at least, to go from close to lifetime bests at 56 to more predictable performance of a geriatric with one blanched toe almost already in the grave.
Leslie proposed that the suits may be more valued by those over 40 than those under 40. I would have to agree with this. The illusion of eternal youth is clutched more rapaciously by those of us who see it fast slipping away!
Jeff, Greg, Leslie, et al,
I am not sure that the tech suits affect training discipline per se, and if they do, it's probably a variable and idiosyncratic range of effects.
I find my own training intensity waxes and wanes throughout the season, often paralleling such factors as my job workload, family obligations, travel schedule, injuries, and time in a given season.
For example, I just got back from Nationals feeling inspired to work really hard. But my shoulder is extremely sore from racing, I have a giant deadline at work, my son got rousted by the cops last night, etc. These things will have much more effect on training intensity than whether or not I can wear a tech suit next year.
What I do fear is going to happen to some of us is major disappointment when our times get much worse in jammers vs. B70s. Maybe with everyone's times getting worse, the blow will be cushioned. Maybe there will be some kind of conversion utility invented so that we can compare our post-B70 times with our pre-B70 times (and convince ourselves we haven't suddenly developed massive congestive heart failure and/or sarcopenia of aging). Maybe we will simply discover a previously unsuspected ability to HTFU resides in our obsessive swimmer's aging souls?
Who knows.
But I can see it being a little bit de-motivating, for me at least, to go from close to lifetime bests at 56 to more predictable performance of a geriatric with one blanched toe almost already in the grave.
Leslie proposed that the suits may be more valued by those over 40 than those under 40. I would have to agree with this. The illusion of eternal youth is clutched more rapaciously by those of us who see it fast slipping away!
