I started a similar poll before,but time has changed things and I thought since USMS is going to have to do something definitive so they should have some input from the forumites
Where is the evidence that any (recent) increased popularity is due to the tech suits? As pro-suit proponents never cease to remind me, tech suits have been around for at least 10 years.
I agree. And my personal experience has been that masters swimmers who don't compete, or compete very rarely, tend to think the tech suits are overpriced and sort of silly.
It's important to me, and much more fun, to swim fast all the time. I did this train, train, train for THE big taper meet all the time when I was a kid. It is old school, and I like doing it completely differently now as a master. I love tinkering with my training periods and training in general; and I can't always get to Nats anyway. (Judging by my family's current tolerance level, I think I'm going to be 0 for 2 next year.) Plus, as a geezer, I'm leery about training for THE meet and then getting sick or injured or have a family issue interfere with the plan.
Now I do own one of those magic suits that does the swimming for me. Otherwise, I'm sure I'd just swim slow all the time in season from lack of training. ;)
My sentiments as well except I didn't swim as a "kid" and the only other difference is that I own two!
masters swimmers who don't compete, or compete very rarely, tend to think the tech suits are overpriced and sort of silly.
What do they know then and who are they to pass judgment? :bolt:
I agree. And my personal experience has been that masters swimmers who don't compete, or compete very rarely, tend to think the tech suits are overpriced and sort of silly.
Yeah, but that's true for every sport, the ones who compete own the best equipment, as gull said, so I'm really offering nothing to this discussion.
But my point is that a lot of masters swimmers don't even care about tech suits, so this suggests to me that tech suits are NOT spurring increased interest in swimming--at least at the masters level.
First scm meet of the season in Mission Viejo - still lots and lots of suits out there ....
A bunch of records - all of them in some sort of tech suit. There is simply no way people will swim this well in season if they ban the suits - just for that reason, they should leave everything up to the swimmers ....
It's important to me, and much more fun, to swim fast all the time. I did this train, train, train for THE big taper meet all the time when I was a kid. It is old school, and I like doing it completely differently now as a master.
Well, after I thought about it, I realize that I don't do it now like I used to. Lately I do 4 big taper/shave meets a year (one at the end of each season, plus Sr Champs in the spring) and they come roughly 3 months apart. Figure in 3 weeks of taper for each and that's about 2 months of solid training for each meet. A 3-month training cycle is about right for me know, my body can't take endless weeks of hard training like it used to.
But swimming fast at every meet? For me anyway, that's a recipe for not swimming incredibly fast at any of them. I like swimming fast too.
In-season wearing of tech suits is not enough, as I found out first hand: swimming well in-season is at least as much a function of training as the suit. Wearing a tech suit when I'm fatigued from training brings to mind the phrase "lipstick on a pig...!"
I guess it is safe to say that you don't own one of those magic tech suits that does the swimming for you. Or are you one of those hypothetical individuals we keep hearing about who doesn't benefit as much from the suit as a lesser swimmer?
But swimming fast at every meet? For me anyway, that's a recipe for not swimming incredibly fast at any of them. I like swimming fast too.
I swam fast (for me) at every meet I swam in the last year (PBs). And I swam even faster in my taper meets. I think sprinters can do this more easily than you mid-D and D folks though.
I think a 2 month training cycle seems to work well for me. But I'm experimenting with this some. I think a 6 week cycle might work too. Periodization seems less important for sprinters.
And my personal experience has been that masters swimmers who don't compete, or compete very rarely, tend to think the tech suits are overpriced and sort of silly.
Funny, that's how I view a Ping driver.
