With all due respect to Ande, who tried to get me to buy a tech suit at Nationals (Ande, thanks for the compliment when you guessed my size, but I would wear a 36 in a tech suit, not a 26.), I respectfully submit my top ten reasons for hating tech suits:
1. $$$ Too expensive. I feel my money was better spent at The Athlete Village, having a video analysis done of my breaststroke. Implementing the tips I picked up from the online coach will help me to swim faster faster than a tech suit.
2. Struggle to put on. In the time it took a couple of gals in the locker room at Nationals to get their suit half-way on, I was out of my street clothes, into my Speedo Endurance suit, and had my bag unpacked and into the locker. And, I had expended a lot less energy than they did. I would rather spend my energy in the pool… :D
3. Too fragile. See Allen Stark’s post about his tech suit blowout- right before his event. I would be steaming big time if I had spent a heap of $ on a tech suit, then have it rip on me. :bitching:
Speaking of steaming…
4. The heat factor. I have heat intolerance medical issues (I love the heat mentally; my body hates it in a serious way), so being encased in a tech suit would exasperate the situation and possibly negate any gain I had made wearing the suit anyway. I was in Sunday’s last event (200 breaststroke) and was wasted by that point, after spending three days in the heat and humidity. :badday:
5. I want an apples-to-apples comparison of my times. I (barely) beat my seed times in two of my events and dropped my time about 2 seconds in another. If I had worn a tech suit and improved my times even more, would that have been a fair comparison- or would it have been the suit? I think a tech suit would have provided a false sense of success and an inaccurate indication as to my level of improvement since my previous meet. Then, post-tech suit, if my times got worse how would I feel then? I wonder how many of the swimmers will feel when they see (possibly) seconds being added back on to their times, post-tech suit? A false sense of success followed by huge disappointment is going to play on many minds, I’m sure. :confused:
6. Wearing a tech suit only exposes the arms and feet. I like to FEEL of the water with more than that. :agree:
7. Claustrophobic; too confining. I love summer, because I get to live in shorts and t-shirts. The less on me the better; it's more comfortable. :)
8. My current ranking #130 of 266 in the 50 breaststroke doesn’t put me in a position to be winning any medals or awards. Where would a tech suit put me in the rankings? #125? #120?? Even #100? Big deal! :rolleyes:
9. Personally, modesty isn’t an issue. At 48, I’m comfortable in my 5’71/2, 123lb. frame. And, I was comfortable in my not-as-fit 150lb pound frame, when I spent six months in Australia, back in 1984, where I spent some of the time relaxing on their nude beaches. Why? Because Aussies are comfortable in their skin and not hung up on their bodies like Americans are. Nude and topless beaches are common in Australia and you will see bodies of all shapes and sizes there. And, nobody cares. :)
Speaking of bodies…
10. Visualize Mark Spitz…1972 Olympics… in a Speedo… :D I was only 10 years old, but, believe me, my eyes were GLUED to the TV- and not necessarily only while he was swimming. Need I say more? Not all Masters swimmers look as good as Mark Spitz in a Speedo, but I saw PLENTY of AARP eligible swimmers out of their tech suits at Nationals that had absolutely stunning bodies- male and female! And, for those who weren’t? So what???
That concludes my :2cents: on the subject!
Former Member
All the discussions I have thrown my :2cents: in on this I have said...get rid of them...I still say that even though I wore one last weekend...was great swimming with it...all I used it for is motivation!!! Now that I have set some halfway decent times in one...my goal going forward is to get to those times without the suit now.
But ultimately I believe this:
Put a Jammer or Brief on and let's swim...swimmer against swimmer...not Blue Seventy vs Jaked...swimmer against swimmer...IMHO of course...
Don't know where I am losing a point or where I was offended. I thought imititaion was the best form of flattery.
Imitation is one thing...making fun of someones beliefs is another...even you should know that...
This basically argues that allowing the tech suits makes everyone happy, since those who don't like them can choose to compete without them.
No, I simply stated that it was nice to have a choice in the matter. All choices have consequences.
It is false, because then those of us who don't like them have two choices: wear them and be somewhat unhappy about it, or don't wear them and be at a competitive disadvantage.
You did not appear to be at a competitive disadvantage wearing a Speedo brief in the 50 back (I did not see your other races), beating Ande (in a tech suit) and setting a National record in the process. Well done, by the way.
Chris just gave you an excellent synopsis of how this organization works and I will give you more. Most (upwards of 90%) of the national body, including delegates, officers and directors is made up of competitors. The simple fact is that Masters swimming could not survive on the interest and involvement of non competitive swimmers or triathletes. They just don't create a cohesive group. Every major decision is made by active competitors.
I weigh 240 and am a vice president who went to Atlanta to compete. Is that enough weight for you?
Could you put on a couple of more pounds?
Wow.....that is not very nice. This is my first time back on the forum in a long time. It's hateful comments like this that have kept me away.
:angel: Awww, what happened to having a sense of humor about life.
Then, following your logic (such as it is) every change in personal equipment (goggles, lycra, swim caps), every change in technique (head down breaststroke, rollover backstroke turns, dolphin kick during pullouts, etc), every change in pool design (lane lines, deeper pools, wave reduction gutters, etc) that contributes to lower times should have an asterisk (or maybe we need to break out the Cyrillic overlay?).
Now, let's be clear here. I'm a huge fan of the full body suits and have used them while they were considered legal swimwear but my opinion is that anything introduced after 2007 should have never been allowed to be used in sanctioned competition.
Would I like kneeskins to come back for men? Heck yeah. Do I want to see an arms race like we saw in 2008/2009? Heck no. 2007 and earlier tech is fine with me.
I hear what you're saying but there's a difference between technical improvements to the sport that are fairly readily available to all swimmers (goggles, lane lines, etc) and $400 swim suits that not everyone can afford to purchase. I don't really care what happens with the issue but I know I won't ever be running to the store to spend that much on a swim suit.
Elaine- what typically happens with these 'hot' topics in the forums is that people often react to a post without reading carefully and fire a salvo without rereading their own post. I've done it. There is a lot of history between many posters resulting in pointed remarks that could seem hurtful but are part of an evolved dialogue between the posters.
99% of the posters are actually lovely people who would give fellow swimmers the shirt off their back if you needed it (well, actually Geek would rent it to you).
Keep up your posting and realize that breastrokers are the royalty of these forums and that entails a certain noblesse oblige towards ignoring the jealous nattering of the practitioners of the lesser strokes.
:applaud::applaud::applaud::wiggle:
