Time observations about World's

I am one who feels he has benefited, time-wise, in a major way from the technical suits, though the difference between textile versions and the floatier B70 types was not nearly as huge as the difference between old-school briefs/jammers and textile body suits. In fact, the two-second drop per 100 I experienced after first weaing an Aquablade kneeskin when these first came out probably had a major impact on my desire to compete, not so much against other people but against times I had swum myself in high school and college. Rich, as the Godfather to us all, what effect has the suit change had on your motivation to train hard and compete? After last spring's legendary performance, would you be satisfied with a No. 1 time in your age group, even if you swam it a second slower than at Geogia Tech? Or does the prospect of (horrors!) slipping into the 23s (god forbid!) in the 50 SCY seem to you so depressing that you'd just as soon hang up the sluggish jammers for good and swim now just for fun? In a separate thread, Rob Copeland asked what will be necessary to grow USMS membership to 100,000 and beyond. It will be interesting to see if the suit change hurts this effort. One prediction: I suspect OW swimming may increase in popularity since the B70 style suits are still legal here. It remains to be seen what happens with pool meets. Does anyone know how Puerto Rico meet numbers stack up against other somewhat hard-to-get-to Nationals venues from the past? Jim, I thought that the tech suits were only allowed for this summer in OW. I hope not. Enough is enough with these crap. The numbers from Puerto Rico weren't bad since Rutgers in 2003 had a similar numbers. Rutgers was an easier than easy location to get to.

At this point, I am bracing myself for a downshift in times, but I am hoping that the loss of the technical suit will not put me at any more of a disadvantage than others in my age group. The trick, I think, will be surviving my first brush with the new mediocrity! It can be downright shocking, buddy. Prepare thyself for the new world, but you're right on, I believe, with the fact we're all in the same boat. Or suit...or whatever... In a separate thread, Rob Copeland asked what will be necessary to grow USMS membership to 100,000 and beyond. It will be interesting to see if the suit change hurts this effort. Personally, I can't see the suits, whether being allowed or not, as having much of an effect on overall numbers. They may affect numbers at competitions, more so, than the general membership totals. I'm still pondering Rob's request.

I am convinced that the absence of the long suits is having a profound effect on masters swimming times this year. Of course, like Jeff, I focus on my events in my age group. Here is a glaring example. Last year Josep Claret broke the world record in the 65+ 50 fly with a 28.54. This year he wins at Worlds with a 31.5. An anomoly? Last year the 10th place time in the world was 31.11. In the 100 fly Josep's record from last year was a 1:08.05. His winning time this year: 1:13.77. Two thoughts: The older you are, the greater the impact of not having the suit. Second, not all swimmers are affected the same by the change. Comparing the world's top ten from 2009 to 2010 over all age groups will eventually give us a much better picture. I did not experience as profound an effect; 1 sec/100 is roughly right for me. But I have this (mostly unsupported) feeling that sprints and freestyles were the most affected. forums.usms.org/blog.php Aub as you said, everyone is different, so this is just one more data point. Jim, I thought that the tech suits were only allowed for this summer in OW. I hope not. Enough is enough with these crap. I think FINA said that it is allowing full-body suits for OW swims but they have to be textile/porous.

The older you get, the faster you were.

If you were to go to a nationals or a regional meet for that matter you would see that it has always been a "level playing field". Everyone that was competitive wore a tech suit. It was fun to swim fast. I, for one, will miss the suit. I swim in the meets. Midas, you said you won't miss the suit.....Did you swim any meets this summer? Did you go to regionals? Worlds? Are you going to nationals? Just wondering, because if you did, you might find yourself missing the suit, too. Like I said, it's fun to swim fast. I swam in my regional championships meets (Pacific Masters) last year (2009) for both SCY and SCM wearing my FS Pro Jammers. I'd like to think I'm competitive, but I'm not competitive with guys like Roque Santos... Any way, I was very happy with my SCY times, which were, on average, less than 1 second slower per 100 than my times achieved while wearing my B70. My SCM times were disappointing mostly because I wasn't training as hard as I wanted to be (and also wasn't shaved). Work has been keeping me extremely busy this year so I haven't made it to any national or regional championship meets (though I wish I could have gone to Puerto Rico!). I went to a couple of SCY meets early this year and didn't wear my B70 either. I was also happy with my times from those meets, given how little training I had been doing. Of course, my view is that I swim equally fast whether I wear the suits or not! :)