2010 SCM Zone Championships

Chris, I looked again at your comparisons, and I can see why these would lead you to believe that the body suit did not make a huge difference in your personal performances. There are probably all sorts of factors, from the GVF coefficient (gelatinously vibrating flab) to the MSFF Buoyancy Factor (muscle sinks, fat floats). Your observation that the effect may not scale linearly is a good one, too. Others, Rich right here on this very thread, have wondered it perhaps the suit helped short axis strokes more than the long ones. I asked a couple comments back if any of you have ideas on the impact of body suits on turns. Would, say, a 200 swum in a LCM pool (with a total of 3 turns) be more or less impacted by the suit change than a 200 swum in a SCM pool (with a total of 7 turns.) My personal anecdotal experience thus far is that the answer is YES--that the body suits helped more for short course than long course, probably because they really gave you a nice streamline-glide advantage off the walls (more walls, more advantage.) Any thoughts here? For what it's worth, I don't mind (too much) slowing down with age. But I would very much like to come up with a fair way to compare this year's times in a jammer with last year's times in a B70. For example, I got my lifetime best 200 SCY freestyle last spring, the first and only time in my life I have broken 1:55. This year, my best time (admittedly in a much worse pool) was a hair under 2:00. A 1:54.89 in a B70... followed four months later, after similar training, but in a much worse pool, untapered, etc., by.... A 1:59.81 in a jammer... I suppose I am just looking for some sort of succour here! If the difference in suits is 1 second per 100, then my high 1:59 is equivalent to a high 1:57. If the difference is 1.5 seconds per 100, then it becomes a high 1:56... It's one thing to accept the New Reality intellectually. But it's another thing to look at times you previously considered really, really horrible for you (and perhaps consider evidence that you are starting to get congestive heart failure or something similarly dire) and instantly feel okay about said new horrible times. On the other hand, if said new horrible times can be objectively shown to be, well, reasonably good, all things considered, then joy once again reigns unfettered in the Jimcentric Universe! Really, that's all I am hoping for. Happy days again in Jimcentricity. Please, mathematicians and swimming statistical scientists, won't you all join me in this noble quest?

Chris, I looked again at your comparisons, and I can see why these would lead you to believe that the body suit did not make a huge difference in your personal performances. There are probably all sorts of factors, from the GVF coefficient (gelatinously vibrating flab) to the MSFF Buoyancy Factor (muscle sinks, fat floats). Your observation that the effect may not scale linearly is a good one, too. Others, Rich right here on this very thread, have wondered it perhaps the suit helped short axis strokes more than the long ones. I asked a couple comments back if any of you have ideas on the impact of body suits on turns. Would, say, a 200 swum in a LCM pool (with a total of 3 turns) be more or less impacted by the suit change than a 200 swum in a SCM pool (with a total of 7 turns.) My personal anecdotal experience thus far is that the answer is YES--that the body suits helped more for short course than long course, probably because they really gave you a nice streamline-glide advantage off the walls (more walls, more advantage.) Any thoughts here? For what it's worth, I don't mind (too much) slowing down with age. But I would very much like to come up with a fair way to compare this year's times in a jammer with last year's times in a B70. For example, I got my lifetime best 200 SCY freestyle last spring, the first and only time in my life I have broken 1:55. This year, my best time (admittedly in a much worse pool) was a hair under 2:00. A 1:54.89 in a B70... followed four months later, after similar training, but in a much worse pool, untapered, etc., by.... A 1:59.81 in a jammer... I suppose I am just looking for some sort of succour here! If the difference in suits is 1 second per 100, then my high 1:59 is equivalent to a high 1:57. If the difference is 1.5 seconds per 100, then it becomes a high 1:56... It's one thing to accept the New Reality intellectually. But it's another thing to look at times you previously considered really, really horrible for you (and perhaps consider evidence that you are starting to get congestive heart failure or something similarly dire) and instantly feel okay about said new horrible times. On the other hand, if said new horrible times can be objectively shown to be, well, reasonably good, all things considered, then joy once again reigns unfettered in the Jimcentric Universe! Really, that's all I am hoping for. Happy days again in Jimcentricity. Please, mathematicians and swimming statistical scientists, won't you all join me in this noble quest?