I did a practice shave of my legs last night, to get used to it and also figure out how long it takes me for planning purposes.
Today in practice, I was faster than usual. The most obvious was in my 200 free warm-up. I dps the first 100 and then gradually speed up to about 75%. Usually I am around 3 minutes. Monday, I went 2:51. Today, I was 2:36 with the usual effort level.
My 200 *** warm-up was about 10 seconds faster than usual.
Can shaving really improve things that much? Is some of this because I am tapering?
Also, for those guys who shave your heads, do you also wear a cap? If not, is the bald head better than a cap?
The act of shaving can create a new feeling for the water that will allow you to move your body in a way to reduce drag. This is the benefit, not the actual reduction in drag due to the hair itself, which is probably minor. I don't think it will cut 24 seconds from your 200 or 10 seconds from your 200. If you are tapering, its that more than anything. When you put a taper together with a shave and the mental attitude that "now is the time to start swimming with purpose", you can drop some good time.
I disagree with the feeling being more important than the decreased drag idea.The enhanced sensation is of some utility,but the drag reduction actually accounts for most of the improvement in drag experiments.If feel was more important than drag no one would have used the late lamented tech suits as they decreased sensation.
The act of shaving can create a new feeling for the water that will allow you to move your body in a way to reduce drag. This is the benefit, not the actual reduction in drag due to the hair itself, which is probably minor. I don't think it will cut 24 seconds from your 200 or 10 seconds from your 200. If you are tapering, its that more than anything. When you put a taper together with a shave and the mental attitude that "now is the time to start swimming with purpose", you can drop some good time.
I disagree with the feeling being more important than the decreased drag idea.The enhanced sensation is of some utility,but the drag reduction actually accounts for most of the improvement in drag experiments.If feel was more important than drag no one would have used the late lamented tech suits as they decreased sensation.
