Fun, and Fast

Thanks again and best of luck for your swim meet! Do post your results. Well, I'm disappointed with the swim meet for several reasons, and this might be a good time to admit I was wrong. Chris Stevenson, and Brian (Jazz Hands) have been staunch critics of the tech suits, and I must admit, after this competition many doubts have been firmly established in my mind. My results were not up to my personal standards, although, I realize that I should have chosen the 100's to race, possibly even the 200's, because that's what I've been training for. However, early in the season, I chose all the 50's and the 25 free for this meet. Now, I know that this might be a bit of a concession to the critics, perhaps it was because I was wearing a second generation tech suit, either way, the hype did leave me lacking in enthusiasm. First the 50 fly, I was trying the track start, and again, I should have practiced this more, but needless to say, I entered the water sideways. So there I was, deep and out of streamline, wearing my "great" tech suit, struggling just to make it to the surface. The turn was a bit better, and the last 15 meters felt glorious, still 27.1 SCM is the SLOWEST I've been in over 8 years! Then the shock set in, have I been duped? I mean, the turn felt good, and the last part of the race was decent enough, my splits were ridiculous, 13.2, 13.9, but now I was starting to get cold, and a few race-mates conceded that the suit gets heavy when wet, and it's best to have 4-5 different suits per meet. WHAT?!! Right, it's only effective when dry? So there I am, wanting to race a decent 25 free, hoping to have a better start. Being keen, I hold the start early, but wait, I'm leaning, no, no ,no, arrrgggghhh, I fell in the water. The rules are the rules are the rules... No worries, it's only a 25 free, and I'm soaking wet with the whole pool watching. The meet official mentions to me, you know, the show must go on, without "the rule breaker". At which point, there was a bit of an uproar, and it was a small consolation to hear half the pool chanting, "Let him swim! Let him swim! Let him swim!." True story, although it wasn't until after, when someone mentioned to me what the crowd was actually saying, because what I first heard was, "Rip the suit! Rip the suit! Rip the suit!" Thankfully, my girlfriend was able to put a positive spin on the whole experience, "At least this isn't Nationals, this is the best time to learn." So the next event, 50 breaststroke, not my best event, so I decided to keep the tech suit on, wet or not, give it a try. Okay, 34.2 SCM, blah, again, my slowest in 8 years. I couldn't even pull properly, my shoulders felt restricted, and the kick was slipping the whole way... very disappointing... At this point I was thinking, Chris Stevenson is going to make me eat my swim cap. Out of frustration I took the suit off, and my girlfriend says, "why don't you wear the pink speedo brief instead?" Why not? So for the 50 free, I stood up and was surprised to "feel" the water again. You know? I've always been more into the flow, etc. and really, I couldn't feel that in the full body suit. Ironically, the only race at this meet that I was somewhat happy with was the 50 free, with a time of 24.6, decent enough for "in-season", yet again, my start was horrible, and my splits were, 12.30, 12.36 WHAT?! After this race I resigned myself to the fact that I really was duped, although a few people mentioned that the suit makes a bigger difference on the 100's and 200's, perhaps, but only when DRY?!! A few of the top performers at the meet did wear a different tech suit for each race. Leg skins for ***, full body for free... Fine, not a complete hoax, but everyone I spoke to mentioned the B-70 is an excellent suit, better priced, more durable, and the 100 breaststroke WR SCM was set wearing it... (not sure if that information is accurate, considering it was second-hand. Although, I'll cling to any myth that might help my breaststroke, have I really learned anything? Maybe I should just train stroke specific!) So for the final race I put my work-out Jammers over top of my pink speedo, and began to think of the meet as just another training session. In which case the times became quasi-acceptable, and I started to reconcile my failure as just a matter of pre-race expectations. Last season I wasn't really expecting to go sub 52, for the 100 free, or certainly not a 1:54.9 200, and these races left me feeling pleasant for at least 6 months. Here I was, making a rookie mistake at an in-season meet, expecting to drop 5-6 tenths off my best times in the 50's, without really training for them, all because of the suit, and it didn't happen that way.

Thanks again and best of luck for your swim meet! Do post your results. Well, I'm disappointed with the swim meet for several reasons, and this might be a good time to admit I was wrong. Chris Stevenson, and Brian (Jazz Hands) have been staunch critics of the tech suits, and I must admit, after this competition many doubts have been firmly established in my mind. My results were not up to my personal standards, although, I realize that I should have chosen the 100's to race, possibly even the 200's, because that's what I've been training for. However, early in the season, I chose all the 50's and the 25 free for this meet. Now, I know that this might be a bit of a concession to the critics, perhaps it was because I was wearing a second generation tech suit, either way, the hype did leave me lacking in enthusiasm. First the 50 fly, I was trying the track start, and again, I should have practiced this more, but needless to say, I entered the water sideways. So there I was, deep and out of streamline, wearing my "great" tech suit, struggling just to make it to the surface. The turn was a bit better, and the last 15 meters felt glorious, still 27.1 SCM is the SLOWEST I've been in over 8 years! Then the shock set in, have I been duped? I mean, the turn felt good, and the last part of the race was decent enough, my splits were ridiculous, 13.2, 13.9, but now I was starting to get cold, and a few race-mates conceded that the suit gets heavy when wet, and it's best to have 4-5 different suits per meet. WHAT?!! Right, it's only effective when dry? So there I am, wanting to race a decent 25 free, hoping to have a better start. Being keen, I hold the start early, but wait, I'm leaning, no, no ,no, arrrgggghhh, I fell in the water. The rules are the rules are the rules... No worries, it's only a 25 free, and I'm soaking wet with the whole pool watching. The meet official mentions to me, you know, the show must go on, without "the rule breaker". At which point, there was a bit of an uproar, and it was a small consolation to hear half the pool chanting, "Let him swim! Let him swim! Let him swim!." True story, although it wasn't until after, when someone mentioned to me what the crowd was actually saying, because what I first heard was, "Rip the suit! Rip the suit! Rip the suit!" Thankfully, my girlfriend was able to put a positive spin on the whole experience, "At least this isn't Nationals, this is the best time to learn." So the next event, 50 breaststroke, not my best event, so I decided to keep the tech suit on, wet or not, give it a try. Okay, 34.2 SCM, blah, again, my slowest in 8 years. I couldn't even pull properly, my shoulders felt restricted, and the kick was slipping the whole way... very disappointing... At this point I was thinking, Chris Stevenson is going to make me eat my swim cap. Out of frustration I took the suit off, and my girlfriend says, "why don't you wear the pink speedo brief instead?" Why not? So for the 50 free, I stood up and was surprised to "feel" the water again. You know? I've always been more into the flow, etc. and really, I couldn't feel that in the full body suit. Ironically, the only race at this meet that I was somewhat happy with was the 50 free, with a time of 24.6, decent enough for "in-season", yet again, my start was horrible, and my splits were, 12.30, 12.36 WHAT?! After this race I resigned myself to the fact that I really was duped, although a few people mentioned that the suit makes a bigger difference on the 100's and 200's, perhaps, but only when DRY?!! A few of the top performers at the meet did wear a different tech suit for each race. Leg skins for ***, full body for free... Fine, not a complete hoax, but everyone I spoke to mentioned the B-70 is an excellent suit, better priced, more durable, and the 100 breaststroke WR SCM was set wearing it... (not sure if that information is accurate, considering it was second-hand. Although, I'll cling to any myth that might help my breaststroke, have I really learned anything? Maybe I should just train stroke specific!) So for the final race I put my work-out Jammers over top of my pink speedo, and began to think of the meet as just another training session. In which case the times became quasi-acceptable, and I started to reconcile my failure as just a matter of pre-race expectations. Last season I wasn't really expecting to go sub 52, for the 100 free, or certainly not a 1:54.9 200, and these races left me feeling pleasant for at least 6 months. Here I was, making a rookie mistake at an in-season meet, expecting to drop 5-6 tenths off my best times in the 50's, without really training for them, all because of the suit, and it didn't happen that way.