I saw two 'Nero blueseventy' suit failures today and now what I believe to be the fastest suit in the world, the 'Speedo LZR'

Bob Strand set a world record for his age group in a Nero blueseventy at the SPMA Regional Long Course Championships hosted by Conejo Simi Aquatics at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA. I don't remember his time for I was more interested in what he thought of the suit. Of course he was stoked. Results will be posted soon.

However, I saw two Nero blueseventy suits rip today in the exact same spot, a two inch tear along the seams in the upper thigh area by the gluteus maximus region

By the way, Bob Strand's suit did not fail. I learned today that if you are going to race in a Nero, be sure it is wet; less chance of tearing.

Now, as for the fastest suit in the world: I saw Erik Hockstein set a world record today in the 4x100 LCM free while wearing a Speedo LZR. It was during the opening swim of a relay in a time of 52.20. (Yes, that is blazing fast and it was fun to see.) He later swam in a Nero in the 100 free in a time 52.86.

Now I have to be fair. I did not see a TYR Tracer Light today. I was going to purchase one and wear it but scheduling factors did not permit me to make the 50 mile drive to go buy one. Also, I can't find one online yet. So I am qualifying my experience with speedsuits here. The fastest suit I have ever seen in person is the Speedo LZR. It's faster than Nike Hydra, the Nero blueseventy, former Speedo suits, former TYR speedsuits, Former Arena suits and Diana.

It is a remarkable suit but watching someone put it one on is actually stressful. Especially the zipping up part. It's like setting a mousetrap; you are afraid it will go very wrong and nail your fingers when you go to place it down on the floor.

I am seriously still looking at a TYR Tracer Light or Rise though due to the fact that the LZR has a short shelf life and the Tracer may be the only game in town in terms of quality. Now when I buy a TYR Tracer Light and if it by chance rips or tears, you will hear about it and then we all will be back to square one as to which "dope" is best.

Brendan Hansen is in the "lab" and he is wearing every manufacturers' suit!

Look at all that water in Brendan Hansen's hands. It looks just like cracked ice.

Here is Lisa Dillman from the L.A. Times and this article is Gold! So much info about Santa Clara but I m going to focus on this revealing fact: Nike has given Brendan Hansen permission to experiment with any suit he wants. At Santa Clara he wore a Lzr, his next race a TYR.

Snippets from the L.A. Times as to why: "... So Hansen gave Speedo a test run in the final of the 200 breaststroke, which he won in 2 minutes 10.62 seconds. Peirsol did his experimenting under quieter circumstances. "I'm not going to lie to you, I did wear something this morning," Peirsol said. ..."

"... Hansen said Sunday he plans to also test TYR's high-tech offering. Peirsol said he would consider it too. ..."

"We want to exhaust every possible option that we have," Hansen said. "If I get on the blocks and if I swim against somebody with a TYR suit, I know I've worn that, and I know what that feels like. I don't want there to be any guesswork at all about what my competitors are wearing. ..."

". . . I'm really pleased with the Nike suit I wore in the 100, so that's up there. . . . That one feels most comfortable. The one I wore tonight worked really good as well. I don't want you to think that my time had anything to do with the suit that I'm wearing."

"... Hansen wants the suit issue off the table in the next two to three weeks. "I'll have to sit down and write down on a piece of paper which one I like better, which one is more comfortable," he said. "I don't want to be telling you guys 'I don't know what I'm wearing' two days before the trials...." [Link]

Back from the meet: Erik Vendt's American record in the 1500m is safe! He out-touched me by 9-minutes or so.

Erik Vendt swam his 1500m in Santa Clara; I swam mine in Santa Clarita. His time in the 1500m was 14:54.89; mine was a punishing 24.00.02. (It's the .02 that really gets me. It's just so asymmetrical.)

We had some Masters world records set there today as well and I have to say that the Santa Clarita pool is a superb facility. In fact it is where I do my fastest swimming. (Well, as fast as I can.)

I set a personal best in the 50 LCM in a time of 29.87 despite being super fatigued from the 1500 LCM. (That is a meek explanation and I have to stop that.)

As to how formidable the 1500m is: What was I thinking? Obviously not much for I just don't have the degree of ability or concentration yet to swim that far or as well as I should. Also in the back of my mind I was thinking that I had to save something for the 50 and the 100 and you can't think that way. You have to approach each race as this existential moment in time and you have to just stick to your plan and then storm it.

It really makes you appreciate the "Zen, discipline" in such athletes as Evans, Hackett, Vendt, and of course, Kate Ziegler.

In the 50 I wore a wore a Nike Hydra and I have to say that I am very impressed with the Nike Hydra. It is far lighter than the Speedo Fastskin II, faster and much easier to get on. The compression is outstanding but your airways don't feel constricted in any way.

Every time I have worn the Hydra I have either set a personal best or swam practically on top of it. Don't think Nike is not player in the elite speedsuit category. The most underrated suit is faster than a Fastskin II. Who knew?

The photo above I took last year of the Santa Clarita Aquatic center. It was a during a SCY Regionals meet. I include the photo to give you and idea of what the pool looks like.

Mini review of the 'Nike Hydra' speedsuit and a snippet about the 'blueseventy'

Last week I purchased a Nike Hydra from SwimOutlet.com for the UCLA Bruins Master Meet that was held today. My motive for buying the suit was this goal I have of making it into the top-10 swims in my age group for the 50 yard free. I am pretty confident that I made it in the 100, 200 and 500 free but I really want to make the list for the 50 free. The season was a bit short this year due to Nationals in Austin, Texas and the FINA Masters Swimming World Championships in Perth, Australia this month. Hence, only 36 or so swimmers in my age group competed this season in that particular race and out of those 36 swimmers I was sitting at number 10; a position on the bubble so to speak.

Consequently, I was worried some fast guys would climb out of the woodwork at this meet and bump me off the list so I figured a little "tech doping" seemed like an viable, desperate, option and so I dropped the $165 on a midnight, black, Nike Hydra.

The suit arrived in a timely manner and it fit very well. The suit is very lightweight. My Speedo Fastskin II leggings were heavier and far harder to put on. Also, I never came close to swimming a "personal best" in the Fastskins and in a fit of anger, I gave them away.

At today's meet I decided not to warm up in the Hydra but rather warm up in a TYR brief instead and swim the 50SCY race with a dry suit versus a wet one. While waiting for my race, I saw a girl wearing a blueseventy and I asked her what she thought about it and she said she too was just going to jump in and see what her first impressions would be.

When the bell rang, I leaped in and I felt fast for the first lap, on the second lap the suit didn't feel as fast but I was only .02 off my personal best for the event in a time of 26:26. The time was a bit surprising since the air temp was at least 90 degrees today and I felt like I was melting before my event. My mouth was dry, I was starting to sweat since I was wearing a midnight, black, speedsuit, a latex cap and goggles and there was little to no shade. When the bell sounded it was sheer relief to jump in.

All of the above got repeated for the 100 free as well which was held 10-minutes later yet I did well in that event too. I swam a sloppy race only squeezing in one breath on the first lap and my turnover felt like it was in slow-motion yet in the 100 free I was only .07 off my personal best, a 58.67.

What I don't like about the suit, and the woman I spoke with who was wearing the blueseventy said the exact same thing to me after her race, is that both of us have the same sort of body type whereas we both have more of an exaggerated arch in the small of backs at our lumbar region hence, when I wore the Hydra I developed an air pocket in that area which is great till you do a flip turn. Post turn, it felt a bit floppy or saturated. This young lady said the same thing about the blueseventy. The conclusion she arrived at was that the suit would be great for a triathlon and my conclusion is that the Hydra would "motor" in a 50LCM leaving me to believe that I will comfortably break 30 seconds wearing one. epilogue: $165 was an amazing value considering most sppedsuits start at $300+ range all the way up to $550 for the LZR.

What I leaned about speedsuits is that the fit is more superior than the material. Speedsuits should be tailored and not purchased off the rack.

BTW, I came second today in the 50 free thwarting four challengers but I got beat by the fifth one and I don't believe I will make the top 10 for the 50. Maybe next year.

I have films of the event coming, even a tee-shirt relay. :-)

I bought a 'Nike' speedsuit for the "UCLA Bruins Masters Swim Meet" this weekend - Can you guess which one?

The TYR suit is not available yet and I am trying to make it into the SPMA Top 10 in the 50 SCY free for my age group. I am shooting for a :25+