Swimming Stories

You bit the bullet and bought that $400 suit didn’t you? Now you are set for competitions for the next…..Right. So, how long is the life expectancy of a tech suit? 

The truth is, not very long for both men and women. That doesn’t mean your investment gets tossed in the trash though, so just hang tight a moment and read on.

Let’s do a little math to get started. Say your championship meet runs four days and you are competing in two events a day plus relays, and don’t forget timed finals. You could be looking at upwards of 20 swims! Plus warm-up and warm-down makes for a lot of time in the water. Each time you are in the water your tech suit degrades bit by bit.

To reap all the benefits of a tech suit you want them fresh and crisp, new out of the box. If you take excellent care of them they will certainly reward you. This means rinsing and air drying them after each use. Never put them in a dryer. Ever.

The harsh truth is don’t expect to get more than two full meets out of a tech suit. If you are an elite level swimmer you should expect to buy a new one each year. If you go through your championship meet and your suit isn’t as tight or repelling water as well as the first time it touched the water, it is not defective. And it certainly doesn’t mean that after a year you should throw it out! Keep the suit in rotation. This will help you cut back on the abuse newer suits take. So, after you buy your first tech suit and it goes through short course championship and long course championships, don’t toss it. If it is still whole, as in no holes, make it your prelims suit for next year. Then your new tech suit becomes the finals suit and is worn less and may last you an extra championship meet.

Once you get a few suits in rotation they don’t get worn out as quickly and you won’t need replacements as frequently.

Lower end tech suits are typically made of less finicky and lower maintenance materials. Start there for your younger swimmers. They last longer, they are more comfortable, and they have less structure in the female versions. The higher end suits have bonded seams and panels that account for hips and busts in more mature girls. The lower end suits aren’t so fancy and are perfect for younger swimmers.

Take care of your suit and it will take care of you.

Recently on the Kiefer Facebook page, we asked our followers, "How has swimming changed your life?"

The responses from the community were great! We loved reading different stories of life change from people. Here are some of the responses listed below. If you want to read the rest of the comments, check out the original Facebook post here.

"I broke the family tradition of having heart attacks & strokes at an early age!" - Linda M

"Got me super fit and been healthy ever since i started swimming." - Jesus M.

"I met my husband at a swim meet twenty two years ago." - Amy W.

"Gave me a home. I was able go to college because of swimming and travel the world through swimming high school, USA, maccabiah, and now usms. Swimming gave me a family and friends. The hard work and knowing what it takes to be your best I learned from my coaches. My husband and I now swim masters and it has brought us closer. I am so thankful for this sport that has given me so much." - Sandra B.

"Full college scholarship, without which probably not able to go to college. Traveled the world, represented my country internationally, meeting tremendous people. Several coaches who taught me the values of hard work, dedication and discipline, not just in the water but about life. Still swimming after 50 years amd hoping for another 50." - Kurt W.

"I'm just a swim mom. But swimming made our whole family more dedicated and hard workers. Gave us a whole new group of friends in the community as well. My kids, never argue about bedtime...lol" - Noel T.

" I have supportive & fun teammates who make me want to swim just to be around them." - Michael R

Swimming impacts our lives in many different ways: it improves our health, helps create new relationships, strengthens our personal character, and creates new opportunities for us.

Has swimming changed your life? Share your story with us in the comments below!

We all did it. We compared ourselves to other swimmers. We looked up at other swimmers who were way faster than us, and said, "How do they do that?"

I know I have done it... In fact, I used to on a daily basis. I would look up at the swimmers in the next lane, even the ones in my own, and wonder how they made the sendoffs just fine while I struggled. Then I would watch them at meets as if they were gods, and a little pain of jealousy would creep up on me.

I finally asked myself, “Who am I comparing myself to?” I was comparing myself to a boy who had been swimming his entire life and had a massive body of muscle. I had been swimming for about a year and a half. I had almost no athletic background when I came onto the team. The fact that I was comparing myself to these faster swimmers was ridiculous.

Compare yourself to your former self. Do not compare yourself to others. Do not compare yourself to where you were a week ago or even a month ago. Compare yourself to where you were a year ago. If swimming is still quite new for you, compare yourself to where you were on your first day. Don’t just compare your records, compare sets and distances you used to struggle with. Compare technique change, and compare your growing body strength. Swimming is about delayed gratification. All the small changes add up to one big heap of improvement.

There is an article I read called, “Who Cares if You Run Slow?” by Jeff Gaudette. You can find it on the website, “Triathlete Europe”. Geared towards runners, the article can easily be related to swimmers. The truth is that running, or swimming in our case, has no difference between faster swimmers and slower swimmers, other than their records are shorter and they may go to state meets. That moment when you have a hand on the wall with ten seconds to go until the next sendoff, and you watch the hand get closer all too fast as your heart pounds and your breathing is like an old time locomotive. That moment is the same for every swimmer. Whether you break 1:00 or 1:20 in your hundred yard free, that moment of triumph is the same. When you are in a race, whether it be the fastest heat or the slowest heat, and you see your opponent gaining on you in the next lane, and you surge ahead, that moment is also the same.

Who are you comparing yourself to?

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This is a guest post from Martina K. Martina first became involved in swimming when she was a lifeguard at age sixteen. After moving to Oregon when she was 18, she joined a swim team at a late age. She loves sharing her passion for swimming with the whole world through writing and her drive to achieve her goals. You can connect with her on Twitter.