The FS-PRO Record Breaker Kneeskin

Last weekend, my four sisters and I attended the first swimming competition of the year. "Torneo de Apertura 2010". I had a lot of fun, and was quite pleased with my results, especially because I didn't mess up my times after the National, which happened in December and is basically the most important event of the year. What made this competition so special was the fact that I was using my FS-PRO Record Breaker Kneeskin swimsuit. M y father bought it for me for the National, and I did great with it both on the National and last weekend.

God is it a wonderful creation of technology! Never had engineering and physics had been combined to conceive such a brilliant and extraordinarily perfect piece of art. I can personally say I had never been so pleased and impressed with something I bought, especially a swimsuit. It's just so stunning when you first get into the water and suddenly feel you are no longer trying to fight against the water. Instead, the water is almost taking you, and advancing becomes such an easy and thoughtless action. With it, I was able to finally make 40 seconds in 50m breast stroke, and 1.28min in 100m breast stroke. I was so happy with it, and I realized swimming with this new swimsuit and the one I previously used for competition was hugely different.

Unfortunately, all good things have their down side. Putting them on is every swimmer's nightmare.The first time I put mine on, it took about 15 minutes of wrestling and pulling in an impossible attempt to get myself into the tiny swimsuit. The thing is, they have to be very tight to stop water from getting inside, and the fabric is very tough, so it won't give in as easily. In the end, with help from my three sisters and my mom, I made it in (And to think my sister and I would have to do the same thing every single time a big competition happened. Fortunately we got better at it). After you get it on, it's not that bad, but after swimming, it is necessary to take it off as soon as possible. I think it's me, but every time I get out of the pool and the swimsuit starts to dry, it starts shrinking! On Friday my race was early, but I had to wait until my twin swam her race which was a lot later than mine. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take the swimsuit off because I had nothing else to wear. I didn't think much about it until the swimsuit started shrinking. There was a point in which it was so tight I felt I had put on a corset, and my whole body was all held tight. I had never looked so skinny in front of a mirror (oh, I should put it on one day when a dress doesn't fit). Still, I feel so special for having the best legal competition swimsuit there is. Yes, starting form January 2010, all women swimsuits cannot go longer than the knee, and men have to go no higher than the waist. That is so sad. In Cali (National), all the guys had their long swimsuits, the LZR's and even the Jaked swimsuit. They all looked so professional and ready to win. Almost all the records were broken in that competition, and everybody was swimming faster than ever. Last weekend it all changed. The same swim pros I had seen no less than two months ago looked now like amateurs that came from river trip (In Colombia, many people from the rural areas like to go have lunch by a river). Guys had very small swimsuits that looked pathetic against the LZR's, and girls had either regular swimsuits or the one I had (Lucky for me it is still legal). I felt a little depressed. The whole essence of serious swimming competition was in the swimsuit image, and now that they are gone, no one is going to feel the same again. How I miss those days of unbanned swimsuits.