Shocking
I found this article yesterday, but didn't get a chance to finish it until this morning. Unbelieveable. The first question that comes to mind is, why has it taken so long for this to get written? This kind of expose/explanation should have been written years ago. It's obvious that the effects of these drugs have been well known in the medical community for a long time, and any one of hundreds or even thousands of doctors could have provided this information. The dirty bastards.
Anyway, while I read the article, I alternated between feeling mildly sick at the thought of how easy all this training becomes when a person is on drugs, and mildly happy that I don't have the funds or the desire to try any of this stuff myself. I imagined what kind of marathon I could run after a five year training period if I could run 20 miles a day at my best aerobic pace and never have to stop to recover. Then I imagined having to look back at those five years in complete shame with a complete lack of satisfaction, knowing that I didn't do my best, but the best that my money and my doctor could provide.
I feel sorry for anyone who was talented enough to keep rising through the ranks, but not good enough to keep competing well without drugs. If they were less talented, perhaps they wouldn't have tried to make a career out of sport and forced to make a choice between taking drugs and being able to pay the rent.
I'm happy that my potential best is nothing compared to international standards. I will never have to worry about making that choice. Instead, I choose every day to get out of bed, run the workouts I think I should run, and see how fast I can get. For myself. By myself.
Anyway, while I read the article, I alternated between feeling mildly sick at the thought of how easy all this training becomes when a person is on drugs, and mildly happy that I don't have the funds or the desire to try any of this stuff myself. I imagined what kind of marathon I could run after a five year training period if I could run 20 miles a day at my best aerobic pace and never have to stop to recover. Then I imagined having to look back at those five years in complete shame with a complete lack of satisfaction, knowing that I didn't do my best, but the best that my money and my doctor could provide.
I feel sorry for anyone who was talented enough to keep rising through the ranks, but not good enough to keep competing well without drugs. If they were less talented, perhaps they wouldn't have tried to make a career out of sport and forced to make a choice between taking drugs and being able to pay the rent.
I'm happy that my potential best is nothing compared to international standards. I will never have to worry about making that choice. Instead, I choose every day to get out of bed, run the workouts I think I should run, and see how fast I can get. For myself. By myself.
posted at 8:32 AM [+]
8 Comments:
Thanks for the link. Interesting article....
I remember when this article came out. Great journalism, if a little risky. Looking back at my competitive career, I'm sure glad I didn't know about the pervasiveness of this stuff. Also, looking back at my competitive career, it's scary to think that this truly would have enabled me to fall on the other side of the tipping point.
Just remember how growth hormone distends your organs, grows your jaw (every wonder why Olympians get braces in their late 20's?) and enjoy running as a human, not a science project.
Eric, I actually posted to that arcticle earlier this summer too. I believe it's about 3 years old.
The part I like was when the doc started a sentence "Be careful..." and the guy thinks he's going to warn him about the dangers of the drugs. Instead he says something about "being careful around your training partners because if you go all-out, they may catch on."
What is truly scary to me is how effective and how accessible recovery agents like testosterone analogues are. When you can rub a cream on your skin and get a training benefit from it, that is just frighteningly easy. I can easily see how a person could rationalize just improving their recovery, as opposed to their strength or hematocrit levels, by rubbing some lotion on their stomach every night before bed. C'mon! Rub in some lotion then train twice a day, consistently faster at higher mileage, rarely get injured, heal faster if you do, and feel like you've been tapering every day. Screw the HGH and steroids. Plus testosterone metabolizes so quickly, you'll never get caught. Furthermore, if you're just a chucker like me, no one will ever drug test you anyway!
I use Slim-Fast shakes after a long run for the magical 4:1 carb to protein ratio, and it works like a charm. No muscle soreness after 20+ mile runs. What next? Maybe some concentrated milk proteins, MicroLactin, to reduce the inflammation from all that pounding. Maybe I can improve my recovery a bit more and reduce the chance of injury. What next? Why not a daily maintenance dose of testosterone cream? "Doc, I'm feeling a little depressed and I don't have any sex drive." A big fat lie, but whatever it takes to get the juice. Join the club, fella! Here's a tube of Be-a-man-again and a year of refills.
All that separates a regular guy like me from artifically enhancing my performance is morality. That's just silly. But it's enough.
Hmmm...looks like it was published in Outside magazine and then posted on the IAAF website some time later. I guess that answers my question about why this wasn't written about years ago. It was!
Zeke, all you other bloggers get to the good links first! I thought I had a good one here...still too slow.
You're not too slow for really slow people like me. I've never read this, so thanks for the article.
It really does show what a slippery slope the whole performance enhancing thing is.
Maybe that's the solution to that nagging hip thing you got going on.
Well aren't you just the sweetest little thing.?! Thanks baby doll for defending me... :-)
Greats stuff Eric. Thanks for posting at my place.
We are both the same age and the times you get for your running just put me to shame. That knocked me down a peg or two :)
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