Bugs me. Everyone is looking for the easy way to the fountain of youth. I'm now in the 55 - 59 age group and I'm not sure there is fair competition to be found. So, I just work on maintaining my healthy fitness lifestyle and have stop worrying about others or competition.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

It seems to me that these advertisements are targeted towards people that due to their low T dont have the energy or the will to train and complete a triathlon if that is something they'd wish to do but can't due to how crappy they feel. If the T therapy helps them become active and feel better about themselves then good for them. I doubt you'll have to worry about them in competition. I think you sound a little paranoid but thats just me.

Nope, not paranoid a bit. Reality is that there is simply a decent percentage of folks on T therapy, etc for performance, appearance, etc, reasons and not for "health" reasons. I think most surveys confirm this. And, surveys on self reporting are notoriously understated. Just the other day in the Y locker room there was a group of guys talking about T use . . . and not for general health/medical reasons. It is almost fully accepted. And, we have cyclists in this area who have been busted, Kona level athletes who have been busted, etc . . . and this is on very minimal testing. You are a bit naive if you believe it is just to help people become active and feel better about themselves.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

in a similar vein (hah), at the LT club we used to visit there were advertisements aplenty for various types of cosmetic surgery. as with your example, it seems to send the wrong message.

we both moved to a smaller, less $ gym down the road. much better.

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king of the road says you move too slow
KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW

I'm not fundamentally against the idea of defying nature through chemistry, but most of these doctors are being predatory, and understating the risks and consequences of these therapies.

They aren't huge risks, but basic issues like, your natural testosterone production being shut down, completely, when you are on supplemental steroids, and how if you ever stop using the supplemental steroids various problems can arise until your body starts making it's own again (if it can)

and increased risk of heart disease

These are risks that can be mitigated with...even more drugs. Which is fine if you are really crippled due to your hormone problems, but mostly these are just being sold to people who are getting older.

and of course they don't mention/care about athletes breaking rules.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Yep, in the same AG as you. There are a number of folks I see racing 50 and above that I always wonder. Luckily for me this sport is for many more reason than results. Each day I can get up and exercise
I am thankful. I am just amazed how so many of these folks can look you in the eye and say it is for health reason. Garbage.

,

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

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Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Why do you think they are encouraging people to cheat in sport? The vast majority of fitness club members are there for fitness, not sport. T therapy isn't illegal for the general public.

I just never understand why people are so judgmental of others, but...

I'm in the 50-54 AG and I think the same way. I got passed in a sprint one time by some dude with 8-pack abs, he looked so much like that web ad "80 year old has body of 25 year old!!!" that I busted out laughing. Then I saw on his calf that he was in my AG.

Of course, no proof of doping, but the guy was better defined than those pictures of Kevin Moats. I wanted to point him out to my wife after the race, but although he was on the podium he did not stick around for awards.

I have a picture that I wish I had the nerve to post. It's the top three in age group 60-64 at a race I did last year. The guy who finished third and I look like guys who are in their 60's and are in really good shape. The guy who beat us looks like he's picking the award for his father. WTF, nobody looks that good in their sixties! He must be mainlining the stuff!!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

While I get the impression that WTC does not care at all about doping, I wonder if maybe that is a mistake even from a bottom line business perspective. (This is totally apart from the major fairness/sportsmanship issues).

I normally do around 10 triathlons a year. I did not do a WTC race last year. I do not plan to do a WTC race this year. I might do one next year, but only to support a charity. While I am potentially one of WTC's core customers, I really don't feel like putting out the kind of money they charge for their races when I don't think I will get a fair shot at a high placing or Kona slot. If it is only about challenging myself, I can to that a lot more cheaply elsewhere.

Are there so many dopers that WTC does not care about keeping the hard core CLEAN triathletes as customers?

Exactly. The reason I don't cheat is not because it isn't available to me.

Bothers me at 55, but hopefully the guys in my AG who are racing tris and knowingly breaking the rules by taking testosterone without a TUE will be dealing with some serious side effects from prolonged use down the road and I'll be able to finish ahead of them in the 70+ AGs. :)

Testosterone has not been proven to be a PED for endurance sports. I understand that it is banned but if you are competing against someone doping with testosterone (whether as part of a T therapy or not) they will most probably not have an advantage over you. If you were deadlifting...that would be a different story.

The evidence suggests that testosterone therapy combines with HGH actually is the fountain of youth. Barring any extremely serious side effects, I would not blame any man in their later half of life for seeking those treatments to improve the quality of their life.

Do you not consider an increased cancer risk a serious side effect of HGH?

Potentially not, you have to quantify the risk.
Flying in an airplane increases your cancer risk.
Riding outside without sunscreen increases your cancer risk.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Absolutely - sort of like estrogen replacement therapy has the breast cancer risk, but women still do that. I am not telling anyone what to do, I am saying that the combination of HGH and testosterone is a quality of life improving therapy. I have talked to a few physicians and they all say essentially the same thing, live long enough and you will probably get some sort of cancer. Old people die of cancer but they die of diseases like heart disease and kidney failure at a higher rate. Not to mention flu, pneumonia, etc, that pick old people. I am coming from a place that says if the years leading up to a serious disease like that are going to be higher quality with a therapy like HGH+testosterone albeit with an increased cancer risk, I would not blame someone for choosing that path. Whether I do it myself is a different question, but I am 20 years away from that point.

To the point though, I wouldn't feel like someone on testosterone replacement therapy would have an unfair edge in amateur triathlon. Bodybuilding, crossfit, strongman competitions, power-lifting, that is a different discussion. My ethical foundation is that personal health concerns > doping in sports AND personal health concerns are > risk of addiction.

Due to the ethical problems of clinical studies using HGH, we'll probably never quantify that risk. And, unfortunately, instead of saying, "we don't have hard data on the topic," promoters will sell it as "science hasn't proven an increase in cancer."

That seems fair.
We all do 1,000 things daily that are like that.
Plus people using it are old and nearly dead anyway?
ha

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Wouldn't it be ironic if that infomercial for the Low T Centers were followed by the national TV ad I watched moments ago by a law firm asking you to call them if you were on testosterone therapy and suffered a heart attack, stroke, or other side effect?

A physician friend of mine in his mid 50s owned a local clinic providing testosterone and HGH therapy. The last time I saw him, he looked great--much better than he looked about a year earlier when I had last seen him. Two months later, he died of a heart attack while getting into his car after working out at the YMCA. We'll never know if there was a connection, but it sure raised questions, and not just by me. Yeah, lots of middle-aged guys die of heart attacks, but his death was a little too coincidental for comfort.

I don't know why an older male (or anyone) would take a chance with growth hormone or testosterone. Just too many unknowns and for what? To take Second Place at the North Dakota, Hoople Division Sprint Triathlon? How many times have you seen a Kona winner on the front page of a major newspaper? That should tip you off that even if you get a slot to Kona with your drug abuse you are probably making a Faustian bargain for very little reward. After the possible health benefits of training and racing, triathlon won't turn you into a billionaire, help you discover the cures to cancer, or even make your friends and relatives love you any more than they do now. (I pass the question of the strain the training puts on children and spouses.) Then there is always the possibility that you will get caught and some nudnik will post the results here and comment on your rear view mirror, habit of knocking drinks off tables, and arrogant swagger. Compared to all the problems in the world and real needs of men and governments we are mere insignificant pismires.

Such stupidity is mind-boggling....

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

The irony to me is that Lifetime Fitness is an promoter and organizer of professional triathlon series that are subject to USADA testing protocol, and is also now under the WTC umbrella. If all they were doing was marketing to their gym members, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

But it isn't illegal to take T therapy from a doctor. Might be ironic, but that doesn't change much. Lifetime sponsors triathlon to bring people into the gym. Healthy, fit people make the gym look good. If that means hormones and drugs, I'm sure lifetime is fine with that for their general membership.

Great post!

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Someone needs to tell all the professional cyclists, track and field athletes, and marathon runners that have been busted for testosterone that they were wasting their money.