Makes you wonder what else is out there that no-one is talking about.

It's been known for some time that the athletes are likley ahead of the testers, in terms of coming up with new drugs or techniques that will allow them to use performance enhancing drugs, test clean and get away with it. How else to explain performances over the past 10 - 20 years by certain athletes, that on the outside have all the hallmarks of using drugs but still have a "clean" record.

It's good to see that the testers and the authorities have narrowed the gap and that maybe the message is getting through that if you use drugs, you will get caught at some point.

In the short term though, their is likly to be more chaos, and the usual, now standard denials on the part of drug users when faced with a positive test, that they took nothing illegal and there is no way the tests are right!

As for triathlon, my feeling is their is a bit of complacency in our sport because it is still new, fresh and the athletes come across as being very healthy and wholesome. However, the stakes are getting very high and we would be naieve to think that their is no performance enhancing drug use going on in our sport.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck: "In the short term though, their is likly to be more chaos, and the usual, now standard denials on the part of drug users when faced with a positive test, that they took nothing illegal and there is no way the tests are right! "

Also:

- "Someone spiked my water bottle/cold medication/vitamins/supplements."

- "My coach told me to take them."

- "Everyone does it."

- "This particular performance-enhancing drug was not named on the banned list, so why am I being persecuted?"

there was a great article in a sports magazine a few months back interviewing both Caitlin and I think Conte. Very interesting viewpoints from both. One designs designer steroids at first bodybuilders then the athletic world caught on. Caitlin mission in life is to design as many tests as possible and to stop use. They referenced a US track cyclist, who Conte or whom ever was interview, designed a drug for based upon research that had been discarded in the 60's by a pharma company.
IMO to think drugs has not entered triathlon is rather naive. I'd not be surprised if there are 5 positive tests between now and the olympics in triathlon.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I cannot make up my mind on doping, but it leans in the direction of thinking its not cheating.

I understand the arguments about how everyone might not have access to the same technology or ability to drain/store/replenish their own blood supply. I also understand the arguments about how its not adding any substance that wasn't already there, and blood is hardly a banned substance.

How it is different from someone moving to the mountains of Colorado or living way high up in Chile to train and then back down to sea level to race is something I don't understand.

Anyone who has been at high elevations for a period of time and then comes back down has experienced the dramatic, albeit temporary, upswing in performance that results. This is, to my non-medically trained brain, the same effect that is to be had from blood doping. Why is that not illegal?

I'm not championing the cause. Like I said, I'm still up in the air about it, but it doesn't seem like a fair prohibition in the light of other things that go on.

http://www.xtri.com/...?id=720&offset=1

Read myth #4 on page 2. I reluctantly say I have to agree with Bobo on this one.

There is also -

(1) The drugs were for my sick dog

(2) The drugs were for my sick mother in law

Funny excuses, yes - but they were used by TdF riders.

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Animal!!!

I am kind of hesitant too, to cast the stone..

what about iron supplementation? is it any different than EPO? you can get pretty sick with overdose for both.
why is taking vit C etc...any different? danger? heck no...you can wreck your kidneys by taking too much vit C (I have heard of people using up to 7g/day!)
Why is taking ibuprofen, advil etc...any different than say corticosteroids?

even though in each case the second product is more
powerful, the intent remains the same...get more O2, less pain etc...

eventually, there is currently no drug on the market that will give you the same benefits as sucking some wheels...gives you an easier ride and leaves you fresher for the run...

Got to agree with sucking wheels, francois perfect drug to increase your running ability, in my books ranks right up their with EPO.

Stewart-

I reluctantly thank you for reluctantly agreeing with me.

I've said all along that drafting is just as much cheating as doping is, and a lot more safe and effective. You get caught, 3 mins in the sin bin. Test positive for "go-juice", and it's at least a year (plus you run the risk of serious health problems down the road). But that's how the rules are written, so that's how the game has to be played.

Altitude training is something that allows your body to NATURALLY adapt and grow stronger, just like hill training or weights or intervals or...

And just like all other training schemes, sometimes it works, sometimes the timing is off and full benefits aren't realized. Picking up a needle and a vial of Procrit has a huge chance of working in about 3 days, no extra effort required (just don't get too dehydrated, or you might end up sprawled on Alii Drive with a crowd standing around you).

Huge iron supplementation is usually only done in conjuction with EPO, as it provides the body with the substrate for hemoglobin. It also thrashes the guts and immune system. As for Vit. C., I've been taking 3g+/day for years, up to 10g/day on hard days. Linus Pauling was still sharp as a tack when he finally croaked at 96, decades after all the other doctors who laughed at him were gone. (As far as anyone can tell, his kidney function was normal).

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"What's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded."

Bobo, I am going to give it another try to catch drafters in Panama City. See you there.

Roberto(El Perverto)Sigerson

Sig,

I'll see you there (I am bringing nails with me, I'll let you know where I drop them :-)) )

Fr.

I'm very cynical when it comes to the whole drug in sports topic. As a Canadian who was very interested in track and field at the time of the Dubin Inquiry and the Ben Johnson fiasco in 1988, I watched quite a bit of the testimony presented at the trial. One of the interesting aspects was that performance enhancing drugs were, I believe, originally banned for the safety of the athletes and not due to performance gains. Now, to stay one step ahead of what is on the banned list, athletes take carzier stuff. At the Dubin inquiry an Olympic doctor indicated that a very substantial number of competitors showed a hormone profile (what is naturally in your system) that indicated long term use but since they can only be banned if the substance is identified they are not suspended. I think that testing of athletes is a farce since few countries really want to discipline their stars and it is bad for TV revenues. I also think that if Carl Lewis had been the sprinter caught in 1988 that no one would have heard about it for years .... didn't that revelation come out last year from his 1983 World Championship/1984 Olympic years? Charlie Francis (he was Ben Johnson's coach) wrote a book called Speed Trap where he discusses his knowledge of doping and what he observed in track and although he may have been trying to justify what he did, it is an interesting read. Since the cheaters always seem to be ahead of the testers anyway, they should just give up the testing since it expensive and doesn't seem to put a dent in the use anyway.

On a more happy note .....

Three weeks until Florida and all the hard work is done .....Francois, could you let me in your nails placement too?

See also lead page one story in today's Guardian (U.K.): http://sport.guardian.co.uk/...0488,1065865,00.html

Some big names may end up in this net, apparently.

for the nails, Allan, I have just realized that the most effective place to put them was not on the bike course...but around the Diamond Blue fences at the swim run on the beach! gee, I am evil ! :-)

(that said with my luck in races, I would probably put my own feet on them!)