The difference here is that in the situations you describe, the likely treatments for those conditions entail potential performance enhancements. That is not true for the treatment of asthma. There is no performance enhancement with the treatment, just the prevention of the onset of abnormal conditions.

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"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

The answer to that is simple, when testosterone rules were written they were written for athletes with the olympics in mind. They were not thinking about 50 year old triathletes, it didn't occur to the people involved that they were boxing older men into a corner. The equestrian athletes and shooting sport athletes over 50 didn't factor in. But with Ironman signing on to the doping code, and various triathlon, running and masters swim federations there are thousands and thousands of people over 50 around the world subject to these rules.

I'd like to see some lower than normal allowable level of testosterone. If men 50 - 54 acceptable readings are 50 - 100 (or whatever) I'd be good with say 35 as being acceptable with a prescription. In my opinion keep the TUE process, but change the rules - you can use exogenous testosterone with prescription from your Dr. but be aware that if tested, results over (whatever the number is) will result in sanctions.

I think that's a decent start on a rule set that wouldn't keep men in their 50s 60s and 70s out of the sport because of legitimate health issues.

This whole thread after the first post is BS. These guys went out and procured EPO. That's about as egregious as it gets in endurance sports. Not only should they be banned for a long time, they should be ostracized from the endurance community.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

It's different because the number wouldn't be set at a level that normal people would dope to, put it below the lower end of normal for an age. You'd absolutely have people with abnormally low testosterone doping up to the acceptably low level, and I'm OK with that.

And about doing the best with the genetics given to you, well as others have expressed if that were truly the case then glasses, orthotics and maybe even shoes wouldn't be allowed - you'd say that genetics gave you tough feet or they didn't. So there are clearly acceptable levels of accommodation for the lack of genetic gifts that people find OK. I'm saying something like I outlined above is one of them.

I think in the legal arena you'd say what would a reasonable person think is an acceptable accommodation.

It needs to be taken one by one and largely it has. We separate out acceptable drugs for race day and non race day, some have acceptable levels caffeine being one of them. My opinion is that the testosterone rule is wrong for a pretty large subset of people. We need to get the idea that what is reasonable accommodation for a 20 year old ITU racer isn't the same as what is reasonable accommodation for a 55 year old amateur.

Yep, I think the principle here is of paramount importance. This is, of course, an optional sport. Its a luxury to be able to do this. First world problems if you need outside assistance to complete your IM whether its 9 hours or 16 hours.

I completely agree with you that the rules should be followed across the board from the top pro down to the last 16hr finisher. Now what ACTUALLY happens and what SHOULD happen are often different, but thats through no fault of our own if we're not officiating. I''m just surprised at people who really think its O.K. to let people cheat who CHOOSE to do these races. You elect to do a race and sign off to follow their rules, yet for some reason people think its ok to let them slide.

Small budget? OK I get it. But PART of that budget should be allocated to ensure adherence ALL the way down the line. If people realize they won't be at risk for cheating then theres nothing to deter those who will cheat.


http://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._violation_P5579020/

Check out that thread, similar situation that just popped up.

I think one difference is that something like albuterol helps asthmatics breath but does nothing (or very little) to normal people. Testosterone, on the other hand, is a powerful performance enhancing drug for everyone regardless of their therapeutic need.

I think your point was that there are quite a few substances people take not knowing it's banned. I think a similar point is that, outsider the big performance enhancers (EPO, HGH, testosterone, etc) people are largely ignorant of what is and is not banned. Your post illustrates that in that caffeine is not banned, and you don't need a TUE for the typical inhaler.

Kona slot in 2013 and 2011. As well as a 70.3 World Championship slot in 2012. Sucks. One of the attorneys on here should figure out whose spots he stole and file a civil suit against Rob for damages!

http://www.athlinks.com/Athletes/124763571

Another one on asthma, I don't know many people that die from low T but asthma kills with some regularity.

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Yeah, that's what I hope doesn't get lost in all of this healthy debate about asthma meds and prednisone. Here we have a multiple KQer who got busted for EPO, the big daddy of all PEDs for endurance athletes. Given the almost non-existent testing in our sport, do we really think USADA just happened to catch the one guy at Kona who's on the juice? It really makes you wonder how prevalent this really is.

If there's ever been anyone that WTC should ban from their faces for life, it's this guy. Been cheating since at least 2011 and stole three WC slots from other AG athletes. That's systemic, and he should never race another IM event.

About a 2 hr 45 min improvement from 2011 to 2013. Who says epo doesn't work? haha

You can add Xterra World Championships to that list too!

i can give you my personal experience and I think pretty much every asthmatic's experience. We will NEVER have the airflow, even with albuterol, that you have. Never. We simply cannot pull in/push out the air like you can. Regardless of how much dope we take. For us, even WITH meds, we will never be at a level playing field with someone without lung damage. What we get is a decrease in the inflammation allowing us to take a breath. We will NEVER have the lung function you all have BUT we will be able to breathe (which is kinda necessary). So we can take all the meds we want but we will still never have the lung function that you do. that is what asthma does to lungs and bronchi.

for example, I have NEVER smoked. my husband smoked for years. when we go for a ride i am always SOB after hitting Z2. Always. Doesn't matter how much medication i take before/after or maintenance (daily) meds. I will ALWAYS be SOB at low effort and he will be effortless. In an attack I can only breathe. After meds I can *maybe* breathe and talk at the same time but generally not. No eating and breathing, no talking and breathing, no walking and breathing, nothing but breathing and lying Very Still.

hope that helps! OMG i totally misread your question. i thought it was addressed to those WITH asthma and not withOUT. sorry!

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

have you ever had suspension? I was desperate once and took 5 mL of suspension and got the shakes (but i can do 6 puffs with a spacer adn get Nada). And yeah, only combivent in neb gives me the shakes anymore.

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

no worries. i don't think most people are concerned about people, like yourself, who have severe cases of asthma taking meds. it's the galen rupps and the 1000s of other olympians who have TUEs for the drugs you take when they don't have asthma. that's not a good thing.

i honestly think I've read reports that the meds still don't help them because all they do is decrease inflammation. if you don't have the inflammation then you get no benefit. (and FWIW, my husband has tried using my inhaler to see if it gives him anything but on a 40km ride he reported no increased ability to gobble up air. :))

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

as you can see from my posts above, what few studies that have been done on this weren't exactly robust or conclusive. too many world class endurance athletes across too many sports are abusing these asthma drugs with TUEs for me to believe that they are getting no benefit from them.

No -- I don't think they really do suspension here.

Thought Galen Rupp was alleged to have taken prednisone, which is a banned sub, not albuterol. I couldn't legally race on pred, and I don't think you can get a TUE for it.

It is not just the studies, it goes to first principals. The active ingredients will reduce the inflammation, if there is no inflammation they do not do anything. You need to come up with some physiological change that these drugs could produce other than reducing inflammation. Come up with something, and then we can talk.

Until then just understand that they make take them and they are useless. How many of these athletes also take vitamin supplants that are totally useless also?

Yeeper, one important distinction I would make is that when you talk about preventing cheating at the bottom runs of the NFL or MLB, you're still talking about professionals, who do the sport for a living and play in the same league as the superstars. I think we all agree that it's in the best interest of sports that all pros are watched closely. There's a big difference between testing a mid to lower tier PRO who can still change race dynamics, and testing a MOP age-grouper who will never really be a factor though. I'd be a lot more bummed finding out one of the pros or local studs I look up to cheated, than finding out I should have placed 482nd at IM Wisconsin instead of 483 because someone who beat me doped. It's all about how serious the competition or stakes are. People look up to pros and top notch amateurs and they in turn have a much bigger impact on the sport than the average age-grouper ever will. For this reason, I guess I'd argue that focusing enforcement efforts at the pointy end of the sport is in the sports best interest.

Prednisone is NOT prohibited out of competition. Rupp has never denied the out of competition use of Prednisone.