T Nation: Will you ever compete in strength sports as a woman?
Janae Kroc: No, I will never do that. I think it’d bring a lot of negativity towards transgender athletes and to the powerlifting community, and that’s not something I ever want to do.
But as far as triathlons or endurance sports go, I’m totally comfortable competing there as a woman. If anything, my background makes it more difficult. So yeah, I do plan to compete as a woman and my coach is looking into the requirements. I don’t know if I’ll be ready. We’re looking at the Chicago triathlon. I still have a lot of work to do. I’m getting better everyday, but right now, I would drown on the swim. I couldn’t make the distance.
I can’t do anything just to be mediocre at it. I’m already looking at the records for my age group and thinking what I need to do to be competitive. The records are pretty amazing. I’m nowhere near that but, for my age group at least, I can be competitive.
A lot of that’s going to be contingent on getting my bodyweight down to where it needs to be. Even if I was at 170, I’d still be significantly larger than the women I’d be competing against. Most of them are between 110 and 130. Actually, anything over 160 is considered what they call “Athena” which is basically a super-heavyweight. So I would still be a very large triathlete.
The thing that surprised me so far is how difficult it is for me to lose the muscle, even with getting on estrogen and cutting my lifting way, way back. I do a little bit here and there but I realized I had to cut it back to lose the mass, even with dieting and everything.
I’ve been built this way for two decades and that’s my set-point. The muscle doesn’t go away that easy. It’s gonna take some time and it’s gonna take a lot of work. And the tricky part is, I could crash diet down to where I want to be relatively quickly, but you diet yourself into a corner and that isn’t healthy. If I cut my calories down to 1,000 a day to get there, then where do I go? I need to have a diet that’s sustainable, so that I’m not miserable and I’m not starving every day for the rest of my life. It’s going to take some more patience.
I honestly expected it to come off easier than it is. I dropped the first 40 pounds really fast, but then it’s really gotten difficult even with all the training. A lot of days, I’m training twice a day. I’m doing the triathlete stuff and then going to the gym and doing more work. But it’ll happen.
Kroc: From Matt to Janae | T Nation
*triathlon
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Actually, anything over 160 is considered what they call “Athena” which is basically a super-heavyweight.
Oh boy…
I wish I had a hard time losing muscle. Seems like I have a hard time losing the fat—my muscle seemingly disappears overnight.
Not sure if her past doping as a man in a fast twitch sport will be of any benefit, other than being the strongest woman on the course(by far). If she does well, I am sure the t-nation plate-heads will chalk it up to past heavy weight training.
Surely to enter a women’s event you genetically have to be a woman? This person has fathered 3 children so genitically is a male. No doubt at amateur level events there won’t be a problem unless they win or place but at any sort of official event with rules I reckon he / she could run into problems.
I don’t really know the answer to the gender division in sports. On the simplest level, I think - hey a former Marine wants to be a triathlete - then my hat’s off. But going from the powerlifting to triathlon might be a culture shock with the different views on PEDs.
Surely to enter a women’s event you genetically have to be a woman? This person has fathered 3 children so genitically is a male. No doubt at amateur level events there won’t be a problem unless they win or place but at any sort of official event with rules I reckon he / she could run into problems.
A little google search…
As of March 2016, the IOC allows transmasculine athletes to compete with no restrictions, and transfeminine athletes to compete under the conditions that “the athlete has declared that her gender identity is female demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category.”
Good on her. As she’s already acknowledged her previous gender and sport are disadvantages. Triathletes and lifters optimize for very different things.
I don’t think she’ll get as far as she hopes, but I would like to think that this is a welcoming sport.
T
Thorny subject for a lot of people. So long as she sticks to the rules above I’d have no issues. I wish her the best of luck.
I think so long as she’s capitalizing on the harmonious ratio of carbohydrates : protein in chocolate milk to replenish and refuel after a tough session, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll KQ.
If she’s anything like ever other weight lifter I’ve ever met, she’s really struggle ot develop and economy on the swim and run. She also will likely lack flexibility and overall be too large to get very aero. All that before we even discuss whether she can build a endurance (engine) after years of fast twitch training.
But that’s just speculation on my part. But elite amateurs usually have a brad endurance background in something else endurance related. Even look at Apollo Ohno. He was at least in a sport where the race lasted several minutes, so he likely did a fair amount of VO2 work as much as anaerobic. Even then, he did very well, but he didn’t go out and win his age group the same way previous endurance athletes from pro cycling have managed.
If she was a top male triathlon athlete that due to being transgender transferred over to compete as a woman, would you feel the same?
Please not I am stating in this question that the person is transgender, truly a woman locked in a male body. Truly expressing herself honestly as a woman. Honestly making the change as best she biologically she can. …I would say she has an unfair advantage.
her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category."
Isn’t that below normal for a woman, and how is that achieved?
EDIT: Actually no, that is right at the bottom range of normal for a man.
In that case it seems like changing from a man to a woman would give you a huge boost in many sports.
I am truly a champion in a mediocre body, why I am not allowed to use all the stuff modern medicine offers? And trust me, I had a difficult life.
Is it doping if an ex male transgender forgets to use Testosteron suppressors?
I posed the question if it was,a male elite. Please believe me, I have an idea of the issues you must face that are very difficult and from your perspective very unfair.
I run a transitional home for men coming out of prison. 10 live with my wife and i. One is transgender. He is planning on openly changing once he leaves the home. There was a thought of him (only refer as male because that is how he is living, male name ect) moving in the woman’s home. The woman had a problem with that due ti his genitalia. Also his crime 18 yrs,ago was rape…He and if continues what he desires, she is an outstanding individual that I watch facing great challenges…it’s a christian ministry so even there, there is difficulty.
I only say all that because my comment was not based on prejudice…
If you were in the past a top male athlete and then switched I think…opinion…it would be unfair
Surely to enter a women’s event you genetically have to be a woman? This person has fathered 3 children so genitically is a male. No doubt at amateur level events there won’t be a problem unless they win or place but at any sort of official event with rules I reckon he / she could run into problems.
Ah the voice of common sense. Surely.
her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category."
Isn’t that below normal for a woman, and how is that achieved?
EDIT: Actually no, that is right at the bottom range of normal for a man.
In that case it seems like changing from a man to a woman would give you a huge boost in many sports.
What’s the answer to the dong question?