Prevalence of PED's in AG'rs (Page 4)

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by msteiner

Originally posted by mchadcota2 C'mon guys help me out. I can't be the only one on here with a lack of integrity.

I halfway thought about steroids to try to get some Robert Forstemann legs.

Tell the truth, you just wanted to be able to make some toast.

Pshh!  That man is weaksauce compared to my $10 Walmart Toaster!

My line of thinking when I see a product that makes those sorts of claims is that if it is indeed true then it is a PED and would be banned.  Therefore:

a) it's a banned substance
b) it's a load of cr@p

Either way I would be wasting my money by taking it.

Draft marshals are cheap.  Testing, administration, and storage of test results is the opposite of cheap.  You can convince me it's needed at the AG level, but you can't convince me it will implemented because I know better.  Soon enough I'm going to find out how it's done on the elite level.  Should be interesting.

It's not done with any conviction at any level of sport.  The Olympic motto demands it.  Faster, higher, stronger - they won't be getting that if they sort out PEDs. Other professional sports are also disincentivised to really tackle the issue - the stars need to be more spectacular, play more regularly and keep the money rolling through the TV screens.

As for age groupers - racing is fun but training is more fun.  If you can get hold of PEDs that mean you can train more frequently, to a higher quality, with less recovery time and long term benefits then it's better than smoking or drinking.  PEDs still have the reputation for being extremely risky to your health - hence all the Eastern European and American athlete deaths in the 80s and 90s when Russia and the US were vying to beat each other at everything.

These days things have moved on.  The longer term impacts are more understood, dosing, periodisation and monitoring are far more advanced so people get more out of them with less of the downside.

I've never taken anything but a good friend of mine is a doctor and specialist in sports science.  He's very candid about the benefits of certain PEDs - especially human growth hormone which is the real magic PED.  

I think that's all valid. 

The problem with the new science is that there is always someone willing to try the "latest" thing......and there is no way to know if that will be harmful or not. If that were not the case I'd be calling for an end to the madness and just make HGH, and some other PED's that can be administered safely, legal for all. It'd just be easier than what is being done now to "control" the use.

Still......I'm for clean sport....in all sports.  It's the only true test of our physical evolution. 

The bolded part is my point regarding AG racing.  There is NO challenge because there is no reason to care.  If the home run king at the Tuesday night softball league is bulking up with steroids does anyone really care?  Of course they don't.  Why?  Because there is no benefit to it besides bragging rights....or in other words, you don't lose anything by NOT being the HR king.  Our sport is no different, although you could easily make the argument that people who do triathlon THINK they are different.  As long as there are AG'ers willing to pay for the right to compete at higher and higher AG level races then you will have no testing.

It cost my family nearly 5000.00 to go watch Jr. compete at AG worlds last year.......and even if all of us wouldn't have gone it would have cost us at least half that just to send him. (actually a bit more than half)  And now what......governing bodies are going to test and possibly disqualify people who are on their own dime??  Sure they are.   Right after your local parks and recreation dept. tests the softball players. LMAO

I apologize, I haven't gone back and read this whole debate but while doing well in AG racing doesn't mean much relative to the actual race, it could propel one from the AG racing into professional opportunities. Couldn't it?

Yes, it could propel approx. .0001  of the triathlon community into the very bottom level Professional racing where they are still paying their own way and winning virtually nothing.  Do you think the governing bodies are going to dig into their ONLY cash cow for the chance at stopping that .0001 from earning virtually nothing?  The reality of triathlon, and especially professional triathlon, is lost on many of the participants.  Luckily, and unfortunately at the same time, almost nobody cares about it because they are only concerned about their own result and really have no chance to ever get to the higher levels.

EXACTLY!!

So.....if the figure of 20% (some of the higher estimates) of AG racers are using PED's is correct, do you really think that the governing bodies are going to risk losing that 20%?  I guess oyu could say that the figure wouldn't be that high if there was testing......but you are giving some egomaniac lunatics (those who would dope for AG purposes)  one hell of a benefit of doubt.

also day of race testing doesn't mean crap, just ask lance.  You could dope all winter, stop in april and be clean all race season. there is no way currently to test even if they wanted to.

This is why pro cycling created the passport system.

the passport system essentially created a doping ceiling. if you do too much you'll get caught.

point is, no way to do any effective doping control with AG racing

For whatever is is worth I tend to finish towards the top 10% ish (AG level, running not tri) and my teammates DEFINITELY finish in the top 5 or 10%. Most of them are at the border of being elite but not able to quit their day job. Which is a really hard spot to be in and where I would see athletes likely looking for any advantage possible.

But from my experience, I have heard/seen absolutely no PEDs. Nothing. Eating disorders, however, are rampant. 

Not sure if running and triathlon numbers are different though. 

Yeah, that makes sense. I don't necessarily agree that they would come in at the very bottom level but your statement

"So.....if the figure of 20% (some of the higher estimates) of AG racers are using PED's is correct, do you really think that the governing bodies are going to risk losing that 20%?  I guess oyu could say that the figure wouldn't be that high if there was testing......but you are giving some egomaniac lunatics (those who would dope for AG purposes)  one hell of a benefit of doubt. "

Would negate anything else I would say. That's pretty hard to argue. And pretty sad.

Admittedly, my experience with elite/pro racers is all within the Draft Legal ranks.  Virtually none of them came up through the AG ranks.  Still, if you look at the people who are actually making money in the sport, you won't find many who spent much time racing AG.  Most are college runners, or swimmers, who came to triathlon with a big time skill set already in place.

Well, my thought would be someone like a Chrissy Wellington type or someone who doesn't have the resources (financial/coaching) who stumbles into a race, does well, goes to Nats the gets "discovered."

OK, now we're talking less than .0001......WAY less.