Doping Dilemma

Unfortunately, I cannot continue to ignore three very recent discussions about doping in endurance athletes.

The first, and probably the most disturbing, encounter was during a conversation with a very close friend of mine days after Ironman. We were reflecting on my race and my potential for next season. After throwing out some smaller races where I could still qualify for Nationals, he said something like, "That's a good idea to go for the low hanging fruit. Everyone else competing at the bigger races are doping anyway. You can't compete with that."

In Age Group Triathlon. Doping.

And, within the last 48 hours, both Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong were the topic of the doping conversation on two separate occasions. Contador, for being found to have a positive test for Clenbuterol, a synthetic and documented illegal bronchodilator, during the 2010 Tour de France and Lance because I just started reading, "It Not About The Bike."

When a friend learned I was reading the book, he responded, "At one point in my life- I would have argued that Lance Armstrong was the greatest athlete of our generation. Unfortunately- now as additional evidence continues to be uncovered- I'm afraid that he was heavily involved in doping. I guess times will tell."

At the time of this conversation, I happened to be on the second chapter only. Lance was writing about his days as a 12-year-old who would ride his bike 10 miles in the pre-dawn darkness to swim practice at 5:30am to swim 4000 meters. Let me tell you, 4000 meters is a lot. It is actually over 2 1/2 miles of swimming. Then, he'd ride to school and ride BACK to practice after school for another 6,000 meters. SIX MILES of swimming EVERY DAY. And, over 20 miles of riding. At 15, he finished 32nd overall in a field of experienced triathletes at the President's Triathlon in Lake Lavon. The following year he finished 5th. At 16.

At 16 years old, Lance was also training with Cat 1 cyclists- the most competitive cyclists in their late 20s.

At 16 years old, he was already making $20,000 a year from racing purses.

Also, when he was 16, Lance underwent his first VO2 max test, which is an aerobic threshold test. How much exertion can you tolerate and still keep going? Supposedly, it is a direct reflecion of your breathing capacity, or your lung's ability to efficiently process oxygen.

V= Volume
O2= Oxygen
Max= Maximium amount of oxygen one's lungs can process and still tolerate exertion

The more oxygen you exchange, the faster your muscles can contract. The faster your muscles contract and turnover.... you win. This concept and formula was derived at the prestigious Cooper Clinic in Dallas and to this day, no athlete produced a greater VO2 max than Lance Armstrong. At 16 years old.

NO ONE can argue that Lance Armstrong didn't have the natural formula to dominate an endurance sport like triathlon or cycling. Literally, it was in his blood. Although he is most recognized natural talent, he is not alone. Floyd Landis. Marion Jones. Barry Bonds. These athletes were undeniably some of the strongest and fastest in their fields- naturally- before doping.

Somewhere along the way, though, a talent become an obsession and reality so quickly must become distorted. I see it in triathletes every day. I see it in myself. The inability to stop or draw the line.

In elite athletes, and professional athletes, it must be exaccerbated. If I can allow my mind to wander and fantasize about the good times to come, I can only imagine what they dream up. Suddenly, a 1:05 100m free is not enough. It must be under 1:00. It must be under :59, :58, :57. It must be a recond this time.

It must be a record every time.

I empathize with this mindset because there is this part of you that you can't change and you don't want to change because you live off of this high of being the best. Luciano Pavarotti was born to sing Opera and he was the best, no one was better. In cycling, Lance Armstrong was the best but he wanted to be better. I hesitate in using him as an example since there are only allegations, but the same can be said for the others, like Floyd Landis. You must get so utterly caught up in being better that you completely lose touch with reality. I would imagine it is analogous to a defendent pleading insanity.

Blood doping is the newest form of performance-enhancing techniques and this is the type of doping that is in question lately. There is the use of EPO, or erythropoietin, a naturally occuring hormone that boosts red blood cell production in the blood. Again, the more red blood cells, the more oxygen. The more oxygen, the greater the muscle contraction turnover...the faster you are...the more you win.

Even though this is an outside source that is injected into the bloodstream, it is still considered "natural." Is this why coaches and athletes initially justify its use? I say this because I can't imagine that you would agree to it otherwise. These athletes are not dumb. If they were, they'd be injecting steroids. But, they'd never do that anymore because clearly that is illegal. Injecting synthetic steroids is illegal.

However, is injecting a naturally occuring hormone illegal? "Hmmm. Perhaps the natural occuring properties of EPO present a loophole in the understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. It isn't synthetic after all, it's natural."

How about autologous transfusions? "That's even MORE NATURAL. It's my own blood! There's no argument there that would allege the transfusion of my own blood is illegal! It's impossible!"

Is this what they really think?

I have to hope that it is. I have to believe that these role models- who were at one time, or still could arguably be, considered the strongest, fastest, most talented athletes of all time- made these decisions innocently. Out of a natural desire that we all battle- to be the best.

I disagree that many of these coaches and athletes made decisions to use EPO or transfusions knowing that is would be considered illegal. My complaint, though, is that they have a responsibility to ensure that it is not illegal. If you are afraid to ask or afraid to make it public, then that should tell you something.

Similarly, if allegations are made, it is your responsibility to answer them honestly. If you approached your racing with honesty up front, then you should have nothing to hide. Each one of these athletes were given the opportunity to preserve their integrity as a role model. Few stepped forward and accepted responsibility beforehand.

I hope what comes of these ongoing developments is a candid discussion with young people, our future elite athletes. Floyd Landis, Marion Jones, Roger Clemens, Alberto Contador- they need to put their egos aside and reflect on why the said yes. Did they want to? Were they scared? Could they see clearly? Were they obsessed?

They were number one without it.

This insight will be more valuable to our future generation of athletes and olympians than world records to break or apologies made. Be honest about what happened and good will come of this.