Mo Trafeh Tunes Up for Trials With 1:01:39 Half in China

Citizen Runner wrote:

I would have expected an in competition test for each of his three USATF championship wins in 2011 (15k, 10 mile, half marathon) yet there are only two test total. If anything, your post supports the idea that Trafeh wasn't tested OOC. Compare this with Ritz who had ten tests during the year and didn't even race anything of significance.[/quote]

I wasn't trying to say anything other than that he's been tested by USADA (probably at the behest of USATF) twice. In fact, I pointed out that USADA doesn't distinguish between in and out of competition tests on their website. I just wanted to point out that there is some actual information available, rather than just making stuff up, which a lot of people do. In fact, it's hard to know what is and isn't included in the USADA database. There should have been testing at those three races, per the USATF: "In-competition drug testing occurs on-site at all USA National Championships, Olympic Trials, World Championship trials, and other USATF- or IAAF-sanctioned events." The 10 Mile Champs was in October, which means the results from those tests may not be online yet--they're posted quarterly. It's possible that Trefah wasn't in the out of comp testing-pool for this year; I assume that he will be beginning in 2012.

All in all, though, it's a shame that all anyone wants to do is talk about doping. I'm no Polly Anna, but sometimes it'd be nice to talk about actual running performances instead of making insinuations about doping, especially since if you think someone is really doping, than NOTHING anyone can say will even convince you otherwise. There so much complaining here about how no one cares about this sport. Well, maybe people should talk about the actual sport, instead of only hunting witches, I mean dopers. Vigilance is good; over-vigilance is distracting and boring.

crazy person wrote:

Does Trafeh even have a sponsor? Because I just visited his website and he is essentially begging for money.

http://www.motrafeh.com/motrafeh/Support.html

. Simply based on economics, I find it difficult to believe that he is doping when he is begging for $$$.

Anybody know what it costs to do a bit of EPO?

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Doing EPO on your own is not too expensive, about $2g a year, but very risky and if not done right can have an adverse affect. A medically supervised EPO regiment is expensive and is probably not possible unless it is state or team sponsored or you have about $15g to spare. I am not exactully sure about the dollars, but I know there is a lot of constant testing and analysis involed, which can be about $400 a pop.

Most EPO cheats don't race frequently and/or enter races and frequently pull out at the last minute for unknown reasons. I doubt an EPO cheat would run an entire USATF distance series like Mo did 2 years ago, becasue there is not a lot enough money involved and too many races. One good way to spot an EPO cheats is to have a race with decent prize money, with mention of testing and then anounce testing at the last minute and watch the rats go into hiding.

Btw, I am not saying Mo is clean, I have no idea really, but his results are very good, but so astonishing to suggest he must be cheating. People who have followed Mo's career always thought he had a lot of potential, he probably would have won FLNC his senior year in H.S., but I think he got hurt just before the meet and in college from what I understand he lost focus.

Also, I am not sure if a half marathon is a perfect predictor for a marathon; I have seen guys run slow halfs leading up to a thon and run well and I have seen athletes ran a great half and bonk. There is some chemistry and physiology that's unique to running a marthon that don't exist in any other event.

Here are the first 13 mile splits for Steve Jones at the 1985 Chicago Marathon:

4:46. 4:42, 4:48, 4:39, 4:59, 4:34, 4:39, 4:37, 4:39, 4:38, 4:44, 4:42, 4:44, He passed the half marathon mark at 1:01:42, what's all the fuss about?? And he finished in 2:07:13.

to long sox as well, read the usatf site. scour it if you have to (i'm not going to look it up again, takes too much time) btu on there you will find the "tested events" for track, indoors, and- waaaaaait for it.....Road racing. the road events are: Marathon (he dnf'd his only one) and 10K (by time). interesting how Mo kills everyone at any other race, but gets waxed at the 10K champs. would have put himself on the OOC pool if he would have raced well enough there. might have screwed himself by running too fast at cow harbor, getting that $5000 bonus may have put some kabosh on his skipping regular testing, as he currently leads the US list for road 10K times. oh, did i mention he leads the list....from a race which is considered nearly a min slower than most flat courses? yeah, nice one. well, at least it should sorta level things out for the other americans in 2012.

Are you guys aware that EPO really doesn't help all that much in the marathon as compared to , say, the 1500?

If you're going to test positive you don't DNF a race, you DNS. What the hell would the point of running be? You guys are seeing what you want to see - a doper - without a shred of evidence. Oh, he dropped out of a race? Well I guess anyone who drops out of a race must be doping.

Are you guys aware that EPO really doesn't help all that much in the marathon as compared to , say, the 1500?

No, I'm not aware of that. Please enlighten us.

Freelove wrote:

If you're going to test positive you don't DNF a race, you DNS. What the hell would the point of running be? You guys are seeing what you want to see - a doper - without a shred of evidence. Oh, he dropped out of a race? Well I guess anyone who drops out of a race must be doping.

No, what we're seeing is a runner who has dropped huge amounts of time, while being tested significantly less than other top U.S runners. Add that to the fact that he does his training in a country well known for dopers, and of course there will be accusations made. This has nothing to do with race either, simply the circumstances around his performances. If Jordan Hasay went to China to train year round, while not being tested, and came back running running world class times, I can guarantee everyone on this site would be calling her a doper.

I don't understand this.

You guys act like Mo is running 58 minutes for the half. Are his performances so superb that EPO use has to be involved?

Are his performances so much better than what is to be expected from someone who run under 30 minutes for the 10k while in highschool?

The only reason he is accused is because he spends his time overseas, and like one of the only intelligent posters in the thread said, if Mo wanted to use EPO staying in the USA would make more sense.

Also, if you think more drug use takes place in Morocco or China than in the USA you are utterly stupid.

otto wrote:

Are you guys aware that EPO really doesn't help all that much in the marathon as compared to , say, the 1500?

No, I'm not aware of that. Please enlighten us.

Recently, an analysis of cumulative improvement in run time after RBC reinfusion (product of 2 blood units) as a function of race distance was performed.[58] The data used in the analysis were derived from the one laboratory and three field studies cited above where male subjects participated in running races over distances of 1500 m to 10 km. The cumulative post-reinfusion improvement in run time increased as a function of the completed distance, such that predicted run times improved ¡Ö7, ¡Ö30, and ¡Ö68 s at distances of 2, 6, and 10 km, respectively. (Impact on trained distance runners, although I'd have to think not elites. I'd heard that EPO could improve elites by about 30s in 10K.)

broken arrow wrote:

You stated "Don't get me wrong. I don't like Hall for all his Jesus talk but I think Hall is clean".

Is that a valid reason not to like a runner and his racing performances?

Yes it is. Everything he says is about Jesus in interviews. I don't want to hear that crap. Keep it in church, fool!

It's not that the time is incredible, it's just that his performances the past couple of years have seemed to come out of nowhere. I get that he was a huge talent in highschool, but his college and early post collegiate career didn't give any indication that these times were coming for him. To put it in perspective how far he's come in the past couple of years, he came in 58th place at the 08 Cross Country Championships and was over 3:30 back from Ritz and around 3:00 back from Hall in a 12k. Not long after that he starts training in Morocco, and comes back as one of the best road guys in the U.S. I'm not saying that he is a doping, but I understand where people could draw that assumption from.

You could replace Mo with a number of other runners who have had 'mediocre' results, relocated/joined a new training group and have had huge jumps in performance. Like I previously stated, he is not an anomaly.

How do you feel about Solinsky's 26:59?

Doping ain't free, it ain't cheap either!

Mo is only earning about $30G a year from running, unless he is getting free food and rent, he can't afford to dope. People who dope are not looking for kibbles and bits, they are looking for Olympic/WC medals and WMM victories. -Or perhaps he is on some eBay self administered low budget DIY EPO program.

What Mo has accomplished and way he has done it perhaps in this day and age deserves raising an eyebrow, but not accusations. Athletes are allowed to get better!

EPO is a hellava drug

If he was white and named Montgomery Trufont no one would have a problem with him and these accusations wouldn't exist.

It's simple wrote:

No, what we're seeing is a runner who has dropped huge amounts of time, while being tested significantly less than other top U.S runners. Add that to the fact that he does his training in a country well known for dopers, and of course there will be accusations made. This has nothing to do with race either, simply the circumstances around his performances. If Jordan Hasay went to China to train year round, while not being tested, and came back running running world class times, I can guarantee everyone on this site would be calling her a doper.

I was responding to the ridiculous argument that the guy DNF'd a race to avoid testing. Why DNF a race that you know from the start is going to have drug testing?

Yes, it's possible that he's doping, but I don't see any strong evidence that he is. Is he coached by a known doper? Does he train with dopers? Has he missed drug tests?

I hope he runs the trials, wins a spot and runs around waving the US flag at all of you narrow minded racist a$$holes.

Got to believe he's clean.

China would be the last place to get caught using illegal drugs!