Confess Your Sins: Have any of you ventured into the "grey area" of supplements, etc?

I don't train for track or compete any longer. I'm on TRT and enjoyed trying lots of anabolics, and HGH. I was training in the gym just after my 40th birthday, and was amazed by the effects of 8 weeks anabolics and weight training.

I nearly was tempted to venture into the "grey area" when I considered eating what looked like a delicious poppy seed muffin. But then I thought, better not risk it. People told me it was muffin to worry about but I am just cautious and didn't want to get into a crumbly situation.

In high school, I once took a cold/flu medicine called Theraflu that (unbeknownst to me) contained a substance now considered a PED. I felt great that day and ran a PR.

Turns out there are a lot of middle aged hobby joggers who are doping.

What's great about this post is that you came to the complete opposite conclusion that many come to. The most common PED story is that it's someone that is on the cusp of going pro and making it big, so they use PEDs to get over the hump into the elite.

You used and pretty much got there, but realized that the only way to continue is more and more using. Most people would have just kept pumping more epo into their veins and looked for a contract.

5.7 w/kg for 20' then 6 weeks of a fairly standard (not pushing the limits at all) EPO dose was at 6.2 w/kg for 20'

so it was nearly a 10% jump in power, roughly the difference between a man and woman that are relatively equivalent

10% jump in power roughly translates to 3-6% faster for a runner. probably closer to 6% for those that are natural 400-800 types like myself, and 3% for the natural 5000-MAR types

while i always give benefit of the doubt to pros, because the very nature of being a physical freak means they are just built different (see Victor Wembanyana), i also know that winning something like the tour clean has to be extremely unlikely.

i watched Icarus when it came out and while the plot twist was super interesting, the guy who doped himself was such a low level (well, average) athlete to begin with i found it to be remarkably cringe as my recollection was his conclusion was "it doesn't do much" 🤡

my bad, that's like half the difference between equivalent man and woman actually. i was thinking 10% difference in speed is about what we see for international class men and women, but it takes like 15-20% more power to get that speed for a runner

One of my college teammates started injecting l-carnitine into his ass. He got a stress fracture a month later.

Back when I was living in the grey my doorbell wouldn’t work. Strange side effect for sure.

Curious, are you using the typical dose of 100 mg -150 mg of cypionate once a week? Also, what were your testosterone levels before therapy & where are they at now?

Not ones that threaten my life, cause me to go bald, or make me unable to use one side of my body. Big difference between antibiotics for a sinus infection and epo/deca.

I have used EPO(not grey area) before but I implore others to do their due diligence before taking supplements. I know what possible side effects are of what I have taken and took care to make sure I did not take to much. I know a cyclist who did not do his research and had a stroke do to what he was taking and it ended his cycling.

Do you wish you had started earlier, like 45 or 50?

The real question: What is the bigger factor preventing you from using PEDs? Health side effects, such hormone issues and potential link to cancer? Or is it breaking rules?

Curious to hear responses on this.

G11- NORDAP with a 2x weekly SBC booster, cycle is 4 weeks on, 6 weeks off. You can actually assemble the ingredients from legal avenues if you get creative (and know someone in TX). The injections were easier than the serum it was just difficult to stick myself in the rump the first few times. You can also use the front thigh depending on your BF%. The booster is oral. Do NOT carry the injection needles in your car with the product - you can get prosecuted, especially in Delaware for some reason.

Felt the difference within 3 days. I increased weekly mileage from about 15 to 33 (Ks). My 5K dropped from 29:31 to 24:59.8 in 9 months. I also lost 20 pounds of fat and got under 195 for the 1st time in years - combo of the running and I stopped eating fast food 14 times per week and drinking MT Dew in bed. I then purchased an altitude tent and VFs- those 2 things got me to 24:31 after another 6 months. The real kicker was adding CrossFit 2x per week. My pull ups went from like 3 before to like 35 within a week! The coaching and form adjustment was all I needed. I’m thinking if I shorten the off-cycle I can break 24:00 by the time I turn 22 - it’s hard though, but doesn’t hurt to have a stretch dream goal.

I’m looking at a tri-bike with aero bars for more X training work. I’m not morally comfortable with what I’ve done, but it is fun to be able to waste people over the last 100m of these road races, for sure. In summary, no regrets except the custom zip-tie laces makes me feel a little like a cheater. I learned it from the Bowerman movie, to be fair.

I got a skin rash once and ended up going to the doctor because it wasn't going away. Doc prescribed a 10 day step down steroid to knock down the infection. I really didn't consider it in the context of running. A few days in, I did a hard interval workout and felt great. Not that unusual, but the next day I felt great again so I did a 12 mile run and picked it up at the end. I assumed I would be wrecked the next day, but I felt great again for my scheduled tempo run and crushed it. That is when I realized what was happening. I learned just how well drugs work. Anyone who says they don't is a liar, apologist, covering his tracks. But you still have to do the work, right? Yes, but your body recovers in half the time.

FYI, PRP: Using injected testosterone actually shuts down what the body produces on its own. So you better not miss a week now because you will have zero testosterone production.

Not zero, but significantly less. Would certainly consider Arimidex, etc to mitigate the affects of unopposed estrogen.

I took EPO when recovering from an injury in college. Parents knew a doctor who specialized in athletic performance. It got me back to where I was very quickly - I was only running ~40 mpw when returning and I was running the same times as if I'd be running 80-90 mpw.