I've been on TRT for secondary hypogonadism since 2012. I was under the care of the same endocrinologist from 2012 until 2023 when I moved to a different state. My regimen has been the same since 2012: 120mg/week of test cypionate and 500 IUs of HCG to prevent testicular atrophy. I will occasionally take a small dose of anastrozole once a week if I feel like I'm starting to bloat.
I was a very good HS runner (15:2x for 3 miles) but not good enough to run in college. I picked up running again in my mid to late 40s as I became more interested in my health. My current 5k time is in the low 19s and my HM time is 1:37. I'm hoping to get to 1:30 next spring when I have another HM scheduled. At my level, testosterone isn't moving the needle wrt my running performance; my psoas, achilles, and everything else is the performance bottleneck.
I would suppose I'm a "doper" but I've never thought twice about entering a local 5K or HM. My TRT puts my total T levels well within normal physiological ranges but I do need to be aware of the signs of higher levels of estradiol, especially bloating and water retention. When I stop TRT I can lose 8-12 pounds within a matter of weeks and running definitely feels easier.
Around the same time I was prescribed TRT I also discovered that I suffered from hypothyroidism and I was prescribed levothyroxine (125mcg/daily). If you told me I could only have levothyroxine or TRT I would take levothyroxine one hundred out of one hundred times. I've gone off of TRT 3-4 times in the past because I got tired of injecting myself 4x a week and never noticed much of a difference between being off and on. On the other hand, levothyroxine has been a godsend and i would not be able to function without it.
Happy to answer any questions anyone might have.