Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you are kind of missing the point.Regardless of what dopers and non-dopers are doing, the flaw in every study on EPO is that they don't control for training, and they don't factor in how training also impacts blood parameters in conjunction with performance.
FlawedThinking wrote:
This is exactly the argument of dopers, that they still had to do the training and it really did not matter. However, they are able to train at a higher level and make all their physiological changes faster than the non doper because less rest is required. Less rest equals more workouts equals faster adaption. The drugs are not needed on race day because the accelerated training is already in the body. Therefore, blood data on race day is nearly irrelevant because anyone with half a brain has stopped using in enough time to avoid a positive test.
The reason "B" level runners are getting caught is that they do not have the medical support and knowledge to beat the tests. That does not mean "A" level runners are not using. Very few cyclists ever actually failed tests, but an astounding number at the top were using. They were caught by either raids on the team or by correlating data. Now runners & trainers have knowledge of how that data correlation works, so it is easier to defeat.
Watch this documentary "Alberto Salazar: Doping In Athletics Documentary". This guy beat the biological passport while doing EPO with no help. With regular blood monitoring by a trainer or doctor, there is no hope of catching dopers at the top of the sport.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLfbqqAEKwoAnd if a runner was dumb enough to test positive, a bribe to the IAAF President would sweep it under the rug.
Renato Canova wrote:In the current mentality, NEVER people speak about the effects of training. It seems that every change in the individual performances is only due to doping, like training didn't have any importance. In the world of amateurs, they ask me "what do you give to your athletes", not "how they train", and this is something I can't accept, because is a very wrong message.