Masters Track Events-Are They Cheats?

The times are not that fast, so I doubt it.

Doping doesn't automatically make you a world-class open-level athlete. The times may not seem that fast to you, but to the clean guys they are beating, they are fast enough.According to the NY Times, tens of thousands of Americans over age 40 are taking hgh and testosterone as "anti-aging" "medication". How many are masters runners?

Notakicker wrote:

The times are not that fast, so I doubt it.

There will always be cheaters. Some of them are obvious. But I compete in masters events and I would say the big majority are clean and enjoying the experience of competiting. Somebody told me the cheaters are the ones who aren't sociable and are too much into themselves and their performance! Don't know if that is true but interesting theory.

Go out, have fun and don't worry about the very few cheaters out there. Masters track is a blast.

You can use the suspicion of doping to your psychological advantage. When you line up in a major race, just tell yourself that one other guy (you don't know which) is on the juice. It is your duty as the one athlete that you know to be clean to beat ALL of the rest in order to deny the cheater!

The Technorigine wrote:

Doping doesn't automatically make you a world-class open-level athlete. The times may not seem that fast to you, but to the clean guys they are beating, they are fast enough.

According to the NY Times, tens of thousands of Americans over age 40 are taking hgh and testosterone as "anti-aging" "medication". How many are masters runners?

This is hitting the nail right on the head. Many masters athletes do not equate "anti-aging" with "performance enhancing". They just feel better and decide to get back into their old running shoes/speedo/bicycle, etc., and lo and behold they're going pretty fast.

This is probably most true for masters swimming. Every year there is some kind of new wunderkind that shatters every record out there. Normally I would say no harm no foul because who really cares if some old guy spanks me in the 200 freestyle? But these new "Masters' Athletes" are starting to make some serious coin off of their new found fame. When money is involved no good can come of it.

I would be highly skeptical of any masters' performance of note and especially masters' performances coming out of the state of California. Those guys and gals have corned the market on anti-aging.

You could do what I do and ignore the whole masters scene and just race against yourself. I'm pretty sure messing with your system by using testosterone and HGH is going to eventually have some serious consequences down the road. When they've all vanished in a cloud of dust I'll be there, all wrinkled and crooked, to clean up in the 85 to 89 age group for the 50 meter walk.

Does anyone here remember the November 2003 issue of "Outside Magazine"? (I have to ask because the average memory span on letsrun is usually less than 2 years!).

In that issue of "Outside" there was a great article in which a former elite level swimmer (who was in his 40's at the time) decided to start taking PED's in order to write about their effect of his performance and their and how easy they were to obtain. He catalogued his journey into various west-coast doctor's offices where he easily obtained HGH, Testosterone and EPO.

The funny part is when he described the many "masters men" types who were there for the same reasons as he was.

if viagra, why not HGH? wrote:

Does anyone here remember the November 2003 issue of "Outside Magazine"? (I have to ask because the average memory span on letsrun is usually less than 2 years!).

In that issue of "Outside" there was a great article in which a former elite level swimmer (who was in his 40's at the time) decided to start taking PED's in order to write about their effect of his performance and their and how easy they were to obtain. He catalogued his journey into various west-coast doctor's offices where he easily obtained HGH, Testosterone and EPO.

The funny part is when he described the many "masters men" types who were there for the same reasons as he was.

Hey! All those anti-aging drugs I'm on must be helping my memory becasue I remember that article. But it was a marathon cyclist, not a swimmer. Here it is...

Thanks for posting the article! I couldn't remember what sport he did when he was young. Now that I'm not competing anymore, maybe I'll do some "research" of my own (right before I turn 40 of course!).

Sorry for more previous post regarding slow times - it came out wrong. What I meant to say, is that it does not makes sense for an over 40 athlete to risk cancer and mess with hormones for nothing more than age group glory.

See

http://www.preventcancer.com/avoidable/breast_cancer/hgh_risks.htm

Uhhh ... Say what?

For the record, I don't know any top masters athletes who do not equate "anti-aging" with "performance enhancing." Let's be honest, you're just making that up.

In fact, all the top masters runners I know are incredibly in tune with the line between acceptable training supplements (i.e.--good diet and maybe an ibuprofen now and then) and cheating (anything involving steroids of any kind or in any amount, EPO, etc. ad nauseum).

Pointing your finger at California, of course, points the finger directly at myself and others who hail from the state. Which puts me in a knowledgeable position to point out that you are quite emphatically full of sh*t. Personally, I'm currently on one of my twice-yearly 3-4 weeks off - the amount of time it takes my body to heal from the stress of 4-5 months of training and racing.

Nolan Shaheed, another CA master and arguably the best masters middle-distance/distance runner of all time spends almost as much time battling injuries and setbacks as he does training well and setting records. He's never even taken an aspirin.

Most masters runners who train hard and race fast spend a lot of time beat up and on the mend. We don't mind. We have too much fun competing in the sport to let aches and pains derail us.

Do some masters take drugs? Of course. Some people are always willing to blur ethical lines - be that putting performance enhancing drugs in their system, or slinging unsubstatianted (and patently false) accusations at their peers.

HGH....the old man's secret weapon

SoCal Pete wrote:

For the record, I don't know any top masters athletes who do not equate "anti-aging" with "performance enhancing." Let's be honest, you're just making that up.

Do some masters take drugs? Of course. Some people are always willing to blur ethical lines - be that putting performance enhancing drugs in their system, or slinging unsubstatianted (and patently false) accusations at their peers.

SoCal Pete,

You are right, I am just making it up, mostly because they do not test masters' competition. I do personally know of masters' swimmers (from California) who are on perscribed "anti-aging" medication because they were feeling "run down", "tired" or worse yet, "old".

I'm sorry if you feel that I inadvertantly slung an unsubstatiated accusation at you and your friends who are having a good time training and racing clean. I'm happy for you but at the same time you can't fault me for taking every athletic performance, masters or not, with a heavy dose of skepticism. I've been disappointed so many times that I'm just not buying it anymore.

Not unless Viagra or Flomax are on the banned substances list.

Uhhhh ... My 13-year-old son and I were discussing Reggie Bush the other day, and whether Reggie was really the "fastest" running back in the NFL, as a sportscaster had insinuated. After a couple minutes, my son said, "Well, it doesn't really matter since he's on steroids anyway." Not "probably on" but "on."

Even my 13-year-old can no longer believe that any athlete at any level can be having success if they aren't on something (though FYI, he knows that I'm not ... which is why he thinks I had to wait until my 40's to be successful - because that's when all the "good" runners stop taking drugs!).

So, yeah, guess I can't blame you.

That said, I don't personally know of any current top masters distance guys who use.

Good luck in your own running!

Wow, two posters on Letsrun had a civilized discussion instead of slinging mud at each other until the thread became a vile pit were no decent message board reader would want to venture. Thanks for that!

Hopefully the same levels of maturity and civility apply to masters athletes. I think they do and that very few master and post-master athletes use PEs.

It's hard for me to understand someone using PEs at the elite, money earning level of athletics, after all, it's just cheating in the end. How good can a person feel about themselves if they cheat other hard working athletes to make a living?

But to use PEs at the level of competition where your only true reward is a feeling of self-satisfaction (whether from the performance itself or other peoples opinion of your performance) would border mental illness.

Anyone over 40 who thinks that a significant percentage of people don't cheat when their are no apparent consequences (i.e. no testing) has lived a very sheltered life. To underestimate the vanity, self-delusion and short-sightedness of the human ego is a serious mistake.

It is hard for me to imagine a masters athlete using performance enhancing drugs. The reason for competing at the masters level is so personal. My wife of 33 years cannot take my competitive instincts seriously (she does appreciate my trim figure however). I don't believe anyone in my office notices other than to view me as a health nut (not likely to eat a donut or use anything harmfull to one's body). The athletes that I train with are all dealing with the same day to day issues of family, career, and life in general. These people are far too busy and/or wouldn't want to waste the family resources on such folly. Competing in masters sports is a hobby, just like stamp collecting is a hobby. That does not mean one cannot strive for excellence, but that is truly a personal endeavor.

Of course, there probably is that person who has lost all perspective on why they are a sportsman. I truly believe that person is the aberration. I feel sorry for one that misses "the road well traveled."

Ghost of Igloi

Ghost of Igloi wrote: It is hard for me to imagine a masters athlete using performance enhancing drugs.

I'd like to agree with you, but I have a bit of a jaded view of human nature.

My best guess is that the proportion of competitive masters athletes cheating in one way or another is about the same as for open athletes. And I also think there's probably very little variability from sport to sport. A certain proportion of the population will always have "looser" ethical standards, and will be prone to cheat.

I don't personally suspect any fellow masters athletes, but I'll admit I've been shocked and disappointed many times to discover that an outwardly honest open athlete has tested positive.

I don't think there's any way to know one way or another, but I'm fairly certain that some relatively substantial proportion of our peers have crossed to the dark side somewhere along the line (probably as a continuation of unethical behaviour from earlier in life).

Didn't one of the Russians get busted last year (grandma's women's winner?). Then of course we had Eddy a few years back. So there is incentive. Nevertheless, it's probably pretty rare because even the top masters runners don't make THAT much money.