Four Minutes wrote:
Isn’t it entirely possible that Paula Radcliffe had micro-dosed and pre-tested to see how much would keep her below the legal limit? I say pre-testing as in conducting her own testing with a doctor of choice before being officially tested. Remember Alberto Salazar and the testosterone with his son. He tested how much could be applied to trigger a positive test. I’ve heard of this constantly with cycling as well, but with testing testosterone to stay in the legal T/E ratio. What if Paula did the same thing, but while micro-dosing EPO, and pre-tested to ensure her values stayed just below the legal limit? She does seem suspiciously close to the top of the legal allowance on all of the suspicious tests… almost conveniently close to the top.
Piggybacking on your post. Could be interesting if she was actually a non responder to altitude. Some athletes are negatively impacted by training at altitude, others positive, some have no blood change at all. If she fell into the no change category, she could go to altitude and then micro dose while taking advantage of the higher allowed blood value.