Doctor prescribed me Prednisone 3 days before Boston

In 2016 I had a really weird shoulder/neck pain. Not sure what I did but my orthopedist prescribed me Prednisone that ended I think the day after Boston. It started with I think 9 pills and decreased by a pill a day.

I ran Boston and - to be honest - didn't notice anything different. I ran the pace I expected to run and had trained all winter for. Dehydrated a ton at about 22 and suffered through to the finish.

If you are worried about this somehow affecting your run, don't be.

It is a banned substance - so keep that in mind in case you're a professional runner looking to win prize money.

My heart rate was notably higher when I was on prednisone while running, so I would avoid it for those reasons alone. Others on here seemed to have benefits, though.

Thanks, Pretzel Man! Good luck on Monday - no matter how the weather turns out, it will be better than what you trained through.

Prednisone is one of the most effective performance enhancing drugs one could take before an endurance competition where glycogen stores and utilization are a serious limiter.

I can think of no other drug in fact that would change your performance for the better on such a short timeline. EPO the day of an event wouldn’t help almost at all. Testosterone could potentially help taken the day of in terms of keeping you focused and a bit more aggression. But nothing comes close to a corticosteroid for last minute supercharging.

Dril wrote:

I'm confused. You'll train on steroids but you won't race on steroids? Would you train on EPO but not race on EPO? Your weird system of ethics is a bit flawed but regardless no one cares if you run the hobby jogger olympics with some predinsone in your system. Have at it.

Completely different situations:

a) EPO is banned both in and out of competition; prednisone is banned in competition, and allowed outside of it - no TUE required.

b) From what I understand the benefits of EPO persist even after you come off of it - that's why people like to sneak off somewhere, train on it, and then come off of it to race. Not so with pred. I feel like a rock star while on it, and then awful with a performance drop when I come off of it. Not to mention the damage to my bone density from taking it.

Pred is unquestionably performance enhancing if you train off of it, and then take it on race day. Training ON pred and then coming OFF of it to race puts one at a disadvantage. Think training on coffee, and then going cold turkey on race morning. Nobody with any experience with the drug would use it that way with the intent of improving performance on race day. Which is likely why it is allowed out of competition, but banned in it.

If the OP was prescribed oral steroids for a rash and not topical, then it is wide spread enough or severe enough that not taking it would probably not be an option. I doubt he could sleep without it.

I had localized dermatitis once just behind my knee- I went 2 days without sleep until I got the topical steroid.

You're confusing corticosteroids (usually used as an anti-inflamatory) with anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone, builds muscle)

Sorry you're right. Just read this on USADA: Topical use of glucocorticoids (e.g., anti-rash cream, hemorrhoid creams used on the surface, etc.) is permitted. Be aware, however, that some hemorrhoid suppositories or inserted rectal creams contain glucocorticoids and are prohibited in-competition.

Boys, better ditch the suppositories on Monday!

I always had crappy sleep when on it...good luck.

Dril wrote:Are you admitting to out of competition doping? It sure sounds that way.

Because WMM podiums are clean? This is the IAAF we're talking about.

NotADoper wrote:

I had a skin irritation and my doctor prescribed me 60mg Prednisone for the next 4 days followed by a taper off the medication.

I'm running Boston on Monday and concerned about racing while on this med. Has anyone run a marathon on Prednisone before? What was your experience like?

Go for it! You’ll feel like the bomb when you PR and smash through that 4 hour marathon barrier that’s been eluding you!

Hi Galen!

Happy that you guys feel great day 2-3 into your “medically indicated” course (which just happens to coincide with races). Let me know how you are in 3 years when you’ve blown up like a post menopausal hippo, have wrecked osteoporotic bones, have diabetes, tiny testicles and are blindly stumbling all over races from cataracts.

Filthy druggos wrote:

Happy that you guys feel great day 2-3 into your “medically indicated” course (which just happens to coincide with races). Let me know how you are in 3 years when you’ve blown up like a post menopausal hippo, have wrecked osteoporotic bones, have diabetes, tiny testicles and are blindly stumbling all over races from cataracts.

Somebody is off THEIR meds today....

Seriously, it's a little prednisone. That stuff is great for occasional use. As others have posted, time the application right and the Boston time will be better. But, it's not an easy thing to get the timing right on your first try. Mess it up and you won't get your finisher medal!

I am currently being treated for follicular lymphoma. Each treatment cycle includes 100 mg of prednisone for each of five days. It is horrible. It does tend to wind you up a bit but on the sixth day you crash. There is upset to the digestion. I am on other chemo drugs at the start of a treatment cycle but hate prednisone the most. Interestingly it was one of the early drugs to treat lymphoma given in large doses of 200 mg. The drug had so many bad side effects that treatment regime was discontinued to what I am on today.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I am currently being treated for follicular lymphoma. Each treatment cycle includes 100 mg of prednisone for each of five days. It is horrible.

Igy

I am sorry you are going through this. Hoping you have a good response.

As to all other losers who claim they need prednisone for ‘asthma’ or ‘a rash’ just before a race, you fukers deserve the life threatening adrenal crisis you’ll suffer when you inevitably get the timing wrong (as all stupid imbeciles eventually do).

Filthy druggos wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I am currently being treated for follicular lymphoma. Each treatment cycle includes 100 mg of prednisone for each of five days. It is horrible.

Igy

I am sorry you are going through this. Hoping you have a good response.

As to all other losers who claim they need prednisone for ‘asthma’ or ‘a rash’ just before a race, you fukers deserve the life threatening adrenal crisis you’ll suffer when you inevitably get the timing wrong (as all stupid imbeciles eventually do).

Thanks. Tolerating the therapy well. The taste in my mouth everytime I take prednisone is one of those negative mental images I will never forget. Can’t imagine one ingesting the drug by choice.

Igy

biogen wrote:

You're confusing corticosteroids (usually used as an anti-inflamatory) with anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone, builds muscle)

Another brilliant post.

Please learn something before opening your mouth, both improve performance just in different ways.

What am I missing?

One person asked about racing while using it for a rash.

The asthma sufferers noted he's not going to race when using it for asthma.

A couple of commenters basically said "if you suck, no one will care."

Most everyone else said "not cool."

Iggy, sorry you're going through a serious illness. We are pulling for you to recover and get healthy.