1996 - Riis - Admitted Doper
1997 - Ullrich - Busted Doper
1998 - Pantani - Busted Doper
1999-2005 Armstrong - To be determined
2006 - Landis - Busted Doper & Admitted Doper.
2007 - Contador - Busted Doper
2008 - Sastre - Clean?
2009-2010 - Contador - Busted Doper
AM - met Aaron and Justin over at the Fairview track. I was doubtful that I'd pull off any sort of significant workout and just hoped to get some miles while enjoying some time with the guys. The aggravation in the back of my left knee is isolated to the inner left tendon (so while I have said it is the knee, it is really the connective tissue behind it ...), but I could feel that I was negatively stressing it even after a couple of laps on the track with Justin. Pulled the plug, easy 4 miles. It is getting better - it just is not better yet. Probably would be best if I just took a few days off but, well ... ya' know.
Felt a bit bad that Justin hauled up to get a workout in and it did not work out. Learned that I can form a band potentially with Aaron, but he is going to have to pull ukulele duty.
Anton article at Colorado Runner Mag.
I'm so calloused to this now that I've become apathetic to the topic and the sport. Cycling and following cycling was my whole world in college and in my early 20s. Now it's just a circus act.
ReplyDeleteWhat the topic does make me wonder about is how prevalent drugs were when the real men raced in the 80s and early 90s.
George: Yes, indeed, very sad about what's happening with cycling and particularly the Tour de France. Kind of makes me wonder if the same thing would happen to ultrarunning when/if the sport ever becomes all about money. With Lance, my heart and mind tell me different things. In my heart, I want him to be clean. But in my mind things don't add up. I'm a huge Andy Schleck fan and am now wondering if he'll be awarded the 2010 Tour win.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you saw my response to your post on my blog, but you can get that entire Yiannis Kouros video from Zombie Runner. It's a cool video--about an hour long--and is very inspirational.
Wyatt
Thanks Wyatt - I might need to check that out.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if Lance did or did not do PED's and hence I am not qualified to say. I can hypothesize either way ... for example - if you look at the results and all the folks that say he did you could say he is guilty. Or you could say he has been the most tested guy ever. So he has to be clean. On and on it goes.
I guess I am still reconciling in my head though what a sad state of affairs that endurance sport has become. I am fearful that it could invade our sports more than it already has.
And then I realize it does not really matter anyway.
I hope you can resist running enough to let that thing heal up quick. And yes, the ukelele is probably the best fit for my finger length.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used get drug tested USADA would send us a list of banned substances or drugs that you need a doctors prescription for and that you had to register with USADA. Stuff like cold medicine and antihistamines and asthma inhalers (a lot of this are considered masking agents). I'll bet ultrarunners are (technically) doping all the time and they don't even know it. There were hundreds of substances on the list.
ReplyDeleteTim - I have thought about that (am I taking a substance that is or in combination with something else that could potentially lead to me failing a test).
ReplyDeleteThe only time it has really crossed my mind is when I take a vitamin set like iron, or B or something like that. Maybe coffee too.
Then I hear guys like Ben Greenfield saying TAKE beta alanine because it creates bigger blood vessels and I wonder how much people are pushing the envelope!
But claims like Alberto's ... it came from a contaminated burger ... I mean, the way some guys claim stuff it seems like most of us walking around (athlete or not) would not pass a PED test.
Of course my favorite was that sprinter who claimed he failed because he drank a six pack of beer and had sex a dozen times the night before. Drummond I think.
Dennis Johnson. He didn't follow the 3-day rule!
ReplyDeleteIt just came to me, Dennis Mitchell.
ReplyDeleteThat is it.
ReplyDelete