Hello,
I am a freelance writer as well as a swimmer. I am doing a piece on recreational athletes' misuse of over the counter medicines / products (sudafed, benadryl, Red Bull, advil, etc) and off label use of prescription drugs (inhalers, ritalin, etc) for performance enhancing purposes. The article will explore the prevalence of this behavior and the health consequences, if any. Being an athlete who has taken the occasional sudafed before a race, I'm not looking to flay anyone,
The question is not whether that makes you/me a drug cheat, but whether in our desire for PRs or records, we are willing to go down a similar path as steroid and EPO users, just not as far.
I would not use anyone's name in the article. If you would prefer to e-mail me privately, my e-mail is laurarob2@comcast.net. I am also interested in anecdotal evidence and your opinions on whether or not such behavior is widespread and/or okay.
Thanks.
years ago we used to drink bromo at swim meets to buffer lactic acid
I never noticed much difference
I know several swimmers who drank a lot of coffee before races
With all the anti aging centers popping up across the country combined with the affluence of some masters swimmers and the desire to swim fast. There has to be some USMS swimmers taking steriods and or HGH and other potions to slow down their aging process, get stronger and recover faster from training.
I'm sure at some point in the future GENE doping might become an issue for USMS, when gene therapy might trick cells to stop counting as they divide.
I vaguely remeber a 60 minutes or discovery channell type show that talked about how cells have counters on the ends of DNA or mitochondrial chains and as they divide, they have counters that keep track of how many divisions they make over a life time. So if a DNA therapy were developed to slow down cell division, stop these counters or trick the counters, humans might be able to live longer and feel younger
to get stronger I cut out aerobic training
Ande
I had read somewhere (on the web) sometime back that chewing some 40 or 50 TUMS before an event would reduce or delay the lactic acid onset. Since I only sprint 50 frees, I once tried five Tums. Didn't notice any difference (and didn't want to risk 40 or 50).
years ago we used to drink bromo at swim meets to buffer lactic acid
I never noticed much difference
I know several swimmers who drank a lot of coffee before races
With all the anti aging centers popping up across the country combined with the affluence of some masters swimmers and the desire to swim fast. There has to be some USMS swimmers taking steriods and or HGH and other potions to slow down their aging process, get stronger and recover faster from training.
I'm sure at some point in the future GENE doping might become an issue for USMS, when gene therapy might trick cells to stop counting as they divide.
I vaguely remeber a 60 minutes or discovery channell type show that talked about how cells have counters on the ends of DNA or mitochondrial chains and as they divide, they have counters that keep track of how many divisions they make over a life time. So if a DNA therapy were developed to slow down cell division, stop these counters or trick the counters, humans might be able to live longer and feel younger
to get stronger I cut out aerobic training
Ande
I had read somewhere (on the web) sometime back that chewing some 40 or 50 TUMS before an event would reduce or delay the lactic acid onset. Since I only sprint 50 frees, I once tried five Tums. Didn't notice any difference (and didn't want to risk 40 or 50).
