track fan

WOW congrats on the position! That is fantastic!!

I agree about Landis, I was so disappointed when I seen that this morning. He seems like such a nice kid, to bad he got caught up in that.

congrats on making headway with the grant submission. i feel your pain research-wise. it seems like every time i figure something out, it simply leads to another huge bump in the road. oh well; i guess if we already knew how to do it all, it wouldn't be research...

i'm with you on landis. i really wanted to believe him when he was denying it, but apparently it's too much to ask of high profile athletes to stay clean.

congrats on your election, great honor. when do you go up for full professor?

I hadn't heard about Landis so checked it out. Indeed sad but not surprising. I have my doubts about the integrity of the whole cycling thing, as well as cross country skiing and the shorter track and field events. That brings up distance running... would performance enhancing drugs be of help there? And is so are they being used? I would like to think not.

Congratulations on your professional accomplishments.

It seems that people in positions of power or success come to think that the rules don't apply to them.

congratulations bonnie. stay cool running in that heat.

as for landis - i don't understand this. i just don't. getting into the mindset that cheating is okay...how does that happen?

I think that our society contributes to that attitude, Carolyn! People in positions of power have those notions reinforced in them at a young age from all directions. It's too bad the shock and outrage at a lack of integrity doesn't have more serious implications. I'm sure Floyd Landis and other dopers will be just fine financially because they'll get paid for interviews and for telling their story in a bestseller.

Ugh.

But nice run, Bonnie! When you do short intervals like you did today, what are you aiming for during that 30 seconds of speed?

I don't think Floyd (or other cyclists) think that the rules don't apply to them. The argument, among professional cyclists, is that everyone is doped to the gills and if you don't take drugs you can't compete. These guys aren't cycling just for fun, this is their job, and so not competing costs them their livelihood. To me, the problem is that the "rules" (just like with baseball) seem to have changed, and now you have developed a sport that on the cusp between being really dirty (think track and field in the 60s/70s - Mao's army, East Germans and some say Russians) and clean. I can "understand" the past, but I don't like the LIES.

Scott - lots of distance runners have used PEDs - they don't help with the actual "speed" - but things like growth hormone allow you to recover faster (e.g., training harder and more consistently). I don't know how many are "NOW" - but Eddy Hellenbeck was busted about 4/5 years ago using them - and he was a sub-elite masters road racer (he lives here actually and I see him at many local races).

Tracy - I am not concerned with speed in short intervals like this ... I am just reminding my body what it is like to run faster so it doesn't forget. I just run hard and think about form. I only focus on pace when I am running race specific track workouts (usually about 12 weeks or so before a target race). Most of my training focuses on effort. I also training in cycles, now I am in base training -- where I am building aerobic base and taking a break from "hard" training. In August/September I will start building back to some target pace work for Fall and Winter racing. I am old, so I find this type of training keeps healthy so I can train more consistently.

Nevels -- this is the hardest thing for me to teach my students! Research is hard, and if we had the answers we wouldn't need phd or scientists ;-)

Scott, I am actually an associate professor without tenure right now, I probably won't be going up for full professor for 6-7 years. Unless I get this grant and revolutionize cancer biology ;-). My tenure clock got messed up with Dean and I changed jobs 2x in 3 years (the downside of the "two-body" problem ;)).

Interesting. I have no real response, other than to say perhaps sports should create two levels of competition: one where doping is forbidden, the other where doping is permissible. I wonder what the demand would be for something like that.

But thanks for the info on your pace.

There does seem to be a culture of doping, particularly in professional cycling. I suppose I was thinking more of other recent scandals.

Congratulations on the Board position! Sounds like it will keep you busy(er?)

I am with you on the whole Floyd Landis thing. Sooo disappointing. I just don't buy the argument that "everyone else is doing it.....". Its just such a cop out.

Yes, I don't know if I "buy" it either, but it does seem that has been, at least in the past, a culture of using PEDs in cycling (as in most sports actually). I am just so darn disappointed, with both Justin Gatlin and Floyd Landis, I really did believe they were innocent! Now I don't know what to think about Lance.

I do know that testing for these is imperfect as well. I work with these types of assays all the time, it is not as "clear-cut" as some would lead you to believe; and there certainly are both false-positives and false-negatives. I don't think I have ever seen a definitive reproducibility study that was done that shows how reliable these tests (and the 'cut-offs' for positive) are.

Congrats on getting on the BOD! I saw lots of runners out today in DC and can just imagine you right there with them. I was a bit jealous that I was wearing flip flops rather than tennis shoes. I really wanted to join them for a run around the National Mall.

I haven't seen the news in a few days... must check up on this Landis situation.

Oh KP, you need to try to get to the C&O canal for a run!! It is awesome. Runs right next to the Potomac and you can run on this awesome dirt/sand path. I love running in DC, there are SOOO many good places to run. Walking there is fun too though, I hope you have a great time.

The "Landis incident" is all over the front page of google news!

We walked across Memorial Bridge from Arlington to Lincoln Memorial right at lunchtime and TONS of runners were out. I definitely had the itch to get in a quick run. The Potomac was beautiful. Tomorrow we're supposed to spend more time around the National Mall and I plan to wear tennis shoes rather than sandals... if we have time I might run a lap or two. I might come back later this year to run the Baltimore Marathon. My friend lives in Haymarket and it would be a free stay. I love this city!