Wheeler Farm Loops

Oh my gosh cute! My productivity just increased by 1 million.

That dog is seriously so cute!

Interesting study. Wonder when continued injections would show no additional improvement.

Its a really dramatic spike in improvement over such a short time span. 6% is massive. Heck, even 1-2% is a huge and very significant improvement. Think about how much time that is in a 10K or half-marathon.

You would expect the improvement curve would level off, simply due to the quantity of EPO they were taking in this study. Obviously the researchers were trying to show an effect without making these guys go through a 4-6 month doping program, but the amount of EPO they were taking over the study duration is about three times higher than what Armstrong et al were doing (although they were using over much longer time spans).

Its crazy, HCT going from 42 to 49 in just 4 weeks. It would take about 20,000 miles of running to do that, if you're lucky!

Awesome running this week, Jake. Impressive workouts. And you have left plenty in the tank. You are ready.

Sorry about your jeep. Dirt bags! There's a chance they didn't even have opposable thumbs.

good to hear that the tweaks are going away.

So are these studies intended to tempt more people to dope? :) Maybe the EPO dealers are funding these studies because they now need to tap into the amateur market, as pros are being regulated better.

The study was supported by a WADA committee, so I'd assume (and hope) their goal is to throw a big middle finger in the face of people who say EPO doesn't make a significant difference and it should be allowed. There's actually a lot of people like that out there. There's also some people who try to say EPO doesn't work on Africans. So stupid.

If you look at some of the specific numbers in this study, these guys' blood was turning into sludge. I bet they had to monitor them very closely (in terms of their medical condition). I wouldn't want to be the one presenting that study to the IRB for approval :-)

That's a cute puppy.

Nice pickup today. Sounds like you had fun with it!

And speaking of EPO -

http://www.supersport.com/athletics/article.aspx?Id=1808564

A lot of people think this is the tip of the iceberg. The World Marathon Majors just announced some much stricter penalties for doping today. Steps in the right direction...

Great news that you were able to put the foot down without any pain.

On the EPO front - I think too many people have their heads buried in the sand. I don't think it's just the male marathon runners. Nor do I think it's a recent problem. If my memory serves me correctly, in an early edition of Peter Coe's book there was some chit-chat about EPO (sort of like, the way iron tablets are mentioned now). In later editions, all mention of EPO was removed removed. [the second removed is obviously a typo: it's hard to type and juice up]

Anybody who can run faster than me is cheating and I'm not joking. I mean it.

:)

Geeze, quite the read. It's been interesting watching the aftermath since Lance came out about doping. I'm not too sure many more will feel so inclined from seeing the major back lash to him. I wonder if he felt backed in a corner (more than usual) to come out or wanted to clear his conscience. Thanks for sharing.

Well I think its already been established that he clearly doesn't have a conscience.

I think he just wanted his ban reduced so he could do triathlons again. Hopefully that won't happen. It doesn't look like it will, as the US justice department has joined the whistle blower lawsuit again him and the Postal Service team.