I WANNA DOPE!!!!!
I just came back from my timed 2.4km run. I haven’t timed myself since my last IPPT about a year ago. It DEFINITELY wasn’t fantastic. I my legs as usual, from the lack of training, couldn’t carry me any faster. Here is the run down:
Starting Heart Rate – 100 (I went to the gym prior)
1st lap timing – 1:20
2nd lap timing – 2:55 (1:35)
3rd lap timing – 4.40 (1:45)
4th lap timing – 6:32 (1:52)
5th lap timing – 8:18 (1:46)
6th lap timing – 10:03 (1:45)
End Heart Rate – 165 (31 short of maximal HR of 196)
As you can see, I wasn’t performing to my best. My end HR was only 165 and my average speed was 14.4km/h. When I did my Metabolic Exercise Test in April during my Physiology Lab session, my maximal heart rate was 196 at VO2 max. In terms of cardiovascularity, it doesn’t seem to be my limiting factor. My only conclusion is that my legs are not yet up to the task of clearing gold for IPPT. I have another 20 secs to shave in a weeks time, which seems rather daunting.
In any case, it would be good if I could get doped HAHAHAHA. I’m sure you all have heard about doping cases during the Olympics of recent years. Contrary to popular belief, long distance cardiovascular sports SELDOM use anabolic steroids as a means of dope. Anabolic steroids results in massive growth and strength, which are highly sought after by bodybuilding athletes, sprinters, weight-lifting etc. In these sports, STRENGTH IS PARAMOUNT.
Professional British Cyclist David Millar was stripped
of his title in 2004 when he tested positive for EPO.
However for marathons, where mass weighs you down, people rather NOT use steroids. You’ll usually get cases of blood doping or Epogen doping. In principal, what these techniques do is increase the body’s oxygen carrying capacity, thereby allow a person’s maximal O2 consumption to increase to meet the body’s demands (i.e. increase VO2 max).
By blood doping, the athlete receives a transfusion of red blood cells (RBC), thereby increasing your body’s capacity to carry and deliver oxygen to hypoxic tissues. The effect is normally quickly seen.
There is also Epogen or EPO doping. Epogen is simply a synthetic form of EPO, or Erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulate synthesis of erythrocytes, or RBC. The result usually manifest after 5 days, which is the required time for the additional synthesis of RBC in response to EPO.
Most of these cases are usually detected by urine test. However, blood doping sometimes do not contain banned substances that would show up in the urine. Hence another method is to measure the athletes Hematocrit (Hct) or hemoglobin concentration (Hb). Simply put, hematocrit measures the percentage of cells (or formed elements) in the blood. Since 99% of blood is made up of RBC, it is a good measure. Normal healthy adult males usually have a Hct of 41-50% and 36-44% in adult women. ormal Hb levels are 14-17 g/dL of blood in men and 12-15 g/dL in women. For most healthy persons the two measurements are in close agreement.
There are a couple ways in which Hct and Hb measurements can suggest that the blood sample has been taken from a doping athlete. The first is simply an unusually high value for both. Do note that a few athletes naturally have high RBC concentrations (known as polycythemia – and hence their athlethic prowess), which they must demonstrate through a series of consistently high Hct and Hb results over an extended period of time.
Another method is to compare the numbers of mature and immature RBCs in an athlete’s circulation. If a high number of mature RBCs is not accompanied by a high number of immature RBCs (or reticulocytes), it suggests that the mature RBCs were artificially introduced by transfusion.
If you are interested, you can read more on how blood doping is detected >>HERE @ WIKIPEDIA<<
In any case, it’s not possible for me LOL. I mean, a dope for a mere $400 reward? I believe the cost WILL outweigh the benefits. What I CAN do is to constantly subject my body to hypoxia, to stimulate EPO production. EPO is produced mainly by peritubular fibroblasts of the renal cortex. Regulation is believed to rely on a feed-back mechanism measuring blood oxygenation. Constitutively synthesized transcription factors for EPO, known as hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs), are hydroxylized and proteosomally digested in the presence of oxygen. During hypoxia, the lack of oxygen means that these are not degraded and are able to induce synthesis of EPO.
So what’s in for me? Run more at a ridiculous speed to make sure I’m always short of air (to generate hypoxia and thus EPO) and increase my intake of Iron (to ensure proper synthesis of hemoglobin). In any case I hope I can achieve what I did last year:
Ok enough of the geekish entry. 700 plus words on science isn’t exactly everyone’s cuppa tea. I’ll henceforth try to vary the subjects of my entries. On a lighter note, i took this picture yesterday, which explains my uncanny ability to tolerate spices:
If you are observant, you’ll notice 5 emptied saucers of chilli. All eaten by my Mom. Way to go. No wonder she is so hot, literally, for her age. AND NO MY MOM IS NOT A MILF SO HANDS OFF. In any case, the hungry Yio Pigs and some family friends devoured dinner like a pack of wolves.
- The Benthic Canine
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