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- DerAlta
Performance enhancing drugs
We all know of the Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson, whos famous 9.79 second run in the 100m dash at the Seoul Olympics was a meteoric rise to fame and 62 hours later, a matching expeditious crash into scandal.
He was using Stazonol.
Tyler Hamiltion was caught up in scandal. He was accused of receiving a blood transfusion -- which can boost an athlete's performance by increasing the amount of oxygen-transporting red blood cells in his system.
In all, the IOC banned more than 300 substances, including caffeine. Yes, three cups of coffee can get you banned from international professional sports for 2 years (4 years in Canada). A second offense, will get you banned for life.
Caffeine -- the globe's most widely used drug -- today is a bigger food additive in dollar terms than salt. The U.S. soft drink industry alone sold 10 billion 192-ounce cases of bubbly last year, most of it caffeinated.
Now there's Modafinil (pronounced mo-DAF-i-nil).
Now, back in the real world, where it affects you and I. My wife needs her cup of coffee in the morning. Doesn't really matter what time she rolls out of bed, she needs that cup of coffee. If not, the headache and withdrawal symptoms kick in. I have a bottle of No-Doz sitting on my desk at work, and I do enjoy a Red Bull on occasion. Mostly around 2pm in the afternoon as I'm a bit tired by that time (hey, 5 hours of sleep will do that). In college, I spent many nights awake finishing a project. All laboring under the caffeine monster.
Let's get down to where I really matters "A fast lap on Midfield Raceway" or "A long run at the Tokyo Enduro".
I've experimented with this before and seen the effects first hand. Many months ago (a year+ ?) I ran a Skyline around Trial Mtn. Reverse. It was a late evening and I was quite tired. Enthusiastic about playing, but tired none the less. I finally gave up and went to bed. Up early the next morning and gave it another go. This resulted in well over a second being dropped from my previous last lap. I was awake and alert, hence better control and response time.
How many of you have fallen asleep running multiple laps? Tokyo's 2 hours 45 minutes is a long one, and I've fallen asleep there.
So now, when I know I've got 3 hours to burn behind the DS2 I'll settle in with a glass of Red Bull to wash down a No-doz. In this heightened state of alertness and decreased reaction time, I can run more laps, pay closer attention and exhibit better control over the car. This ultimately means a faster lap time. Which directly results in faster enduro times. In a recent run through the Miata enduro, in an absolutely stock miata (the slow one) I needed to be on the mark, 40 out of 40 laps. No missing a corner, sliding it wide, catching too much kitty litter, missing a turn in or otherwise. With the additional stimulants I was able to do that.
So, what it boils down to is: Can you consider Caffeine an acceptable performance enhancing drug? Can we take it a step further and ask Are performance enhancing drugs bad and to what degree do you feel they are bad?
AO
We all know of the Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson, whos famous 9.79 second run in the 100m dash at the Seoul Olympics was a meteoric rise to fame and 62 hours later, a matching expeditious crash into scandal.
He was using Stazonol.
Tyler Hamiltion was caught up in scandal. He was accused of receiving a blood transfusion -- which can boost an athlete's performance by increasing the amount of oxygen-transporting red blood cells in his system.
In all, the IOC banned more than 300 substances, including caffeine. Yes, three cups of coffee can get you banned from international professional sports for 2 years (4 years in Canada). A second offense, will get you banned for life.
Caffeine -- the globe's most widely used drug -- today is a bigger food additive in dollar terms than salt. The U.S. soft drink industry alone sold 10 billion 192-ounce cases of bubbly last year, most of it caffeinated.
Now there's Modafinil (pronounced mo-DAF-i-nil).
Now, back in the real world, where it affects you and I. My wife needs her cup of coffee in the morning. Doesn't really matter what time she rolls out of bed, she needs that cup of coffee. If not, the headache and withdrawal symptoms kick in. I have a bottle of No-Doz sitting on my desk at work, and I do enjoy a Red Bull on occasion. Mostly around 2pm in the afternoon as I'm a bit tired by that time (hey, 5 hours of sleep will do that). In college, I spent many nights awake finishing a project. All laboring under the caffeine monster.
Let's get down to where I really matters "A fast lap on Midfield Raceway" or "A long run at the Tokyo Enduro".
I've experimented with this before and seen the effects first hand. Many months ago (a year+ ?) I ran a Skyline around Trial Mtn. Reverse. It was a late evening and I was quite tired. Enthusiastic about playing, but tired none the less. I finally gave up and went to bed. Up early the next morning and gave it another go. This resulted in well over a second being dropped from my previous last lap. I was awake and alert, hence better control and response time.
How many of you have fallen asleep running multiple laps? Tokyo's 2 hours 45 minutes is a long one, and I've fallen asleep there.
So now, when I know I've got 3 hours to burn behind the DS2 I'll settle in with a glass of Red Bull to wash down a No-doz. In this heightened state of alertness and decreased reaction time, I can run more laps, pay closer attention and exhibit better control over the car. This ultimately means a faster lap time. Which directly results in faster enduro times. In a recent run through the Miata enduro, in an absolutely stock miata (the slow one) I needed to be on the mark, 40 out of 40 laps. No missing a corner, sliding it wide, catching too much kitty litter, missing a turn in or otherwise. With the additional stimulants I was able to do that.
So, what it boils down to is: Can you consider Caffeine an acceptable performance enhancing drug? Can we take it a step further and ask Are performance enhancing drugs bad and to what degree do you feel they are bad?
AO
