[i]Originally posted by mike[/i]
I can assure you that EVERYONE in elite track and field is not on drugs. I don’t know exact percentages but there are more than a handful of athletes who compete at the highest level without ever doping. I’m fully aware that drugs are a big part of our sport but it bugs me when people start thinking that there aren’t people out there who can do it clean…..because I know for a fact that there are. [/list]
I have to agree with Mike. I think that this is an important point to make.
One of the reasons why I began to really investigate what people like Dan, Boo, Gary Winckler, and Tony Wells were saying, doing, writing several years ago was because I wanted to get an idea of what you could accomplish without illegal aids. The talks over the years have been very enlightening and inspirational.
I’ve personally coached a guy to 10.23/20.77 as a freshman that I know could have run 10.05/sub 20.15 by his junior year. He was talented but he wasn’t the most talented person out there. I’ve also worked with a female that ran 22.6 in practice (in a 250m) that has psychological issues that prevented her from that type of performance in a meet (should have been about 22.45-22.65). At that time I had a freshman that was more talented than her that i think could have eventually run faster.
I say to say that i don’t get anywhere near the same level of talent as some of the “big timers” and have been fortunate enough to see these types of things happen. So when you get a genetic monster or motor genius the sky can be the limit if you are thorough and patient.
I’ve asked Dan, Boo, and Gary about this and they all felt that excellent training design along with good nutrition and good therapy could lead to very similar performances as those who are enhanced — it usually just takes a little longer and you see valleys and peaks in the seasonal performances.
my .02