Something’s been annoying me recently, and when
something annoys me I do what I do best, I moan about it. Below is my slightly tongue-in-cheek take on
the differences between EPO use and altitude training. In the interest of keeping things simple (and
lets face it, when I argue, things need to be kept as simple as possible), when
I refer to a drug’s secretion naturally in the body I give it it’s full name (e.g.
erythropoietin), and when I’m referring to the drug in it’s synthetic,
exogenous or administered form, I refer to it in abbreviations (e.g. EPO).
And, so, for those who I haven’t lost already,
let’s cut to the chase….
‘Legalise EPO’ they
say, ‘because you can’t ban altitude training, and they’re essentially the same
thing’. ‘The only difference between EPO
use and altitude training is that one is banned in sport and that the other
isn’t’, I’ve recently heard people argue.
‘They both increase red blood cells, so they must be the same thing’; a
simplistic, and ignorant, statement which not only misinterprets how EPO and
altitude training work, but completely ignores the ethos behind drug-free
sport.
People’s arguments
suggest that if there were different legislators in sport, altitude training
might find itself on WADA’s prohibited list, or that one day we might see EPO
legalised in sport. As somebody who has
strong anti-doping convictions, but has benefited from altitude training, for
me, EPO use, and altitude training are worlds apart.
To argue that EPO use and
altitude training are the same thing because they have similar effects would be
the same as saying that steroid use and weight training are similar (they both
increase muscle size), and that taking an afternoon nap following training
would be just as unethical as injecting HGH, as to do so would cause an
increase in human growth hormone secretion and expose the body to it’s
benefits. In fact, hill training,
endurance training, recovery runs, fartlek training, plyometrics, good
nutrition, heat acclimatisation… and pretty much every other form of training,
increases the body’s ability to perform through increased hormone secretion,
increased tissue growth and/or increased neural adaptation, and it would be
ridiculous to suggest that any of these are on the same moral footing as using
banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Training is very much allowed!
The drug EPO is not
only banned in sport, but it is a prescription-only drug, designed to help keep
individuals with an inability to produce it naturally healthy. It is not (or at least should not be)
available for healthy individuals to purchase and use without medical
reason. Conversely, individuals around
the world have the right to be born or live at any altitude at which human life
is possible.
The use of EPO is
extremely dangerous. Prolonged or
excessive use can have at least two fatal consequences in humans. EPO increases red blood cell production, and
the more red blood cells you have, the thicker your blood becomes. Blood can in fact become so thick that your
heart is no longer able to pump blood around the body. If that happens, you die. Additionally, EPO use can affect your body’s
natural ability to produce erythropoietin.
Without erythropoietin you can’t produce red blood cells, and without
red blood cells you can’t transport oxygen around the body. Oxygen, I hear, is fundamental for human life
(and not just in life involving sport), so that’s pretty crap. Of course you don’t have to die, but you do
become dependant on EPO. Altitude
exposure at or below 3,000m, even over a prolonged period of time, though not
without it’s side effects (crazy dreams for example), is unlikely to kill you!
And now to the
scientific bit, and the crux of my argument. Just because two things have the
same end product, doesn’t mean that they are the same thing, physically,
morally or legally. We’ve already agreed
(unless you’re the real argumentative type), that training in sport is allowed,
and indeed encouraged if you want to be any good at sport, and call me an
idealist, but I feel that injecting ourselves with any substance (when not
medically required) to take a short-cut to enhanced performance is not in line
with drug-free sport, irrespective of whether that substance is banned or not.
Now, I will agree that
a large portion of the response to EPO use, and to altitude training, is the
same, but there are some fundamental differences. As we mentioned before, EPO use increases red
blood cell production; increased red blood cells carry more oxygen around the
body; and a greater oxygen carrying capacity increases endurance
performance. The main way in which
altitude training is proposed to work is that the reduced atmospheric oxygen
stimulates the body to increase erythropoietin synthesis, which in turn
increases red blood cell production, increased red blood cells carry more
oxygen around the body; and a greater oxygen carrying capacity increases
endurance performance. Taking EPO makes
training easier. It allows the body to
recover quicker (because the body is not the one synthesising the EPO, which
believe you me is stressful business for the body), and allows you to train
hard day after day. Altitude training on
the other hand is a nightmare! It’s
impossible to breathe, you sleep 14 hours a day, simple tasks like walking to
the shops can tire you out, you can’t run as hard or as long as you can at sea
level, and think again if you think you’re going to do session after session
after session. Like lots of other
beneficial training methods (e.g. weight training, hill reps), you need to
recover. Increased EPO increases red
blood cell production. More EPO creates
more red blood cell production. Altitude
exposure increases erythropoietin, and subsequently red blood cell production,
to respond to the reduced oxygen in the air, but once it’s adapted, it doesn’t
keep on producing erythropoietin. More
altitude exposure doesn’t mean more erythropoietin. And the real catch is that some people’s
bodies are so against the whole erythropoietin synthesis lark that they don’t
bother. Yes, not everyone responds to
altitude. The good news though is that
these people are usually the freaks that find altitude training easy.
For me altitude
training and EPO use are as different from each other as helping old ladies
cross the road and sticking needles in little babies’ eyes. Other methods of increasing endurance such as
altitude tents, altitude masks, iron injections, blood transfusions and blood
doping may fall various degrees closer to the proverbial fine line, but
training your ass off in difficult environments is not the same as injecting
yourself with a drug, which you’ve acquired illegally, to make the route to the
top easier for yourself.
Now, I don’t’ know if
all of you, or in fact any of you, have managed to read through my waffle, but I
have sure as hell enjoyed putting up my side of the argument. If you’d like to agree or disagree, then
please leave your comments below.
I’ve been Elizabeth
Egan, and, I’m for drug-free sport (and afternoon naps). Thanks for reading!
