Dog Eat Dog World In MY Mind

I try to be a good planner in all things I do. I just completed week 50 of this plan.  I look for my best possible result, worst result, probable result, and least yet still acceptable result.  With all of that information I shoot for the top.  But my mind constantly fights itself trying to find balance of what will make me better and what will hurt me.  As my body changes daily I make small adjustments.  That said today was a really good first day back in the gym and I feel I will come out where I need to when I need to for my first checkmark on 5/28.

Testosterone revisited - I talked once earlier in the year about my low testosterone levels.  Average for my age is 552 ng, yet I was under the 175 ng the machine uses as a minimum threshold.  That was 2008.  I had another test on 4/27 that showed <20 ng.  That's microscopic.  No wonder I am so easily hurt and no wonder I have to work so hard with such perfect balance to make ANY progress.

I've looked into gaining a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), not to gain an advantage but rather to be closer to everyone else I compete with.   Here's the rub - if I got tested without a TUE and my numbers were low, I would still test positive because even though I would be well below the average for a man my age, I would have gotten it from a foreign source.  How stupid is that - "you're hurt all of the time because your body can't protect itself so if you try to get well you will be disqualified." 

The TUE would allow me to get some treatment and still compete.  If they say no then I go like I am.  I read recently where a 41 year old pro golfer received a TUE so maybe there is hope.  The other side of that coin is that it takes weeks to process the TUE application, and then 6-8 weeks for treatment to actually begin to affect your body. As they say in Texas, oil well.  I'll have to continue to be the mad scientist that must over analyze every move in hopes to avoid injury. And as you have seen, I often guess wrong.  Have a great day and thanks for being here!  Bubba

PS - My buddy in Washington sent me an email with only "eat cat to".  That's a reference to ACDC's "Dog Eat Dog". Thanks for the reminder Deano - for you and me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtwlTyqvd0g