Run for Health: Health(icization), Supplements, and Doping in Non-Elite Road Running

Running races are commonly viewed as one of the clearest examples of competition and it is less common to view training or racing as a non-competitive health practice. However, the majority of non-elite runners who participate in races do so in order to reap benefits from the training process many undertake in preparation for a race. This dissertation is a study of non-elite or amateur runners\u27 pursuit of health, their varied understandings of health, the ironies and inconsistencies of healthism, and the folk measures of health employed within the running community. Through qualitative interviews with amateur runners in New York City about their perceptions of running, health, doping, and supplements, I explore the value non-elite runners place on health and fitness, the ways running is used to signal one\u27s commitment to these values, and the relationship between healthist demands and training methods that border on harmful, such as the use of over the counter (OTC) pain medications to mask pain or use of unregulated and potentially dangerous dietary supplements. I demonstrate that non-elite runners rarely engage in training or participate in a race with the expectation or desire for a zero-sum victory. Rather, I argue that non-elite runners engage in running as part of healthicized body practice, through which each defines herself as a healthy, morally good neoliberal citizen. Performance enhancing substances (PES) are viewed as a way to circumvent the struggle, pain, need for intense dedication to improve one\u27s performance--the experiences that non-elites runners feel they must experience in order to claim the identity of runner. Non-elite runners avoid intentionally using PES in favor of nutritional supplements, based on the incorrect belief that such products marketed specifically to improve health or performance are well regulated for safety and regarded as effective. Often these products are unregulated and of questionable quality and safety--many of the same reasons offered by non-elite runners for avoiding banned PES. Given the contradictions inherent in healthiest practices undertaken by runners, the study also addresses the underlying ethos of healthicism at work, which I argue are rooted in neoliberalism

Health Culture and Running: Non-Elite Runners' Understandings of Doping and Supplementation

Participants at the non-elite level of road running often take up the sport for purposes of health, as a way of taking responsibility for their own well-being. Often, these runners use dietary supplements as a way to improve health and to potentially enhance running performance. Supplements are distinct from banned performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), as they are legal and widely available, though very loosely regulated. Research demonstrates that the line between supplements and banned PEDs is increasingly blurry as cases of cross-contaminated and mislabeled supplements continue to be found. Such products may pose health risks to unsuspecting consumers. Despite anti-doping agencies’ warnings to elite runners about these risks, non-elite runners are rarely told by any sport or anti-doping body to be wary of supplements. They are, however, inundated with media coverage of doping scandals usually involving only a few of the substances banned in sport. In short, these runners are often left to navigate supplement use on their own and many conflate supplement availability with safety. This article explores these routine dietary supplement practices among non-elite runners. Drawing from interviews with 28 non-elite runners in New York City, I discuss the perceptions and understandings of doping and dietary supplement use within the context of health culture. Interview data reveal that the social acceptance of dietary supplements and their widespread use among the broader public reinforce the notion among non-elite runners that such products are objectively safe and healthy. I argue that based on their assumptions of supplement safety, non-elite runners view dietary supplements as distinctly different from PEDs and that this difference encourages their use as health and performance aids

(Self-)Surveillance, Anti-Doping, and Health in Non-Elite Road Running

This article explores disciplining effects of current anti-doping surveillance systems on the health consequences of non-elites' daily behaviors and habits. As they are left out of direct anti-doping testing and enforcement, it is tempting to argue non-elites are unaffected by the anti-doping efforts focused on the elite level of their sport. However, it is because they are not subject to anti-doping surveillance systems nor forced to comply with anti-doping regulations that non-elites are implicated within the wider arena of disciplinary power that envelops both elite and non-elite athletes and anti-doping agencies (Foucault 1979). Drawing on data from 28 interviews with non-elite runners, I argue these runners do conform to the rules and norms of their sport as far as they understand them, but their knowledge of banned substances is inadequate and many non-elite runners have only a superficial and sometimes incorrect understanding of doping. Many view doping and its associated health risks as a problem only of elite running, as well as a problem limited to only a handful of widely publicized performance enhancing drugs or doping methods. As a result of these misunderstandings non-elite runners are vulnerable to negative health effects of over the counter (OTC) medications and nutritional supplements, which they view as " safe " and part of normal training as a result of the current elite surveillance model of anti-doping. The recent death of a non-elite marathon runner linked to use of the unregulated energy supplement DMAA demonstrates that questionable products are used by runners who may not be fully aware of the risks of use

Perceptions of legitimacy, attitudes and buy-in among athlete groups: a cross-national qualitative investigation providing practical solutions

First paragraph: In order to achieve its stated purpose, anti-doping relies on athlete buy-in to its overall goals and methods and their compliance with anti-doping policies. Previous research on athlete behavior focused on ways to induce athletes into compliance. However, the authors of the Sport Drug Control Model hypothesized that athletes views of anti-doping and their resultant behaviors resulted from their first hand experiences with anti-doping (Donovan et al, 2002). These and similar findings supported the hypothesis that the greater the levels of perceived legitimacy of antidoping organizations among athletes, the greater the likelihood athletes would comply with anti-doping policies. A better understanding of which experiences at the policy, agency, and individual levels are viewed positively or negatively can provide a path for improving perceptions of legitimacy among athletes. The purpose of this study is to investigate perceived legitimacy, athletes' attitudes, and buy-in towards anti-doping policies in a selection of national contexts and sports. The overall objective is to provide clear, practical guidance as to how to improve the athlete experience to increase levels of perceived legitimacy of anti-doping organizations and regulations among athletes

Dropping the Amateur: The International Association of Athletics Federations and the Turn Toward Professionalism

When the International Association of Amateur Athletics (IAAF) changed its name to International Association of Athletics Federations in 2001, it was more than an acknowledgment of the organization's acceptance of professional athletes. Rather, this change symbolized a shift in thinking about the nature of athletics, what athletics competitions represented, and the commercialization of the sport that had been decades in the making. This article will consider the IAAF's pursuit to maintain control over global athletics through its transition from an amateur sport federation to a professional sport governing body. Drawing on official documents and personal archives of IAAF officials, we trace the internal views and debates beginning with the IAAF's fight to maintain amateurism against collective pushback over issues of athlete pay, to the full acceptance of professionalism. Our main focus lies on the transition period in the 1980s and 1990s. We show how dropping the amateur from the name reflected not only the new embrace of professional athletes, but also the organizational turn away from amateur athletics. We will identify the processes that finally forced the breakdown of amateurism and ushered in a new era of professional athletics

The new front in the war on doping: Amateur athletes

The war on drugs is usually associated with criminal policies aimed at stemming consumption of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and cannabis, less so with enhancement drugs like those used in sport. As drug use in sport, or doping, has become more visibly widespread, policies aimed at combating the issue have become more restrictive, intrusive, and harsh. In this article we draw new comparisons between the wider war on drugs and recent developments in sports anti-doping. We identify a growing trend towards criminalisation of traffickers and users, and associate that with another growing trend: the testing of amateur athletes. This article reviews the current anti-doping system, including the recent amateur policies, then considers of the results of one such program in amateur cycling. We then shift to consider the possible implications for amateurs of criminal doping laws and the recent debates about allowing medical exemptions for therapeutic use of banned substances. We show that drug use in sport can be understood as a new front in the war on drugs, with some extreme measures and many negative unintended consequences. To remedy this, we argue that amateur athletes require a separate anti-doping policy focused on minimising harms of use

Forget Lance Armstrong, the next big cycling doper could be your dad

First paragraph: The Gran Fondo New York bicycle race is the biggest mass-participation event of its kind in the state, a 100-mile run between Manhattan and Bear Mountain. In May 2012 the organisers introduced drug testing. With thousands of entrants, this expensive process was limited to a handful of riders. Of those, two came back positive for EPO (erythropoietin), a blood-boosting hormone largely associated with the most elite professional end of the sport. Both riders were banned for two years.  Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/forget-lance-armstrong-the-next-big-cycling-doper-could-be-your-dad-3673

'Counting your steps': The use of wearable technology to promote employees’ health and wellbeing

The intersection between workplace productivity and health is complex, often leaving the worker to balance the seesaw of simultaneously trying to improve performance and health. Digital platforms, email, smartphones and laptops, and increased connectivity have made it increasingly easy to work from anywhere, especially in white-collar industries. Yet it seems many still work from the same analog spot: their desk chair. But clocking hours in the chair seems to be doing workers' health no favors. Sedentary behaviors are an important risk factor for poor health and mortality and office work significantly contributes to the overall sedentary exposure of office workers (Parry & Straker, 2013). All the technologies that make working easier and more productive also seem to contribute to increasingly sedentary lifestyles (Borodulin, Laatikainen, Juolevi, & Jousilahti, 2007; Matthews et al., 2008). Paradoxically, technology may also be a solution to improve the health and wellbeing of employees.Output Type: Editoria

'There's a new sheriff in town': The Rodchenkov Act, anti-dopism, and the hegemony of WADA in international sport

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has long been the organization responsible for making and harmonizing anti-doping policies in international sport. As the Rodchenkov Act was signed into law in the United States, however, it became possible for the U.S. to target organizers of systematic doping with criminal penalties even outside their national borders, and in doing so also pose a challenge to WADA’s hegemony over the anti-doping narrative. Drawing on official organizational statements and those made by sport stakeholders in media coverage, this article uses the implementation of the Rodchenkov Act as a case study to dissect and analyze the interdependence between national and international anti-doping policy/laws. The analysis shows how the U.S., through the Rodchenkov Act, is pushing the accepted anti-doping paradigm to an extreme and engaging in a form of resistance against WADA’s hegemony. By extending its own authority and abilities beyond its national borders and applying tougher sanctions on doping conspirators, the U.S./USADA position themselves as being the party strong enough to lead and shape the anti-doping regime. In effect, they are grabbing power from WADA and dislocating its hegemony in the process. Even as it reordered its national values above global sport values, it was able to leverage anti-dopism in service of its own goals of authority