5 févr. 2014

TRIATHLON AND IAN THORPE



I have an idea of how strong was the culture, the family and the coach of Ian to take him to where he was.  As a psychiatrist, having to pull and push somebody when having the problems that Ian has; I know that it is a heroic maneuver of the people around him.  Things began to fall apart after he left home and his coach:
The Sydney Olympics had come and gone, I'd moved out of home and had begun my initial preparations for Athens, which was still three years away, but the illness had become crushing and I knew I needed to seek out other ways of managing it.
The freedom of moving out of home had given me space, but it also meant I was more alone with my thoughts than ever before. And my success in the pool only compounded the misgivings: I should be feeling great; happy and invincible. Instead, there were nights when I would contemplate ending it all…
Even when I was a child I knew I was different. I didn't have words then to describe what it was, but there were times I'd feel sad for no apparent reason.
By the time I was in my mid-teens, those sad periods were getting more frequent and longer, but I just tried to ignore them and get on with what I was supposed to be doing, which was plenty.

The model of overtraining exemplified by Scott Tinley it is the same physiologically as a “real” depression:

FIFTH PART
Scott Tinley, a man that started triathlon training and went beyond the limits of training in the 80’s to improve performance, gives a good recounting of what could happen if one does not follow a plan to improve.  This was an interview at the end of his career.  Inside triathlon magazine, volume 15, June: 2000:
“You have alluded that there have been a lot things going wrong with your body in the past four years.  What have they been?
 I think I compromise in number of different systems in my body—my pituitary-adrenal axis and my hormonal system. And my emotional state—because of depleted neurotransmitters. 
What are some of the signs of these depleted states?
When you exercise cortisol increases because is a parasympathetic stimulator –fight or flight.  You want your cortisol to go up…My cortisol level was already elevated.  A normal person is 8 to 9 –mine was 13 at rest…We did tests at the Olympic Training Center and found that my cortisol production dropped during an eight-mile-run (20). 

This is what happens when somebody is overtrained or is depressed for “real.”  We get depleted when we work off our mind or our body and we end up with total depletion (neurotransmitters, etc.) if we do not recover.  Most of the time,  we are just badly sad for what we live or what we cannot control: this is not a depletion state related to the model of overtraining.  What category is Thorpe in?  He should answer this one if he wants to have control of what follows.


Thorpe's relationship with Frost was beginning to unravel. Thorpe had always insisted that his swimming was about enjoyment and improving himself in setting faster times, rather than victory or defeat. This contrasted with Frost, who had a more aggressive and combative mindset, often making bold public statements.[165] Thorpe ignored Frost's advice and bulked up his upper body by a further 5 kg to 105 kg, making him the heaviest elite swimmer in history.[166] His reasoning that the strength gains would outweigh any loss in flexibility raised concerns over his physiological strategy.[167] On the first night in Manchester, Thorpe again lowered his 400 m mark by 0.09 s to 3 min 40.08 s,[8][163][168] before anchoring the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team to another gold.[169][170][171] Prior to the 200 m final, Thorpe was seen arguing with Frost in the warm-up area. Thorpe won, but was unusually angry at having failed to lower his previous best, publicly stating that he "wasn't with it" and that he had "one of the worst warm-ups ever".[169][170][172]
 



Thorpe announced his withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games due to a bout of bronchitis, which had stopped him from training.[223][224] Thorpe's illness was later diagnosed as a strain of glandular fever,[225] and after a further delay caused by a broken hand, he moved to the United States in July to work with Dave Salo. Further disruption followed when the Australian switched coaches, citing excessive and ongoing media attention.[226] Thorpe's stay was constantly surrounded by rumours that he was suffering from ill discipline; this fuelled speculation that his international career was on the decline.[227][228]



Many so called illnesses are not related to Medicine but the happenings are related to life.  Helen Jenkins is returning to triathlon claiming that a back problem was producing knee pain while running.  I believe that the English doctors are good; but not so good to discover so clearly this relationship; as well as the Glandular Fever of the Australians.  It is like what we found about ADHD and conduct disorders.  Treating ADHD has nothing to do with the conduct disorder.  The New Zealanders have understood it clearly:
Conduct problems are the single most important predictor of later chronic antisocial behaviour problems including poor mental health, academic underachievement, early school leaving, teenage parenthood, delinquency, unemployment and substance abuse. The pathway for many affected young people typically leads on to youth offending, family violence and, ultimately, through to serious adult crime. The inter-agency plan aims to counter this trend.
http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/work-programmes/policy-development/interagency-plan.pdf


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