6 week EPO cycle

[T&H]

So I've done my research and everything, despite finding past logs pretty difficult on Google. I grabbed 30k IU of EPO and plan to run 5k iu per week for 6 weeks, split into 2 shots on test pin days. The biggest danger is high hemocrit levels, which I don't have to worry about at this exact time. Millard sent me a study which only showed a 16% increase in a 48k iu study lasting 8 weeks.

The reason I'm trying it, to boost hemocrit and see if I notice any benefit to my running. Apparently my amount of running has been keeping my crit under control for the last year, i increased my mileage so maybe that's why here recently. But I've only donated blood 3 times in last 5.5 years of being on test. Last donation was actually a year ago, hemocrit was 48 before donating and it probably dropped 3 or 4 points after to around 44.

I have to wait two more weeks before getting bloodwork for test, i will also get a cbc panel then. I had bloods last November, crit was 44.5. Bloods 3 months later in February, crit dropped to 44. I'm positive my crit is maybe around 44 to 45 now considering test and primo still didn't increase my crit at all in 3 full months.

I will also be getting bloodwork at or a little after week 6, either on my own or thru doctor. Supplementing with iron pills, vitamin c, increased red meat, and higher water intake. Open to cutting cycle short or extending. I'm extremely in tune with my running, I will know for sure if I see any benefit. My endurance feelz count here.

I may not post much here outside of bloodwork and maybe my training load, it's more of a test run so if I notice anything, I'll share good or bad. Also good for anyone who was interested in trying it to have something to go by. I've been dealing with lingering fatigue so my running has sucked, don't know if this is a good time or not to start it. In fact for months my running has suffered, wondering if low crit is why as it's never been at 44 for long. Would love to see some extra recovery and mileage but honestly, I'm not expecting much from EPO but could be surprised. 1st shot today.

 

[Megadick3000]

Ok posting for subbing. Never seen an EPO log so why not. Good luck and stay safe.

Btw, ever tried cardarine? Albuterol? I found cardarine plus albuterol at 10mg and 2mg to be a wicked cardio combo.

Furthermore, ever tried injectable DADA? Btw thats diisopropylamine dichloroacetate, used in greyhound racing as a PED. There was a canadian UGL offering it back in the day, some guys logged it, but they were weight lifters not endurance athletes.

 

[T&H]

Ok posting for subbing. Never seen an EPO log so why not. Good luck and stay safe.

Btw, ever tried cardarine? Albuterol? I found cardarine plus albuterol at 10mg and 2mg to be a wicked cardio combo.

Furthermore, ever tried injectable DADA? Btw thats diisopropylamine dichloroacetate, used in greyhound racing as a PED. There was a canadian UGL offering it back in the day, some guys logged it, but they were weight lifters not endurance athletes.

The benefits of higher hemocrit for endurance sports is proven, the MOA is completely different from the other supps. I did try cardarine, and noticed no benefit as breathing is not the issue I have and so albuterol won't help. My biggest problem in the last 6 or so months is fatigue, I believe very well could be to lower hemocrit. Gonna do this short cycle with all precautions and just see what happens.

 

[T&H]

Ended up doing the rest of the 1st pin last Sunday, and did 2500 on Wed. Going to pin the rest of the 2nd pin tonight, so will be 10k iu in.

Had slight leg fatigue most of the week, but managed about 33 to 35 Miles running last 6 days. Probably going to take off Tomorrow and start back Sunday. I pushed it this week, did seem to be able to push the pace much easier and legs didn't get as fatigued as usual. Too early to tell if this is helping but hoping to see something definitive soon, if at all.

Bloodwork in one week to check hemocrit, will update before then if not before.

 

[ar7353]

Definitely subbing, this is interesting. I have some questions.

Out of curiosity, what’s your normal weekly mileage? Planning on increasing it over the cycle or keeping it consistent?

What’s your body weight? All I know is my body hates me when I hit over 25 miles/week at my 210 pound body weight.

 

[T&H]

Definitely subbing, this is interesting. I have some questions.

Out of curiosity, what’s your normal weekly mileage? Planning on increasing it over the cycle or keeping it consistent?

What’s your body weight? All I know is my body hates me when I hit over 25 miles/week at my 210 pound body weight.

Last weigh in I was around 195. My mileage usually ranges from 33 to 38. I'll run 38 until fatigue kills my legs, drop mileage down some, then repeat. I'd love to hit 40mpw again like I did years ago but main thing with the cycle is to get crit around 50 and see if I notice anything. I've been at 44 for over a year now.

 

[jthekid9]

subbed. interested to see how this plays out for you man. thanks for the log.

 

[SenorSuperdrol]

Also commenting to follow along, cool log. Outside of higher hemocrit I’m not sure all the benefits EPO offers. So you mentioned more recovery and more mileage which would be fantastic. Do you track how fast you’re covering ground to measure improvements that way as well ? Sorry if it’s a dumb question.

 

[T&H]

Also commenting to follow along, cool log. Outside of higher hemocrit I’m not sure all the benefits EPO offers. So you mentioned more recovery and more mileage which would be fantastic. Do you track how fast you’re covering ground to measure improvements that way as well ? Sorry if it’s a dumb question.

Yep, my Garmin Forerunner tracks distance, pace per mile, etc. All the important stuff to determine if improvements are happening.

And there is one guy who posted his detailed run with epo on reddit, stated he felt God like in the middle of his cycle. He front loaded more I believe, may account for his experience.

 

[Megadick3000]

Yep, my Garmin Forerunner tracks distance, pace per mile, etc. All the important stuff to determine if improvements are happening.

And there is one guy who posted his detailed run with epo on reddit, stated he felt God like in the middle of his cycle. He front loaded more I believe, may account for his experience.

Sounds more like placebo effect. Dont see why high crit would make you feel god like.

My crit got up to 52 which was slightly over top end of reference range and i never felt any different. Wasnt using EPO fyi, just got that high on its own.

 

[eery]

Good luck, be careful and dont die on us.


How are you programming things? Could the fatigue be from improper programming or underrecovering?

 

[notdeadYET]

@Tiredandhot What does your current ~35 mpw look like? Have you mixed up your running at all? Intervals, temp, long slow runs, hills? Thanks for posting up your experiences.

 

[T&H]

@Tiredandhot What does your current ~35 mpw look like? Have you mixed up your running at all? Intervals, temp, long slow runs, hills? Thanks for posting up your experiences.

Current training is easy pace only. Everytime I try faster paced running I get lingering leg soreness and fatigue, worse than usual. I used to do those and run races, but gave that up years ago. I do a few medium pace runs tho. Run more for enjoyment nowadays.

Good luck, be careful and dont die on us.


How are you programming things? Could the fatigue be from improper programming or underrecovering?

For years, I've gone in cycles of running a lot of miles, then having to cut back despite nothing else changing like extra stress, not enough calories, etc. Food and sleep aren't a problem so not that. Probably need to incorporate a break every few months, but my runs are easy so figure I could do without a break per se.

Not expecting epo to do much for recovery at all, always been curious about it so figured it was worth a try. My dose is pretty conservative, playing it as safe as possible.

 

[eery]

Current training is easy pace only. Everytime I try faster paced running I get lingering leg soreness and fatigue, worse than usual. I used to do those and run races, but gave that up years ago. I do a few medium pace runs tho. Run more for enjoyment nowadays.


For years, I've gone in cycles of running a lot of miles, then having to cut back despite nothing else changing like extra stress, not enough calories, etc. Food and sleep aren't a problem so not that. Probably need to incorporate a break every few months, but my runs are easy so figure I could do without a break per se.

Not expecting epo to do much for recovery at all, always been curious about it so figured it was worth a try. My dose is pretty conservative, playing it as safe as possible.

I dont know much about running, but dont they need to do deloads and take easy sessions too like strength/physique athletes? Maybe join a forum for runners and have them look over your programming for both running and other exercises/lifting you are doing.

 

[T&H]

Bloodwork had hemocrit of 47.5. Due to the timing of getting it drawn, I was definitely dehydrated some so that number is probably inflated a little. Increase of 3.5 from 3 months ago.

I decided to Increase the doses before the Bloodwork, ended up using half of my stock so was 15k iu in. Ran all last week, seemed much easier but my legs are dead today so probably should have taken some days off. Definitely taking off today and probably tomorrow too.

Based on the slight increase of crit and the fact that I'm lowering my test dose now, I don't see a need to test crit weekly. Going to use 5k next 3 weeks and retest. Unless I see some benefits soon, not going to bother with epo again.

 

[madmax5280]

It looks like you have some experience with endurance PEDs. What do you think would be a good stack for endurance for an intermediate distance runner. 3k and intermediate swimmer 800y. I am currently on 300mg test prop and nothing else. I've been curious about EPO but also other recovery peds like DECA and. But my main goal is to do those two events as fast as I can.

 

[T&H]

It looks like you have some experience with endurance PEDs. What do you think would be a good stack for endurance for an intermediate distance runner. 3k and intermediate swimmer 800y. I am currently on 300mg test prop and nothing else. I've been curious about EPO but also other recovery peds like DECA and. But my main goal is to do those two events as fast as I can.

I'm not entirely sure. I'm strictly long distance which is much different than intermediate distance. There's a guy on professional muscle called pmcchris who's more in line with your training doing a great log now. Go take a peek and see if he's got helpful info for your specific training.

 

[T&H]

So today marks 3 weeks, I am 25k IU in. I decided to increase dose per week a week or so ago, and seeing results this past week I believe from it.

Took last Saturday off, and ran last 5 days about 30 miles total. Even despite running in 110 degree heat index weather all week, the running was much easier and fatigue is much less than previous weeks. I could run longer, but I sweat so much I'm cutting most days off at 6 miles and rehydrating.

Running 6 to 6.5 today as legs feel great. Decided to grab a little more EPO to get crit higher. Will be doing bloodwork in 2 weeks to chk crit again. I'm reducing my test dose which will lower any crit increase from it.

 

[T&H]

6.75 miles done in 120 heat index, even my socks are soaking wet. Outside of the heat, running was relatively much easier than ever. I've always thrived In the cold and struggled in the heat.

Checked my watch. In the last 6 days, i hit 38 miles which is one of my best weeks this year. Usually I have dead legs on my day off so I'll see how they are tomorrow and how I recover for Sunday. Doing 2,500iu tomorrow and then on Wednesday. It does seem the EPO is starting to help.

 

[T&H]

Weekly update. Ran last 5 days, planning to run tomorrow and off Saturday. On pace to hit 38 mpw again. My average running pace has dropped 15 to 20 seconds per mile without even trying to run faster. Even though I'm not training hard where EPO would shine better, I am very much seeing benefits. Running in the heat has never been this easy.

Was planning bloodwork late next week which would be 3 weeks since last crit check. I got my other order of epo and have used total of 18k iu since last hematocrit bloodwork. Going tomorrow and based on the past, I hope to see around 50 to 51. Will adjust future dose after getting results, hopefully Saturday. If it ever gets too high, red cross has my number on speed dial so I can donate anytime.