Then, I heard about Mark McGuire's androstenedione. It seemed to work for him, and I read that it boosted testosterone, which I was sure would be good for short, explosive running. So, I decided to try it out. I started taking 100 mg a day about an hour before practice. I immediately noticed considerable increases in energy. Within six weeks, I was quite a bit faster. My coach suddenly started noticing me and talking about me getting relay legs instead of just relegating me to the back of the pack with the guys who suck. When we did a 300 m time trial, I dropped my time since the beginning of practice by three seconds, which is pretty much unheard of for a sprint of that distance. In that six weeks, running 6 days a week and lifting 4, I went from 185 lbs. and about 11% body fat (estimation) to 167 and 5% and actually made moderate gains in the weight room (which is considerable in light of the fact that I did all my lifting directly after intense track workouts that often left me puking my guts out and unable to walk for a half hour).

I was so pleased with the results that I started trying every supplement that I could find locally. I used lots of things like pyruvate and HMB which probably did nothing for my sprinting. I also tried an ephedrine-caffeine-aspirin stack which pumped me up, but I don't think really helped me run faster. I also began the use of DHEA. At this point, before meets I would pop two or three 100mg androstenedione capsules. I began my second cycle with only a two or three day break in between, and went on to my third with about the same. I had intended each time to wait a week, but I couldn't hold back. I was addicted to the feeling. My sex drive increased, as did my confidence. Girls started noticing me a lot more, probably as much for my confidence as for the fact that I made sure to take my shirt off when running past any girl.

This all continued until last week, which was about 12 weeks after I started andro. I suddenly started going through mood changes almost by the hour. I could feel elation at the start of a class, and then feel like I wasn't in control of my life by the end. I was just kind of flabbergasted. Last week seemed to last a year to me. My mind would dart about from sex to running to fighting some guy who looked at me funny. I could be depressed or overjoyed. I realized something was wrong, so I started checking up on the side effects of andro and DHEA, and more specifically, increased testosterone. I decided that this was probably causing my problems, and in taking other potential side effects into consideration, decided I had gotten off easily and decided to flush my capsules down the toilet.

I still think andro and other testosterone increasing substances can be beneficial if used properly. But I think people should find out by experimenting with the best ways to use these substances. Different bodies work differently. I personally couldn't handle what I was trying to do.