Renegades of Science

Danny Mackey

September 18, 2008

Hi Flotrack,

You may or may not care who the heck I am (Danny Mackey), but this first “article” will just be an introduction. I will try and save the boring random details of me like, favorite color (light blue) and what albums are on the speakers right now (MGMT, Rage Against the Machine, Tokyo Police Club, The Cool Kids) and get to the running and science stuff.

So, I am from the south side of Chicago. We moved to the suburbs later and I went to Andrew High School in Tinley Park, IL. If that sounds familiar it’s because Matt Withrow went there, speaking of Withrow…good luck man, stay healthy damn-it! He’s a great guy; hopefully the year shows just a hint of his extreme talent and toughness. An interesting note during high school; I never missed one practice, or day of school, other than senior ditch day. College and post collegiate haven’t been so smooth.

I went to undergrad at Eastern Illinois University and studied business with a minor in biology. I ran average at EIU, but I was injured or sick more than healthy. The NCAA gave me a 6^th year of eligibility, and you guessed it, I was injured my 6^th year. The frustration experienced during college motivated me to pursue exercise physiology at Colorado State Univesity for graduate school.

I became and still am interested in the “why” behind performance, injuries, training etc etc…

CSU was great for a number of reasons. I was a volunteer coach for the XC and Track & Field teams, worked in a running specialty store, taught a few exercise science classes and focused on endurance performance and biomechanics for my research. My publication is: Between the Beginning and End of a Repetition: How Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Influence the Intensity of a Biceps Curl; Strength and Conditioning Journal, October 2007. I don’t see any runners excited to read it, but the research does have implications for all of athletics. Running got better too, though I broke every science rule out there and went from 50 miles a week to 90 miles, at altitude, with a bunch of guys faster then me, and while working 80 hours a week (I paid the price, my rest heart rate was 2x’s it’s normal rate I was so over trained), but in the midst of my stupidity I qualified for the Olympic Trials for the marathon with a 2:21:38. Not a rocking time but considering I’ve never raced over a 10k, and wasn’t able to train enough because of school/work, I was ecstatic.

From there the Hansons gave me a shot, but my weakness from lack of years of training would have put me in a bad place there, so I hold the record for the shortest time in the house. Which was rough because what the Hansons have going on is great, I just would have wasted their money. I went onto teaching anatomy and physiology and kinesiology down in Illinois, while running for Saucony. I ended up missing most of 2007 with pneumonia (no health insurance for teaching part time in a college). In September of 2007, I got a job in a sports research lab in Oregon and gave it my best shot for the Trials. I felt ready to run 2:17-2:18 on that course but my stomach had a different agenda (it sucks understand “why” because I knew what was going on, I just couldn’t stop it). Ah the beauty of that damn race.

Along the way, I had an adverse reaction to an altitude tent. I’ve since sold it, and I’ll be writing an article on the science behind those interesting tents. Now I’m still working for the research lab, coaching a few athletes, training hard myself and racing for the Bowerman AC. I will be posting my training log to get ready for some XC fall racing then track along with this article, and if you have questions on that stuff, just ask.

Alright so that was probably too much info, maybe I should have stuck random details like my favorite movies (Fight Club, True Romance, Office Space). The point of this article to promote discussion between you, me (and) each other, provide an applied science point of view to all the confusing and great things about the sport we love, and along the way we might both learn something!

Personally, I am excited about this, I hope you enjoy it (if you don’t I will hear about it for sure somehow ?! )

later,

-Danny

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#21	C Clark September 23, 2008 at 11:40pm I take that back, it looks perfect on Firefox but horrible on iexplorer? reply
#20	C Clark September 22, 2008 at 5:18pm Whats with the format? Very hard to read. Looking forward to the real stuff. reply
#19	Hall September 22, 2008 at 4:22pm dMack--- can you elaborate on on the O2 benefits of a two point scale vs the binary scale and what do you believe can help a runner with his stamina, fast twitch and confidence factoring in the use of either one of those guidelines. reply
#18	Danny Mackey September 21, 2008 at 7:45pm Damn, maybe I should switch the article from science to music! John, the topics will vary, just about anything/everything can be looked at (if you have some interests bring them up. The 'how' and 'why' will be the center theme, hopefully. reply
#17	Richard Renteria September 20, 2008 at 9:34pm i really like your choice in music alot reply
#16	Kip September 19, 2008 at 1:28pm danny, you are the man, awesome read my friend reply
#15	Hall September 19, 2008 at 8:46am mackey---get into cut copy and the black kids. You'll thank me. reply
#14	John Franzen September 19, 2008 at 12:38am Also currently enjoying MGMT...what sort of topics can we expect to hear about? reply
#13	Danny Mackey September 18, 2008 at 11:14pm Oh, and you're on point KP. ManaGeMenT does kick it! reply
#12	Danny Mackey September 18, 2008 at 11:12pm Thanks for the comments so far everyone. The altitude tent article will be down the road, but I'm not sure exactly what you are asking Cheryl. 2-3-BPG is definitely a part of the altitude/binding process because of its' allosteric regulation influence, let me know if there is something specific on it. Good point to include some thought on it though. reply
#11	Alex September 18, 2008 at 9:41pm Awesome! loooking forward to it! I want to major in ex.physiology/kinesiology! (HS Senior) reply
#10	Cheryl September 18, 2008 at 9:17pm Brandon, I'm also interested in this....is it still the stimulation of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate molecules in the bloodstream to help bind oxygen to the heme groups in the erythrocytes? reply
#9	Brandon White September 18, 2008 at 8:51pm I'm interested in reading your article on the science behind the altitude tents. Keep us posted. reply
#8	KP September 18, 2008 at 3:05pm Nice start Darnny! Looking forward to more, and prominent guest scientists you plan to have on ManaGeMenT is good reply
#7	Nathaniel Burrell September 18, 2008 at 2:47pm Really interesting. reply
#6	Dana Walters September 18, 2008 at 1:13pm This was kinda really interesting I look forward to more :) reply
#5	Ultima September 18, 2008 at 12:59pm looking foward to it, but format it off a bit? reply
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#2	Foon Fu September 18, 2008 at 9:19am people don't understand how much perseverance it requires to be in the shoes and in the journey of your running career. I just want to say even though some may not see the tragic beauty in your career, i do. Wish you the best of luck with your hopes and ambitions. reply
#1	Roland Graves September 18, 2008 at 8:58am mgmt; nice. reply