Dean Karnazes discovered to be a biological mutant by Berkeley scientists.

Not surprised. As an athlete, Dean K is on a different level than all American distance runners except MAYBE Lagat, Solinsky, and Webb.

asge wrote:

Not surprised. As an athlete, Dean K is on a different level than all American distance runners except MAYBE Lagat, Solinsky, and Webb.

Your sarcasm is just a bad ruse. NO ONE IS COMPARING Dean to Lagat, Webb or Solinsky. Just the way it would be asinine to compare Lagat to Usain Bolt. They are in different disciplines. Dean ran for 46 hours straight, something the scientific community thought was humanly impossible. That is why he is superhuman, not because he ran the 72nd fasted 10k ever.

No one has ever come close to running cosecutively as much as Dean. This is like breaking the mile record by a minute. Loke pole vaulting 30 feet. but I suppose if someone did pole vault 30 feet you would respond by saying, "yah but what can he do a 10k in"?

Glen Newpoint wrote:

Dean ran for 46 hours straight, something the scientific community thought was humanly impossible. That is why he is superhuman, not because he ran the 72nd fasted 10k ever.

This is like breaking the mile record by a minute. Loke pole vaulting 30 feet.

There are 100 other athletes out there that have done the "humanly impossible." Granted, Dean has done some amazing stuff over the years, but there's just something about plodding around for 46 hours that really sounds ho-hum, and will never equate to breaking the mile record by a minute or pole vaulting 30 feet. While we're at it lets throw in a few other completely ridiculous comparisons. How about: it's like long jumping across the Grand Canyon... or, it's like high jumping over the head of a Giraffe. Maybe, it's like bench pressing an Elephant, or 'shot putting' a boulder the size of small car.

"plodding (running) around for 46 hours that really sounds ho-hum" You have much to learn in life.

You guys just have to understand that from a physiological point of view running for 46 hours straight is more amazing than running the 100th fastest time in the 5000. There have literally been about a dozen teenagers that have run 12:55 for 5000 meters. So really is Solinsky that amazing when he has basically acomplished what an eighteen year old human has done who has been running seriously for about two years? I'm not saying its easy, I certainly cannot run 12:55. But bowling a 300 game is not easy either. That doesn't mean the guy who bowls a 300 is a superhuman.

No one is disputing that Dean is not an Olympic athlete. And scientists are about as intersted in how Dean matches up against Solinsky as you are about how Solinsky matches up with Tyson Gay. But the scientific community does recognize the significance of being able to study a human that seems to debunk all scientific literature of teh limits of teh human body.

Maybe the problem is the lack of scientific knowledge among this forums members. Maybe the problem is everyone is stuck in this "my balls are bigger than yours" mentality to be able to appreciate just how freakish Dean really is.

Here's some science for you.

http://imgur.com/2YqfX.jpg

Those researchers are not being truthful. That screen capture is from their own data. The lactate level (red) starts off at a ridiculously high level (3.5-4), and then comes down into the 2.0 range, where it starts to steadily rise (except for one data point, before inflecting very obviously between 6:20 and 6:40 pace.

I'm not going to waste a bunch of my time explaining all the complete bullshit in this video with regard to the test, so I'll leave that to someone else, if someone is so inclined. I will say, when I see a data point out of range, it makes me question my TEST, not human physiology.

Dean has a unique talent for durability and recovery. I'm personally very impressed by his ability. However, I can't get by the incredibly egotistical and shameless self-promotion, much of which is based on lies and misrepresented facts (i.e. "marketing"). Congratualtions to him, though. If he can sleep at night, he is living the dream.

Night Runner wrote:

You have much to learn in life.

Maybe so, but it still doesn't change the fact that I can't stand hearing about Dean Karnazes. "Oh, you run marathons? Oh you must've heard about this Dean guy? He, like, runs a marathon every day and is completely awesome, and super fit, and has an awesome tan!" Yes, good...good for Dean. I guess it's mainly the fact that it was Dean that did it that makes it sound so "ho-hum." Really, did we expect anything less from someone that dedicates every waking hour to running?

yeah, too bad Dean stop running until his 30th birthday since highschool didn't run for 15 years. Won his last high school cross race. And ran his first marathon in 6 hours at 15.

Wow thanks for that link.

Makes you wonder about these scientists...The lactate graph is nothing special. It essentually shows he's not a very good runner (low likely threshold...)

I am a marathoner and I had the same metabolic test done for training purposes in 2006.

I believe 'Common' is by-and-large accurate and knowledgeable about his opinion but I disagree that lactic acid production levels of 3.5-4 are ridiculously high. That's not ridiculously high. What is higher were my lab results. And when I saw this program I considered Dean Superhuman.

My lactic acid production levels above 2.0 standing still

5.5mph (an awkwardly slow pace) I was at 5.1mmol

6.0mph I was at 3.7

6.5mph i was at 3.8

7.0 i was at 4.1

7.5 I was at 5.9

8.0 I was at 10.9

8.5 I was at 10.1

I doubled the lab record and was tired. But the trainer stopped the workout after 8.5 to be safe. My HR was 190+ and he didn't want me to go to failure. I figure I must be the opposite of Superhuman. Is that sub-human?

Regardless, I did notice where I still had a "dip" once I got to a pace that was very comfortable. (between 9-10min mile) In the video Dean's levels were dipping as he was able to process the lactic acid before it could accumulate.

This ability to do so at the output/intensity he was working is what is special and unique. Not that he can redline for 10k and get the fastest time.

I'll gladly send someone lab results to look at. Ultimately, my goal is to determine what super-high lactic acid production means. My guy didn't know and could only speculate. Haven't gotten a great answer.

You guys just have to understand that from a physiological point of view running for 46 hours straight is more amazing than running the 100th fastest time in the 5000.[/quote]

Maybe the researchers should have tested this guy. His feats put Dean's to shame. 1,000 kilometers with 2 and 1/2 hours sleep. 300K (188 miles) in 24 hours is over 7 consecutive marathons at an average of 3:13 per each.

What hasn't Dean ever raced him?

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=7582&PageNum=1

You're right, 3.5-4 is not a ridiculously high level. I was ranting, and not thinking outside the range of the graph. Basically, this particular test was using 4.0 as a reference standard. A level of 4 is often used for these tests, as it is indicative of the level of lactate one would expect to accumulate for a 15 minute maximal effort. Depending on the particular exercise (cycling, swimming, running, rowing, etc.) and the duration and intensity of exercise, lactate levels up to 30mmol/L have been measured. Clearly, 3 or 4 is not very high when a person can easily reach levels of 20 or 30 (only for short bursts of activity, however).

The trainer stopped the test because it wasn't providing any further information toward the purpose of the test, which was probably to test your MLSS (max lactate steady state), which is your ability to clear lactate at moderate levels for sustained periods. You had a clear inflection at 7.5 and a steep inflection at 8.0, so basically the test was over. You could have kept going, but, in terms of the test, there was no reason for you to continue. You're a beast, though, because hitting double digits doesn't feel the greatest for most people.

You have to keep in mind that Dean is being measured relative to your perspective. Yes, he is very talented at running long, long distances at slow speeds. This test is a poor indicator of any kind of special ability, however. My lactate curve would put his to shame...for a 15 minute test of MLSS. I would also destroy Dean in a marathon by over 20 minutes on his best day (not saying I'm a great marathoner, just faster than Dean). However, put us both out on the road for a 100 miler at 10 min/mi pace, and he would crush me into dust by any measurement. I'm just dsaying, don't put him on a pedestal because he does something that, relative to you, seems incredible.

Thanks for the response. I'm not trying to put Dean down, just trying to shoot some perspective and accuracy to the hype tornado surrounding DK.