The Speed Project: A Race Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/65568403

by philbo • 3 years ago

43 40 3 years ago

bbc.co.uk

1024core• 3 years ago

Funnily, "TSP" is also an acronym for the Traveling Salesman Problem.

Cerium• 3 years ago

As well as trisodium phosphate.

kevmoo1• 3 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZdsqbcGTU

ur-whale• 3 years ago

When you decide to subject your body to (what seems to me like) the abuse of running a marathon or and even more extreme race such as this one, I wonder what the negative effects are, short or long term.

Is this really good for your health?

basementcat• 3 years ago

Generally the participants train for these events and are in pretty good physical condition. One might imagine these events as analogous to a multi-day battery of difficult leetcode whiteboard interviews.

akadruid1• 3 years ago

I found some research on ultramarathon runners which has this conclusion:

We conclude that, compared with the general population, ultramarathon runners appear healthier and report fewer missed work or school days due to illness or injury. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

dmurray• 3 years ago

Instead of the general population, how do they compare with people who don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight and do five hours of light/ moderate cardio a week?

prmoustache• 3 years ago

Generally yes but the joints will suffer over time and they tend to be immuno depressed after hard efforts.

[1] OTOH they actually know how to run correctly to not hurt themselves too much, not like the casual runner

puzzlingcaptcha• 3 years ago

It is well established that marathon running induces acute renal damage, which typically resolves in two weeks after the run. What is less clear is whether repeated insults result in accumulating damage to tubular structure / decreased filtering capacity.

trizoza• 3 years ago

It's definitely harm to the body. But might be the only thing that works for you if you are trying to fight alcoholism or stop using drugs.

mdhen• 3 years ago

Professional marathon runners have heart enlargement issues, which can cause problems. But afaik it stops being an issue once they retire.

cafard2• 3 years ago

In my experience, the ordinary recreational runner can't run hard enough to incur real health risks.

For a bit of anecdata, I ran at least one marathon under three hours ever year from 1980 through 1986. Nowadays my "long" run of a weekend might be eight miles, which I do enjoy. I see the young glide past me when I think I'm running a decent pace, but more with amusement than regret.

cafard2• 3 years ago

I should say that it is very easy for a runner to sustain heat injuries. This can be the moderately fit guy at the end of a 10K, or Alberto Salazar in danger of his life after winning a race on Cape Cod.

JKCalhoun2• 3 years ago

I forget which BBC documentary I saw years back where an African tribesman (he was in fact male) tracked and pursued a wild animal after successfully separating it from its herd. It was a day-long marathon of sorts where, after exhausting and finally catching the animal, meat was returned to the tribe.

It was hard not to consider after watching that perhaps humans were in fact designed for this sort of thing.

twelve402• 3 years ago

yeah, they (us) were also designed to breed like rabbits starting at around 13, raise whatever survives of the offspring and check out by the time you turn ~40. I'm kind of glad we've chosen not to follow that initial design.

nonethewiser2• 3 years ago

The most insane part of that story is not running for a day. Its that he presumably dragged the animal back a distance equal to 1 day of running. Unless he got it back somehow else

If the animal wasnt big enough for that to be a herculean effort then its hard to see much worth from it. Although perhaps the distance wasnt that great (not necessarily a straight line from the starting point).

I just think about what a bitch it is to drag a deer a mile back to your truck. A days worth of running could be 120+ miles.

somewhereoutth• 3 years ago

Persistence hunting! However https://undark.org/2019/10/03/persistent-myth-persistence-hu...

Probably being able to make/use tools and talk to each other was enough. And a bad day for the rest of the animals when we learned to control fire.

robmccoll2• 3 years ago

I would say the average ultra runner is probably less hard on their body overall compared to someone training for / regularly running fast marathons (~3 hour and below). Both are probably running a lot of base milage at an easy pace. Marathoner is probably putting in more speed workouts, running on pavement / asphalt / concrete. Ultra runner is probably spending more time on soft surfaces and running with less repetitive motion on trails and is more likely to be doing some supplemental strength training and hiking hills.

Anecdotally for me, running ultramarathons has been a net positive. The 50+ mile races themselves are probably not good for you (potentially loss of sleep, operating into and past exhaustion, running high calorie deficits while cramming mostly junk food in just to get enough sugar and electrolytes to keep moving, risk of hyponatremia or dehydration, etc.), but the training leading up to it is. Regular checkups and a visit with a cardiologist for an unrelated (genetic) condition point to me being quite healthy despite not going to a lot of effort in other areas of my life. Heart is in especially good shape.

RektBoy• 3 years ago

"When the cops pull you over, be super nice,"

Rofl, the most American thing. Cops pulling you over just because you're running at the side of the road.

boomboomsubban3• 3 years ago

I think it's fair to be concerned about a person running along a highway in the middle of a desert miles away from anything. I also lived in the middle of nowhere, and if you see someone walking along the highway they probably need help.

Dalewyn• 3 years ago

It's also worth mentioning that it's usually illegal for pedestrians to be on the freeway (aka highway for the rest of the world), emergencies aside.

The police pulling you over in that scenario has as much to do with enforcing the law as there is to do with seeing if you need help.

mjevans• 3 years ago

I've seen too many movies where this would be a car race. It's epic these athletes can manage such a journey; but I don't associate human powered locomotion and real speed.

youngNed2• 3 years ago

I laughed out loud at this line:

At a glance, Arend's journey from organising underground raves in Hamburg to heading up an ultra-endurance race in Los Angeles might seem an unlikely one.

I guess it might not be obvious, but as someone who enjoys running, I quite often get the 'euphoria' that I once got at raves - it is ecstacy. While I am a runner, albeit not an ultra runner, I absolutely get how people from the rave scene would be attracted to it, I also see regularly people running whom I used to know from rave scene, or I can tell from their tattoos (hello plastikman logo!)

Those who ask the question 'what harm are they doing to themselves?' are often missing the point, Drugs / Alcohol / Running are all ways in which we 'run' from our demons - the question of 'what harm is this doing to me?' is often weighted against alternatives.

nonethewiser2• 3 years ago

Those who ask the question 'what harm are they doing to themselves?' are often missing the point, Drugs / Alcohol / Running are all ways in which we 'run' from our demons - the question of 'what harm is this doing to me?' is often weighted against alternatives.

Im not sure if Im following… you are suggesting running is bad for you? Analogous to drugs and alcohol?

And maybe it is a coping mechanism for you but I dont think that is typically why people run. I also dont think abusing drugs is usually better than the alternatives. I would suggest you gather more alternatives if it appears that way.

xzel• 3 years ago

I don’t want to speak for him, but to me he’s saying that they’re both actives where you get a euphoria/high. I’d even go a step further and say people who do ultra running are chasing a high and are addicts, albeit very healthy ones, that are overindulging vs the norm.

youngNed2• 3 years ago

you are suggesting running is bad for you? Analogous to drugs and alcohol?

No, not in the slightest.

I dont think that is typically why people run

Nor do i, i think some people have this as a reason to run, and this, i believe, increases as the type of running becomes more extreme

robmccoll2• 3 years ago

Have a friend that ran this. He said it was a blast - watching the sunrise, the time up in the mountains, and coming down out of them especially.

The Speed Project: A Race Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas

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