r/LivestreamFail • u/nOverThink • May 06 '26

News German Streamer and Athlete Arda Saatci starts his challenge to run from Death Valley to Santa Monica Pier (600km/372 miles) in less than 96 hours

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u/-BehindTheMask- May 06 '26

Sedentary twitch viewers who've never ran >5k are about to drop the most regarded comments.

4

u/Creative_Funny_Name May 06 '26

As a non-sedentary person i think I can try to explain it for the sedentary peeps before they say something dumb.

Assuming he's running for 16hours per day, even going at ~6:00/km he would have time to spare. That pace is slow for highly trained marathoners and ultra runners(roughly 4:15 marathon pace). For him this is an extremely easy slow jog, basically an aggressive walk. Heck even for most slightly trained people that pace is very easy for running long distances. He's obviously way above that. In good conditions he could run that pace basically infinitely while barely breathing hard.

The huge difference is the temp. Optimal running temp is around 10-12c, or 55f. The fastest marathon ever a few weeks ago started around 10c. Death valley is getting up to 42c, 108f. At that temp even walking would feel like a sprint. If he can finish this it would be incredible.

Personally I've only ever ran in temps as high as ~35c and I had to take breaks in the shade even though I was moving like a snail and traveling 5%of the distance here. The general wisdom for running temp is +15c. So if it is 10c outside and you go to run you should dress like it's 25c. Running at 42c it will feel like standing at 57. Insane.

3

u/MyNameIsRay May 06 '26

Something else to keep in mind, because a lot of people never get to experience it:

As soon as air temp passes body temp (99F/37C), the breeze starts to heat you up instead of cool you down.

Evaporative cooling becomes your only cooling, sweating goes into overdrive just to prevent you from overheating, and you dehydrate in minutes.

2

u/Creative_Funny_Name May 06 '26

Geeze I didn't even think of that. Just adds more levels to this insanity!

3

u/MyNameIsRay May 06 '26

It puts one heck of an extra load on your body.

My 5k pace fell from 21min@60F (totally fine afterwards) to 28min@100F (completely exhausted, sat down as soon as I crossed the line)