I reviewed Tobi’s biomarker’s from the car race yesterday. His heart rate, respiration, nervous system, focus, brain state, and more. It’s insane. I have some observations below. First, you need to get into the right headspace to understand the insanity. Imagine this… > you're breathing at an 8 min/mile (5 min/km) pace > in a 110°F (43°C) heat chamber > heart rate of 145 bpm, peaking at 171 bpm > intermittently body checked 700 lbs (320 kg) of force > your core body temp near 102°F (39°C), a high fever > claustrophobically strapped in a six point harness > helmeted head weighs 65 lbs (30 kg) under g load > no evaporative cooling > you’ve lost 4.6% of your body mass through sweat > you can’t move > vision narrowing from thermal strain and dehydration Now, in these circumstances, your job is to… > drive a tightrope at 180 mph (290 km/h) > overtaking/defending against ahead, beside, behind > staying within millimeters of tolerance > lose concentration for a tenth of a sec, in trouble Do this for 2.5 hours straight. A few additional things I find interesting from looking at the data: 1. It’s crazy to me his body can be in such a heightened state while completely stationary. Sitting down, he produced a cardiac load equal to high intensity physical exertion. 2. Thirty minutes before the race, Tobi’s body was already racing. His heart rate elevated to 136 bpm, more than 2x his baseline. 3. In qualifying, the higher his heart rate, the faster his lap. Arousal and performance moved in sync, including his personal best lap. 4. He lost 4.6% of his body mass in sweat. This is severe dehydration. At 2% dehydration your reaction time measurably decreases. He surpassed this in the first hour. 5. His nervous system was switched entirely to fight. There was no chill, anywhere. 6. His incredibly high breathing rate was driven by extreme sympathetic stress and rising core temperature, averaging 41 breaths a minute on his flying laps, moving 93 liters of air a minute. 7. His peak respiratory rate was 59. This is an all out sprint! 8. The only life experience I can map onto Tobi’s experience was doing 27 mg of 5-MeO-DMT, the world’s most powerful psychedelic. It was all consuming, taking me to the cliff of my physical and mental capacity for 45 minutes. Otherwise, it is very hard for me to imagine being able to excel in these extreme conditions for 2.5 hours. | I now understand a little more what Tobi was telling me about the flow state he drops into. Under such extreme physiological conditions, the brain ruthlessly narrows focus. His brain downregulates the self-monitoring prefrontal regions (the self narration). The spike in norepinephrine dilates time, creating the perception of time slowing down. MRIs on professional drivers show they use roughly one brain region for tasks where novices light up fifteen. A novice would be crushed in these circumstances in less than 10 minutes. I’m impressed. It’s very hard and nearly impossible to actually understand what it’s like to go through something like this. Tobi and @dhh (Tobi’s teammate) were both my first customers at Braintree and gave my startup life when it wasn’t clear if we had a future. They generously encouraged other startups in the Ruby on Rails community to use us. DHH’s co-founder @jasonfried did as well. They’ve been great friends to me. As to Tobi’s performance in the race, he did exceptionally well: > closed within +0.51% of the fastest Bronze driver, putting him neck and neck with the top ranked amateur drivers in North America > got his fastest lap of the race on Lap 88 (1:15.359), over two hours in and with peak dehydration and thermal strain, showing incredible tenacity > finished just +2.60% off absolute class best, competing against world class professionals There were 150 drivers competing in this race. Respect to all of you. I have a whole new appreciation for the sport.