On this month-to-month article sequence, ultrarunner, race director, and coach Gabe Joyes solutions reader questions on something and every part working. Be taught extra about this ask-the-athlete column, and make sure you fill out the shape beneath to submit your questions for a future article!
On this article, Gabe solutions every part from questions on imaginative and prescient loss and blisters in ultrarunning, to deeper musings on what it actually means to offer one thing your all.
Gabe’s tip of the month: “Feeling low on mojo? Top-of-the-line methods to get that vitality, motivation, and enthusiasm flowing once more is to plan a XXL slower-paced journey run with a pal or two. You’ll want to choose a route that’s stunningly lovely and, ideally, in a brand new place for you. Pack ALL the snacks!” Picture courtesy of Gabe Joyes.
Blisters and Scorching Spots
“Recently I’ve been having an issue with blisters and extreme scorching spots throughout lengthy races of fifty to 100 miles. I don’t appear to have an issue throughout my regular coaching, and even throughout races/runs as much as 50-ish miles. So, when it occurs, it’s a little bit of a shock and sadly not one thing I’m often ‘ready’ for. It’s to the purpose the place it drastically impacts my efficiency, nearly ending my race. What tips and ideas are you able to share about foot care or preparation?” -JBADD
These kinds of “it by no means occurs in coaching” issues pop up as a result of 50 to 100 miles is usually a lot longer than our longest coaching runs. My greatest guess is that your toes are swelling throughout the races to some extent you possibly haven’t skilled in coaching, and maybe you may have on socks or sneakers (or each) which have gathered water and grit alongside the way in which.
Having spare socks and sneakers to vary into earlier than you may have issues can assist with this, but in addition I’d suggest having a pair of sneakers which might be your “swell dimension.” Your swell-size sneakers will most likely really feel sloppy and a bit like clown sneakers should you wore them from the beginning, however once you swap into them on the 50-mile mark of a race, they’ll really feel roomy, snug, and like a breath of recent air.
The explanations our toes swell throughout our longest races might be various, however probably the most frequent causes are hydration and electrolyte standing points, which might trigger you to retain water that accumulates in your toes, and the overall influence of so many further hundreds of foot landings than is regular. Sustaining good hydration and electrolyte consumption, and making an attempt to run and hike with environment friendly type are your greatest bets for lowering the consequences of mid-race foot swelling.
Together with back-to-back lengthy runs in coaching is one other strategy to simulate what your toes will really feel like within the again half of an enormous extremely as a way to plan forward and put together.
Try iRunFar’s in-depth article on foot care and first support for path working and ultrarunning, so you may have the instruments to work in your toes if and when blisters and scorching spots do occur.
Grime and particles from mucky trails can contribute to blisters, so placing on clear sneakers and socks could assist forestall points. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Imaginative and prescient Loss Throughout Ultramarathons
“There may be not sufficient dialogue about lack of imaginative and prescient by athletes throughout ultras. I suffered from the primary extremely I ran with lack of imaginative and prescient and double imaginative and prescient and thought I used to be the one one ever. Then I heard Courtney [Dauwalter] speak about it, and iRunFar truly had an article in 2017 about it. I lastly figured it out for the 50k distance. I used to be questioning what you may share about this matter. (The third-place Hardrock 100 lady had lack of imaginative and prescient this yr!)” –KH
It’s exhausting to benefit from the views, a lot much less race nicely, when you may’t see! Towards the tail-end of the 2019 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, I assumed my headlamp battery was dying, however as soon as the solar got here up, my imaginative and prescient was one thing like making an attempt to see out of sun shades that had been utterly fogged up. I sadly shuffled my approach down the final 3,500-foot descent as a couple of runners handed me and I slipped out of the final “cash spot” — which maybe is a microcosm of my complete monetary life, however I digress.
Corneal edema tends to be attributable to a wide range of elements — together with lengthy publicity to high-altitude situations, lack of sleep, chilly temperatures, wind, and mud. Naturally, 100-mile races within the Colorado excessive nation are prime examples of this setting.
Since my fateful race in 2019, I at all times put on glasses that may be clear at evening (my private selection are these made by Julbo with Reactiv lenses) to maintain chilly, dry air and mud away from my eyes.
I’ve not skilled any extra points with corneal edema since then, and I personally know a number of different runners who’ve additionally had success with the clear and protecting glasses method.
Right here is iRunFar’s take a look at the science behind imaginative and prescient loss in ultramarathons.
Is Much less Extra?
“Camille Herron now not does back-to-back lengthy coaching runs and no static stretching — and but her accomplishments are unimaginable (560 miles in six days; 72-hour world file of 342 miles, and many others.) Is she simply genetically gifted? Or is that this the wave of future coaching? And do we’ve got greater than anecdotal knowledge to assist this sort of change in coaching for ultras? Thanks!” -E. Colwell
Though the ultimate one to 3 months of coaching we do earlier than a race is essential, remember the fact that they’re just one tiny snapshot of our whole coaching historical past. For instance, should you had been somebody who grew up recurrently happening lengthy household hikes, participated in youth and highschool sports activities, and even ran collegiately, you’ll have very completely different physiology to somebody who was not very energetic as a baby or younger grownup and located ultrarunning later in life.
The identical coaching can have a really completely different stimulus on these two runners — we’re all distinctive people. Curiously, we regularly see that somebody with an enormous coaching historical past, like Camille, can carry out at a really excessive degree a bit in a while of their working profession with comparatively low ranges of coaching as a result of they only have a lot health and gentle tissue tolerance within the financial institution.
Camille Herron on the end line of the 2022 Jackpot Ultrarunning Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada, the place she broke her personal 100-mile world file. Picture: Kevin Youngblood
The Hardest Path
“Hello Gabe, you’ve had the chance to run and race in lots of locations around the globe. In your opinion, what’s the toughest path in ultrarunning?” -EH
Most of us love (or like to hate?) the problem of a tough path, and for me there may be one clear and apparent winner right here. No, it isn’t sliding backward up Grant-Swamp Cross within the Hardrock 100, neither is it a 100-plus-degree Fahrenheit day within the canyons of the Western States 100. Indisputably, probably the most difficult path in all of ultrarunning is the Center Fork of the Popo Agie Path in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains. Don’t consider me?
“That path broke me. So unforgiving.” –Mike Foote, a three-time Hardrock 100 podium finisher and The Rut Mountain Runs race director
“The Center Fork is without doubt one of the most heartbreaking trails within the Winds. On a map, it appears completely clean, however once you attempt to run it, it’s almost unimaginable to seek out any stream. And when you may’t discover any stream, the path feels everlasting.” –Kelly Halpin, who holds the Wind River Excessive Route ladies’s unsupported quickest identified time
“When you’ve ever questioned what path runner purgatory is, you could find it on the Center Fork Path. It’s so lengthy you could run for a half hour, recheck your progress on a map, and understand your ahead progress is nearly undetectable. Overlook about discovering stream — a second of that and also you’ll be head-over via one in every of its rock gardens. And when for a second the path affords you the liberty to open your stride and really feel pleasure, it’ll rip it away in one in every of its sand pits, the place you’ll be within the dwelling model of that dream the place you attempt to run away from one thing however can solely transfer in gradual movement.” –Meghan Hicks, iRunFar Editor-in-Chief and whole badass
Shall I’m going on? Or else you may expertise a small chunk of this difficult but splendidly lovely path for your self on the Sinks Canyon Path Races 50k in June of every yr.
The gorgeous Wind River Vary in Wyoming. Picture courtesy of Gabe Joyes.
Giving Your Finest
“Have we modified the idea of efficiency in ultrarunning right into a solely athletic endeavor? Extra exactly, giving your greatest? With an acceptance of vomiting and being unwell in ultramarathons as an indication of being a badass and toughness, jeopardizing well being, what does this say about us? What does it say in regards to the world we create for ourselves and the way forward for the game?
“How about an aesthetic notion of efficiency? The athlete-artist, shifting via area/time, in a observe of being within the second — flowing, pushing their our bodies to the outer limits of rhythm — risk-taking, and typically falling out of tone. What are your ideas? Is it time for a distinct idea?” -Maria Oostra
Whereas not true in all circumstances, I do assume there’s a mindset that it’s extra enticing to create the phantasm of giving our greatest, and to create a dramatic story, than to truly carry out at our greatest. Pushing so exhausting that one is vomiting, unwell, and having a “sufferfest” is de facto dramatic from an optics perspective and makes for straightforward (and for my part, uninspiring) social media and podcast content material.
In actuality, “giving your greatest” truly appears like months of meticulous and detail-oriented preparation in order that one is ready to stream, be within the second, and have a wonderful efficiency.
Katie Schide is all smiles and in stream on her strategy to successful the 2024 Western States 100. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
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