In this monthly article series, ultrarunner, race director, and coach Gabe Joyes answers reader questions about anything and everything running. Learn more about this ask-the-athlete column, and be sure to fill out the form below to submit your questions for a future article!
In this article, Gabe answers everything from questions about vision loss and blisters in ultrarunning, to deeper musings on what it really means to give something your all.
Gabe’s tip of the month: “Feeling low on mojo? One of the best ways to get that energy, motivation, and enthusiasm flowing again is to plan a XXL slower-paced adventure run with a friend or two. Be sure to pick a route that is stunningly beautiful and, ideally, in a new place for you. Pack ALL the snacks!” Photo courtesy of Gabe Joyes.
Blisters and Hot Spots
“Lately I have been having a problem with blisters and severe hot spots during long races of 50 to 100 miles. I don’t seem to have a problem during my normal training, or even during races/runs up to 50-ish miles. So, when it happens, it’s a bit of a surprise and unfortunately not something I’m usually ‘prepared’ for. It’s to the point where it drastically impacts my performance, almost ending my race. What tricks and tips can you share about foot care or preparation?” -JBADD
These sorts of “it never happens in training” problems pop up because 50 to 100 miles is typically so much longer than our longest training runs. My best guess is that your feet are swelling during the races to a point you maybe haven’t experienced in training, and perhaps you have on socks or shoes (or both) that have accumulated water and grit along the way.
Having spare socks and shoes to change into before you have problems can help with this, but also I’d recommend having a pair of shoes that are your “swell size.” Your swell-size shoes will probably feel sloppy and a bit like clown shoes if you wore them from the start, but when you switch into them at the 50-mile mark of a race, they will feel roomy, comfortable, and like a breath of fresh air.
The reasons our feet swell during our longest races can be diverse, but the most frequent causes are hydration and electrolyte status issues, which can cause you to retain water that accumulates in your feet, and the general impact of so many extra thousands of foot landings than is normal. Maintaining good hydration and electrolyte consumption, and attempting to run and hike with efficient form are your best bets for reducing the effects of mid-race foot swelling.
Including back-to-back long runs in training is another way to simulate what your feet will feel like in the back half of a big ultra so that you can plan ahead and prepare.
Check out iRunFar’s in-depth article on foot care and first aid for trail running and ultrarunning, so you have the tools to work on your feet if and when blisters and hot spots do happen.
Dirt and debris from mucky trails can contribute to blisters, so putting on clean shoes and socks may help prevent issues. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Vision Loss During Ultramarathons
“There is not enough discussion about loss of vision by athletes during ultras. I suffered from the first ultra I ran with loss of vision and double vision and thought I was the only one ever. Then I heard Courtney [Dauwalter] talk about it, and iRunFar actually had an article in 2017 about it. I finally figured it out for the 50k distance. I was wondering what you can share about this topic. (The third-place Hardrock 100 woman had loss of vision this year!)” –KH
It is hard to enjoy the views, much less race well, when you can’t see! Toward the tail-end of the 2019 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, I thought my headlamp battery was dying, but once the sun came up, my vision was something like trying to see out of sunglasses that were completely fogged up. I sadly shuffled my way down the last 3,500-foot descent as a few runners passed me and I slipped out of the last “money spot” — which perhaps is a microcosm of my entire financial life, but I digress.
Corneal edema tends to be caused by a variety of factors — including long exposure to high-altitude conditions, lack of sleep, cold temperatures, wind, and dust. Naturally, 100-mile races in the Colorado high country are prime examples of this environment.
Since my fateful race in 2019, I always wear glasses that can be clear at night (my personal choice are those made by Julbo with Reactiv lenses) to keep cold, dry air and dust away from my eyes.
I have not experienced any more issues with corneal edema since then, and I personally know several other runners who have also had success with the clear and protective glasses approach.
Here is iRunFar’s look at the science behind vision loss in ultramarathons.
Is Less More?
“Camille Herron no longer does back-to-back long training runs and no static stretching — and yet her accomplishments are incredible (560 miles in six days; 72-hour world record of 342 miles, etc.) Is she just genetically gifted? Or is this the wave of future training? And do we have more than anecdotal data to support this type of change in training for ultras? Thanks!” -E. Colwell
Even though the final one to three months of training we do before a race is very important, keep in mind that they are only one tiny snapshot of our total training history. For example, if you were someone who grew up regularly going on long family hikes, participated in youth and high school sports, and even ran collegiately, you will have very different physiology to someone who was not very active as a child or young adult and found ultrarunning later in life.
The same training will have a very different stimulus on those two runners — we are all unique individuals. Interestingly, we often see that someone with a huge training history, like Camille, can perform at a very high level a bit later on in their running career with relatively low levels of training because they just have so much fitness and soft tissue tolerance in the bank.
Camille Herron at the finish line of the 2022 Jackpot Ultrarunning Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she broke her own 100-mile world record. Photo: Kevin Youngblood
The Hardest Trail
“Hi Gabe, you’ve had the opportunity to run and race in many places around the world. In your opinion, what’s the hardest trail in ultrarunning?” -EH
Most of us love (or love to hate?) the challenge of a hard trail, and for me there is one clear and obvious winner here. No, it isn’t sliding backward up Grant-Swamp Pass in the Hardrock 100, nor is it a 100-plus-degree Fahrenheit day in the canyons of the Western States 100. Without a doubt, the most challenging trail in all of ultrarunning is the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie Trail in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains. Don’t believe me?
“That trail broke me. So unforgiving.” –Mike Foote, a three-time Hardrock 100 podium finisher and The Rut Mountain Runs race director
“The Middle Fork is one of the most heartbreaking trails in the Winds. On a map, it looks perfectly smooth, but when you try to run it, it’s nearly impossible to find any flow. And when you can’t find any flow, the trail feels eternal.” –Kelly Halpin, who holds the Wind River High Route women’s unsupported fastest known time
“If you’ve ever wondered what trail runner purgatory is, you can find it on the Middle Fork Trail. It’s so long that you can run for a half hour, recheck your progress on a map, and realize your forward progress is virtually undetectable. Forget about finding flow — a moment of that and you’ll be head-over through one of its rock gardens. And when for a second the trail offers you the freedom to open your stride and feel joy, it’ll rip it away in one of its sand pits, where you’ll be in the living version of that dream where you try to run away from something but can only move in slow motion.” –Meghan Hicks, iRunFar Editor-in-Chief and total badass
Shall I go on? Or else you can experience a small chunk of this challenging yet wonderfully beautiful trail for yourself at the Sinks Canyon Trail Races 50k in June of each year.
The stunning Wind River Range in Wyoming. Photo courtesy of Gabe Joyes.
Giving Your Best
“Have we changed the concept of performance in ultrarunning into a solely athletic endeavor? More precisely, giving your best? With an acceptance of vomiting and being unwell in ultramarathons as a sign of being a badass and toughness, jeopardizing health, what does this say about us? What does it say about the world we create for ourselves and the future of the sport?
“How about an aesthetic notion of performance? The athlete-artist, moving through space/time, in a practice of being in the moment — flowing, pushing their bodies to the outer limits of rhythm — risk-taking, and sometimes falling out of tone. What are your thoughts? Is it time for a different concept?” -Maria Oostra
While not true in all circumstances, I do think there is a mindset that it is more attractive to create the illusion of giving our best, and to create a dramatic story, than to actually perform at our best. Pushing so hard that one is vomiting, unwell, and having a “sufferfest” is really dramatic from an optics perspective and makes for easy (and in my opinion, uninspiring) social media and podcast content.
In reality, “giving your best” actually looks like months of meticulous and detail-oriented preparation so that one is able to flow, be in the moment, and have a glorious performance.
Katie Schide is all smiles and in flow on her way to winning the 2024 Western States 100. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Submit Your Questions
Send us your questions! Use the form below, and we’ll consider your questions for future articles.
Call for Comments
- Do you have anything to add on any of this month’s questions?
- What other questions do you have for Gabe? Send them our way!
