Ask Gabe: Hills and Heart Rate, Pre-Race Nerves, Fueling, and More

On this month-to-month article sequence, ultrarunner, race director, and coach Gabe Joyes solutions reader questions on something and every thing working. Study extra about this ask-the-athlete column, and be sure you fill out the shape beneath to submit your questions for a future article!

On this article, Gabe solutions questions on working hills, pre-race nerves, gas, and extra.

Gabe’s Tip of the Month

Do you’ve a “regular” working tempo? I certain hope not! If you happen to run on all kinds of terrain, numerous slope angles, and all of the totally different intensities, you’ll not have the stereotypical “common” tempo. What you’ll have is a resilient physique that isn’t worn out from overdoing anybody explicit coaching stimulus or movement sample, and I’d additionally guess that you’ll benefit from the journey and selection in your individual private working journey!

Numerous terrain in Wyoming’s Crimson Desert results in numerous motion patterns. All photographs courtesy of Gabe Joyes, until in any other case famous.

Hills and Coronary heart Fee

What’s your guiding technique for working hills however maintaining your coronary heart fee zones in test? — Steph

I’m an enormous fan of utilizing the speed of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to find out my working effort or depth. An RPE of 5 is an RPE of 5, regardless if I’m working uphill, downhill, over scree, by mud, or on rock stable pavement. The trouble principally seems the identical, despite the fact that the tempo is perhaps wildly totally different. If you happen to preserve the hassle the identical whereas working uphill, you’re probably going to remain in the identical coronary heart fee zone.

That being stated, working uphill is actually preventing gravity, which does take extra exertion, so it’s cheap to anticipate your coronary heart fee to creep up a bit as effectively. A fantastic query to ask your self whereas working uphill is, How lengthy might I maintain this effort? In case your reply is one thing like, I really feel like my coronary heart is exploding and I hate working uphill and I simply need one other rice crispy bar and everybody else should be doping, then an effective way to enhance your working expertise is to only decelerate. Working uphill is difficult, but when each time you’re feeling like it’s a herculean effort, you simply is perhaps placing an excessive amount of into it.

If you’re not having enjoyable, it’s possible you’ll must decelerate. Photograph: Casey Grimle

Pre-Race Nerves

How do you handle pre-race nerves? I discover it troublesome to sleep, eat, and I’m typically only a nervous wreck. I appear to all the time have issues that come up throughout races that by no means occur in coaching. — Nameless

It’s good to be nervous earlier than a race! Sure, you learn that appropriately. Being nervous earlier than a race exhibits that the occasion actually issues to you — it’s one thing necessary in your life. That nervousness is our mind and physique trying to gear up and put together for one thing that we all know goes to be difficult. Direct that additional nervous vitality into motion that can assist you put together for the occasion by dividing issues into two classes:

Issues that you could management.
Issues that you just can’t management.

For issues that you could management, get to work on dialing these issues in! Plan your pre-race consuming, get your footwear and different gear found out effectively earlier than race day, follow a sleep hygiene routine, and decide what you need your race day perspective to really feel like. You will have affect over all of these items, and using that energy goes a protracted method to calming these pre-race nerves.

For the belongings you can’t management, first free your thoughts and settle for that you just can’t management them. Second, settle for additionally that in ultramarathons one thing virtually all the time goes improper — that’s all a part of the sport. If you happen to can’t management one thing, why waste vitality on it? What you may management is the way you reply to those variables, so earlier than a race I all the time suggest you “pre-problem clear up” potential obstacles to success.

How will you handle the absurdly scorching climate? What is going to you do when your go-to fueling technique stops working? How will you deal with that man who gained’t cease speaking to you about his marathon PRs? Having a plan forward of time to handle all of those potential issues eases post-race nerves as effectively as a result of you’ve a plan to resolve the issue — even when it hasn’t occurred but.

Lastly, the most typical pre-race concern I hear is, “How do I do know if I did sufficient in coaching?” Within the few days main as much as a race, this thought squarely falls into the class of issues that you just can’t management. Return by Strava, or your coaching log, and try the entire effort you set in as it’s simple to overlook about all of that onerous work. You is perhaps dramatically fitter than you even notice! If the coaching wasn’t what you hoped for, use that info to dial in your pacing technique and expectations for race day. In spite of everything, you may solely race with the health you’ve, not the health you want you had.

Fueling

Actually, what has occurred with fueling? A number of years in the past, it was cool to eat nothing whereas working, and now the fashion is one thing like 150 grams per hour (or extra?!) of carbohydrates. I don’t get it. — Confused

Excessive fueling methods are actually eye-catching. The truth is, only a couple weeks in the past I volunteered at The Drift 100 Mile, the place I witnessed an athlete who deliberate to gas virtually their total race on Muscle Milk and packets of tuna — a wildly excessive protein weight loss plan that I’ve to think about will constipate them up till these snowy western Wyoming trails thaw out. Eye-catching doesn’t imply efficient although, and usually sports activities diet suggestions from registered dietitians have modified little or no since I took a sports activities diet class in school 20 years in the past (60 to 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour, supplemented with lesser quantities of fats and protein for extra-long length occasions).

There are 4 energy in each gram of carbohydrate, so 60 to 90 grams is 240 to 360 energy per hour. Lately, excessive calorie drink mixes have made it comparatively simple to ingest much more carbs per hour than this. So how did we get right here!?

Extra carbohydrates in racing is type of like working extra miles in coaching — extra is healthier, till swiftly it’s not. Additional coaching within the legs is superb till you get that calf pressure or iliotibial band syndrome. Extra carbs in your abdomen is superb to maintain your tempo snappy on race day, till you’re vomiting, or scurrying to the bushes and unintentionally utilizing poison oak for bathroom paper.

The sports activities diet business brings in tens of billions of {dollars} a 12 months globally, and it’s of their finest curiosity to persuade customers to maintain shopping for extra. My suggestion is to be a bit doubtful of social media diet sources — not counting registered dietitians {and professional} sports activities nutritionists right here— which might be in search of “clicks” and engagement, have a product to promote, or is run by an athlete that has one thing to achieve by convincing you to purchase into their particular sports activities diet technique. Do not forget that a single athlete, or perhaps a handful of athletes, who’re profitable utilizing an excessive fueling technique doesn’t equate to “finest follow.”

Whereas excessive fueling methods may go for sure people, I guarantee you that numerous course data, quickest identified instances, private bests, and different profitable races have been fueled by all kinds of snacks in numerous portions — together with Peanut M&Ms, Doritos, donuts, dried fruit and salami, each type of gel and sports activities drink possible, and naturally the endurance gas GOAT: Coca-Cola.

So don’t overthink it or be overly influenced — get on the market and revel in an inexpensive quantity of snacks and revel in the advantages of being effectively fueled, whereas additionally avoiding all of the distress and gastrointestinal misery of making an attempt to be a excessive carb consuming hero.

Jeff Mogavero experimenting with excessive carb fueling methods in Chamonix, France.

Ending Robust

How do I end a race with out feeling so drained? I see some elites cross the end line not wanting drained in any respect. What offers? — Christina

I noticed an unbelievable video from the 2025 Transgrancanaria Marathon displaying Francesco Puppi passing Robert Pkemoi with solely 200 meters to the end. Puppi seems rock stable and ice chilly, and despite the fact that Pkemoi is shifting effectively, Puppi emphatically cruises previous him on the way in which to a different spectacular victory. I used to be amazed to learn a mere two days later Puppi’s submit on Instagram:

“As I noticed Robert Pkemoi within the distance, possibly 30 or 40 seconds forward of me with 3km or so to go, I vividly keep in mind negotiating with myself whether or not I ought to dig deeper, giving greater than I assumed I might give, with a purpose to attempt to catch him. I all the time have a tough time in these moments. On one hand you’re feeling an enormous drive to win, then again there are not any certainties, no assurances that pushing more durable goes to assist you to cross that end line in first. The ache you’re prepared to simply accept one facet, the glory of victory on the opposite.”

This can be a well timed reminder that what we will see on the skin isn’t essentially an correct depiction of what’s going on inside. Regardless that it may not appear like it, Puppi was digging deep. Past that, I’d encourage you to regulate your racing expectations of what the top of a race ought to really feel like. In case your aim is to maximise efficiency, then ending a race or occasion feeling not-so-tired most likely means there was room to push on for a special, and maybe extra satisfying, end line expertise.