If you are running GDB to debug the host program at the same time as performing hardware debug on the kernels, you can also pause the host program as needed by inserting a breakpoint at the appropriate line of code. Instead of making changes to the host program to pause the application as needed, you can set a breakpoint prior to the kernel execution in the host code. When the breakpoint is reached, you can set up the debug ILA triggers in Vivado hardware manager, arm the trigger, and then resume the host program in GDB.