Tag Archives: zach bitter

Bitter the Beast – Q&A with Zach Bitter

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This past weekend I got the chance to met and race (well at lest for a few miles) Zach Bitter. Zach who in addition to having run the fastest 50 miler in the nation last year also won the Midwest North Face Challenge in 2010 and placed 2nd in 2011. I can honestly say this is a fun guy to cheer on. His passion for the sport really comes through in his dedicated outrages training schedule and sticking around hours after his race to chat it up with fellow runners. Below are a few Q&A’s about Zach’s record braking John Dick 50k (his first 50k) this past weekend and his up coming 2012 ultra races.

Zach Bitter Leaving an aid station during the Midwest Regional North Face 50 Mile with pacer Brian Finnel. In 2010 Zach won the race in 6:02 and came back the following year to place 2nd with a 6:08

This past weekend you just smashed the John Dick Memorial 50k course record by over 20 minutes setting the new mark at 3:32. Were you expecting to run such a fast time on the icy course going into the race?

To be honest with you no. I planned to treat the race as a training run. I had a total of 246 miles logged in the 13 days leading into the race, so I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel. Usually at the end of a running cycle like this my legs feel pretty heavy, but for some reason at JDM 50k I felt really smooth, so I just went with it.

Did you have any low points during the race? If so how did you pull yourself through them?

I didn’t really have any real low points. I guess the toughest part of the course for me was round four up the big hill on the out and back section of the course. My quads were burning a little more there than in other places. With tough spots like this I usually try to break the race down. I stop thinking about finishing and just focus on getting to a certain point on the course. It helps reduce becoming overwhelmed.

This years Ice Age 50 is shaping up to be quite the show down. With yourself, Timothy Olson (2012 100k USATF Champ) who is more of a pure trail / mountain runner and Matt Flaherty who seems to race just about everything distance and definitely has some leg speed with a 4:17 mile pr, 2:22:53 Marathon PR. And the list goes on from there… How do you see the race playing out?

I think the talented field will cause the race to get out fast. I see this resulting guys testing their limits and someone coming out with a spectacular time, maybe even a course record.

Now for some fun questions…  Whats your favorite kind of GEL?

I like anything fruity with a pinch of caffeine

Are you growing your hair out?

As of now, yes. But I can be a bit impulsive with my hair style based on convenience.

Favorite Running Book or Movie?

I would say Born to Run is my favorite running book. I think it really captures the drive inside an ultra-runner. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of Bryon Powell’s book, Relentless Forward Progress, which I just recently ordered.

Who’s Your Running Hero?

Roy Pirrung. He is a great story, and a timeless ultra runner who truly embraced the sport, and continues to push his limits.

In Wales there is a 22 mile race where runners go up against riders on horses back. In 2004 Huw Lobb became the first and only runner (on foot) to win the race. If we all pitched in and flew you to Wales do you think you could take down those horses for us?

Haha! I would certainly be willing to try. That sounds like an adventure impossible to turn down.

Read Zach’s Race report of the John Dick 50k and follow his running blog Here. Zach’s product Sponsors - Fuel Belt, Illuminite, Sportmulti, Feed the Machine, Vespa, and Drymax.

Door County Fall 50 - Zach Cruising to the 2011 fastest 50 miler finishing in 5:26

Interview after winning the Midwest North Face 50 in a time of 6:02

John Dick 50K – Shpits x 2

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This past weekend was the 24th annual running of the John Dick Memorial 50K, a winter run that kicks off the start to the 2012 trail season. It has been quite a while since my last go at an ultra and this was a perfect one to dive back into the world of trail running and get my first 50K under my belt. Here in Wisconsin we are a little hard up for ultra’s this time of year so it was a fun gathering of the die hards who think nothing of running 30+ miles on ice and snow. Rumor had it that this was an exceptionally nice day in comparison to previous years and it was. No wind and cool temperatures were basically perfect winter running weather. So on to the race…

We started off in the parking lot and headed out down the road to jump on the trail and start the five lap corse. Each loop was about 10K and consisted of a long out and back with a loop at the end. The 7:30am start gave us temperatures in the mid 30′s, I started off with my faithful Sugoi running jacket knowing I would probably drop it pretty early on. Zach Bitter who has run a few crazy fast 50 milers the past couple years was there and took it out strong. I knew that the pace was to fast for my current fitness level but decided to go with it for the time being. We opened up with a 6:54, and 6:57 then hit the turn around and were able to see what was going on behind us. We had opened about a minute plus lead. As we reached the big hill Bitter dropped me as I powered up it the best I could without wanting to push to hard so soon. Once we were rolling on flat and down hill terrain again I was able to catch back up briefly dropping a 6:41 4th mile and what proved to be my last effort at matching Bitter the beast. Mile 5 was the only maned aid station and was located at the top of the loop. I only stayed long enough to hear Kishna say that Bitter had opened up a minute or two lead. I knew it would be far-fetched to chase him down but the nice thing about ultra marathoning is that there is usually never a shortage of race left and a lot can happen. I was still feeling good at this point and settled into my own pace for the first time and just focused on running fast and comfortably.

GPS died after mile 27.

Shpit #1 – Fast forward 5 miles I had survived the big hill again and saw at the turn around that my lead was still about a minute on the two guys that were gunning for me. I was happy to see that they seemed to have settle into about the same pace as I was. However right around mile 10 my race started to take a terrible turn for the worse. Every runners nightmare and biggest goal to avoid… Diarrhea. My stomach had slowly started to feel worse and worse and I could defiantly feel a class B eruption coming on. I spotted a big oak off the trail 20 yards or so and executed a pretty perfect Shpit stop. The nice thing about having Diarrhea in a race vs plane # 2 is that it comes out FAST! As I was dropping my last hand full of tarnished leafs 3rd and 4th sped past unaware of my hide out. They pursued chasing a ghost and I jumped back out on to the trail behind them feeling much better and settled in to chase mode. Before the aid station I had climbed back into 3rd and less than 40 seconds back on 2nd. I grabbed a GEL at the aid and immediately regretted it as I pushed on in pursuit. I should have grabbed a bunch of solid stuff like bred to harden up my stomach and soak up that diarrhea (my own theory) However I needed something and decided to just take a little of the gel at a time over the next 2-3 miles. It defiantly perked me up a bit and I was back hammering out 8 minute miles.

Shpit #2 – I remained in 3rd for some time and was feeling fairly strong until my luck ran out and I knew I was facing another shpit stop. Ironically the uprising occurred at the exact same place! I don’t know if it was mental or what. I was not so speedy this time behind the big oak but all in all it was another successful shpit stop… all things considered. I would not be surprised if that oak grows another 50 feet this spring. The two guys that were about a minute back pass me while I was busy with my oak, dropping me back to 5th. The Diarrhea Deja Vo defiantly took a lot of the wind out of my sails and I slipped into damage control mode. With less then 8 miles to go I was just trying to keep a solid pace rolling and minimize the amount of people that would most certainly inevitably catch me. The second to last aid station I downed a bunch of solid food (banana bread, sandwich ext) This seamed to help my stomach a little bit but perhaps I was over annualizing it. By the 5th time at the aid station I had fell back another spot and had Robert (the race director) coming hard after me. We were only a mile or two from the finish and I had a large enough gap that I basically just had to finish strong and I would be safe. I downed a dixy cup of coke and ripped down my final decent and back on to the road. Another mile and Robert would have had me, he ran a great race and finished with a 17 min PR. I finished in 6th place with my new and only 50K PR of 4:21 which is 8:24 pace. (Official results posted HERE) In all honesty it was about exactly what my training up to this point would have suggest I would run. I don’t know why I always tend to choose the go out hard and die method but who knows maybe I’ll time it right some day and die at the finish line! I probably could have gotten a little closer to the 4 hour mark with out the shpit stops but it’s all part of the game. Live and learn.

Over all it was a great day. Its always fun to hang out with a bunch of crazy ultra runners (a.k.a LPTR). Since the corse was a 5x loop we got to see everyone multiple times. Of course the “Great Job’s” and “Nice Running’s” all turned into grunts as the day wore on but I think we all were in the same boat. It was a beautiful day to be in the woods and a fun opening to the 2012 ultra season.

Big congrats to Zach Bitter who completely owned the day start to finish. Setting a new CR mark at 3:33 check back tomorrow or Wednesday and we will have some Q&A’s with him about his race, up coming goals and some general fun questions about what makes this endurance junky tick!

Send your best running poo story to abe@h2oride.org for your chance to win a FREE copy of my book! 200-400 words, top 3 stories posted next month.

Thanks for the photo’s Bill! More photo’s of the race can be viewed at www.runningintheusa.com