Ultra Runner Profile -- Zac Marion

Zac is a 28 year old pre-med student who currently works as the customer service and events coordinator for Altra; he is an ultra runner. I interviewed Zac and learned a ton about ultra running, faith, spirit, zen running, nutrition, weight loss and dedication. I present the paraphrased interview below.

Zac in his Altra office for our interview

D: How did you get into ultra running?

Z: I played football in high school and got a scholarship to play for the University of Utah at defensive end. I was fast, but needed to put on weight to compete at the D1 level. The university put me on a weight training regimen that caused my muscle strength and size compared to my frame, especially my pelvis, to stress my back, and I herniated two discs. It was the best thing that could have happened because it was then that I decided to serve an LDS mission. 

D: And where did you serve?

Z: Guatemala City South. I loved it, and I could not trade that experience for anything. When I got home, I married almost right away. I was heavy and out of shape. I weighed 230 pounds. In 2009 I started running a mile long, out and back route in my neighborhood all the while believing that running was punishment. Football had conditioned me to go hard in everything physical, so I did. A friend told me that I should try a novice triathlon, so I signed up. I took second in my division and did well on the run. Before long I hit the magic four.

D: I'm not familiar with that.

Z: The Magic Four is when you can run four miles comfortably after about four to six months of training. Running became a ritual. I was running about six miles per day, five days per week. 

D: What was your next organized event?

Z: A friend invited me to do Ragnar. I loved it. Two weeks later, I did a half marathon. I ran it in 1:32 and took first in my division. My next event was the St. George Marathon in 2011 that I ran in 3:17. 

Zac running in Southern Utah

D: What was your body weight at the time? 

Z: I had lost 85 pounds in one year. I like my race weight to be about 145 and my training weight to be 155.

D: My own weight loss has caused some people to be concerned, especially family members. The word anorexia has even come up and I am at 220. I can't imagine what people were saying about you. 

Z: Yes. Some family members were worried and asked my wife if I was sick or something. 

D: When did you do your first ultra?

Z: My first ultra was in 2012 at a 50K in Southern Utah called Red Mountain. I was working at Salt Lake Running Company at the time and got invited down to run it. I took third overall. The course was part pavement and part trails. The trails were so fun, I forgot it was a race. It was almost a spiritual experience for me. I got hooked on trails. Altra Embassador, Craig Lloyd passed me up to take second. After the race, we became good friends. 

Zac with friend Craig Lloyd

D: Have you done any hundred milers?

Z: I did Leadville 100. During 100 mile races, every emotion you could ever feel is compressed into one race. You test yourself in ways that can't be duplicated in other races. You feel elation, despair, faith, hope, sorrow, everything in a 24 to 36 hour period. You want to quit. You want to take a short nap for a while. You want to sit by a campfire for a while. There is every temptation to stop and rest. If there were ever a parallel to 'endure the the end,' it is most adequately captured in a 100 mile race. You must have faith in your training and you have to keep pushing through. 

Zac at Leadville. He's not dead yet.

D: You seem to me to be a purist. Of all the guys working here, Brian, Golden, Seth and everyone else, who is most purist about running?

Z: I am. Running is very spiritual for me. When I run, the only electronic anything I take with me is an altimeter watch. There is no music playing or anything else. Prayer is a big part of it. I am constantly thanking God for his creations and allowing me to be a part of them. I express gratitude for my body that allows me to enjoy the surroundings as much as I do. When I run I go out for hours and not miles. 

D: How competitive are you compared to Seth, Brian and Golden?

Z: I am probably the least competitive of the four of us. If I have a goal of a sub three hour marathon, and I could easily come in at 2:45, if there is a person that I can help reach their goal of coming in under three hours and I can help them through it, I will slow down, help them, and maybe come in with them at 2:58 or 2:59. I get more satisfaction out of helping people than I do out of a PR.

D: Is anyone faster than Seth?

Z: No. No one is. He is competitive, but he is not elitist about it. If he gets beat at the line by someone to take second, he is the first to congratulate them, and it is sincere. 

D: So you work with some pretty great people.

Z: Yes. I can't imagine working with better people.

D: Tell me about your Altra connection.

Z: I left New Balance to be with Altra. 

D: Have you ever tried to go back to some other shoe, any shoe?

Z: I have tried and nothing compares. Altra has nailed it. I love the lone peaks. I like the Olympus' for recovery runs because they are softer, but they keep me from feeling the trail.

D: That's funny. I like my Olympus' precisely because my mind can be other places than to worry about every rock and root and how I am going to finesse each obstacle. It is pretty much grip and rip. 

Z: That's true. That is what they are built for.

D: Talk to me about nutrition.

Z: My pre-race is horrible. It may include a burger, fries and a shake. I love shakes and have one several times a week. If I do eat a burger and fries, I balance it out with a lot of healthy stuff. You have to figure out what works for you and go with it. During a run I will eat one gel every two hours and 10 ounces of water. During a race, I do a gel every half hour and something solid every 50 miles. V-Fuel really works for me. Pop Tarts do too, but I try to avoid them because of all the bad stuff in them. The other things that really works is Justin's chocolate hazelnut packets. They really sit well with me and they have some fat. During a race or in hot weather, I take a salt tablet every hour or so. Generally I eat leafy green stuff and stuff from the ground up. Appetite has a lot to do with the amount of nutrients you consume. If there is a nutrient deficiency, your body will go into hunger mode until it gets its nutrient requirements. What you ate last is also important. It is the first thing your body goes to when it gets hungry. 

Zac at Antelope Island

D: What are your top tips for people starting out?

Z: Be consistent in training. Even on a horrible day, go out and run one or two miles. Start slow. Have fun. Find your motivation and remind yourself of it. 

D: What is your gauge as to whether you decide to rest or run through an injury?

Z: If it is annoying pain that does not affect my gait, I run through it. If it does affect my gait, I get it fixed.

D: What is your favorite trail?

Z: BSTF to Black Mountain. I also love Hope Pass. 

Zac at Hope Pass

D: Could you summarize your running philosophy?

Z: Yes. Run Well - Do Glad. Make people happy.

Note: Zac exemplifies his motto. If you see him at an event or on the trail, make sure you say hello.

My Hydration Problem

I was supposed to do a 20 mile trail run on Thursday that I had to cut short (17) due to water depletion. I took an Ultraspire pack that held 70oz and a fuel belt that held another 32oz. My Strava, music and background apps ate my entire phone battery at the ten mile point in the run. By then, I had already climbed almost 3600 feet and was conserving the last several sips of water to make it back to my car. I cut my run short and guzzled from the drinking fountain at the trail head for several minutes. I got done at 7:30 PM and headed off to a church meeting that started at 8:00 PM. As soon as I got home, it was back to sucking down as much water as possible.

I started out running from the gun range then up dry canyon. Here is a view looking back down.

My electrolyte content was perfect and my legs felt remarkably good considering the mileage, elevation gain and dehydration. I need to find a solution if I am going to survive long trail runs. I cannot just carry more water. There is not space or strength. Here are a few images from the run.

Sure beats running on the road.

As I see it, I have three choices. I can use my MSR Miox purifier, iodine tablets, or an in line filter. 

MSR Miox

The Miox is light weight and fairly easy to use. It requires 2 uncommon batteries and rock salt. Basically, it separates the sodium from the chloride in the salt through an electrical process. The resulting solution will bleach clothes and kill any bugs in the water. The intensity of the solution depends on how much you are purifying. I own one of these and have used on for backpacking for years. It would be no trouble to fit into a hydration pack. It's downside is that it is the heaviest of the three options and is useless if your batteries die or you run out of salt (thinking out loud here, I could do a Bear Grylls and scrape the salt residue from my clothes from dried sweat and see if that works. That would be gross, but cool). 

I should mention that this purifier also comes with test strips that I never use. I have had giardia before, the most common bug in the outdoors, and though it is inconvenient, with a prescription and a week, I am as good as new. If my water is a little less than pure, it isn't the end of the world or that run.

Geigerrig In-line Filter

The Geigerrig in-line filter costs $28 and comes with a 30 day return. It will filter up to 50 gallons of water (this really means nothing. One really dirty stream and you may clog it after one use.). It is convenient in that you can fill a bladder reservoir with stream water and drink purified water at your bite valve. My concern with this filter is what happens to it near the end of its life. I imagine it is really hard to pull anything through it. 

Iodine Tablets

These are inexpensive, light weight and do the trick. The side effects are unknown. It is banned in Europe as a purification source, but I am not too worried about it. To be safe, I would not consume more than it would take to purify 4L of water in a single day. 

If you have another solution that works, please tell me. I will be trying all three on future runs. 

The Incomparable Bearclaw Poppy Trail

St George, Utah is home to one of the universe's greatest pleasure centers. There are few places that offer as much variety and intensity of biker bliss anywhere. There is something for sickos who crave pain from anaerobic exertion, downhill speed demons, animals who ache for air time, newbies, intermediates even children. Seriously, I have rarely watched a person come off the trail not smiling ear to ear.



The guys at Utahmountainbiking.com created this little video.

There are two ways to ride Bear Claw: top to bottom to top or bottom to top to bottom. If you are lazy and have a kind friend or an awesome mom, you can skip the up hill and shuttle the ride several times. The ride either begins in Bloomington if you start at the bottom and west of the Green Valley Resort if you start from the top. Don't make the mistake of riding this as a loop as some books and websites suggest. Ride it as an out and back if you do not shuttle. I prefer to start in Bloomington and do an out and back a few times.

Riding from the bottom is boring by comparison with the exception of three spots. Clavicle Hill, aptly named for the body part that breaks if you misjudge the obstacle, is the first seriously difficult climb. I have never seen anyone climb it, and I have gone with some great riders. Utahmountainbiking.com claims it can be done. I believe them.  Fortunately, there are always work-arounds and bailouts. Instead of going straight up clavicle, you can take the bailout to the right. It is still difficult to climb, but doable by an intermediate rider with a large enough anaerobic engine.

Jared Hill climbed the last acid drop and now relaxes at the pool. 

The second obstacle set is the acid drops. I can ride up all but the last one. Jared Hill is the only rider of many that I have seen ride up the last drop, and he had to finish it by bouncing his bike to the top. If the last drop were the first, it would not be as difficult, but you are tired from climbing the previous four drops and the runway for the last drop is short. Maybe someday. Again, there is a bailout trail to the right that is upper-intermediate but definitely doable. After a little more riding you come to the wash that is slightly downhill as you go north. The wash ends at the bottom of the fingers of death. Most people opt for the pinkie of death (described later) or walk up some of the more difficult fingers.

Now the rip roaring fun begins! there is an immediate downhill section that lasts for about 100 yards and flattens out. The downhill is intermediate to intermediate-advanced depending on the route you take. A difference of two feet can turn a fairly straight-forward downhill segment into a launch pad. At the flat, there is a bailout route that avoids the fingers of death. My kids call the bailout, the pinkie of death. Sounds more fearsome that way I suppose.

Using the modest launch pad instead of the easy way

There are three fingers of death with some variations. They grow in difficulty from left to right. It is possible to descend each without your tires leaving dirt, but it is not advisable. If you let your bike roll with little to no brake, the downhill is silky smooth. Your time in the air is hardly noticeable because the transition is so perfect, and for heaven's sake, don't even tap your front break or you will endo. Just go with it. After biking through a wash and going down a few fun dips you are back at the awesome acid drops. The acid drops look frightening and discourage less confident riders, but there is always a bailout.

Utahmountainbiking.com explains the easy to hard routes on the fingers of death

Another view

A view from the bottom. This guy is taking one of the yikes routes on the fingers

My good friend Jonathan who is one of the best downhillers I have ever seen, attacks the acid drops with reckless abandon. He and a group of skilled riders were descending the trail through the wash casually when they were asked to get out of the way by a couple roadies in full kits and freshly washed carbon mountain bikes who were riding the trail like they were on some pro team in a stage race and taking all the fun out of the ride. It is blasphemy to ride this trail with anything but fun and adrenalin as your purpose, yet I digress. The two riders stopped at the top of the acid drops wondering if they could muster enough courage to go down. Jonathan picked a line between them and at full speed launched into space. The great thing about the drops is that they have killer transitions. There is almost no way to not land softly even if it is on your body and not on your bike.

Although not one of the acid drops officially, this is a great ride

A view of the acid drops from the bottom.

Happy for smooth transitions and still smiling

A great view of a typical acid drop descent

The best way to take them is with some space between tires and dirt

Clavicle Hill is a serious matter. The only really safe way to take it is to launch it due to an annoying lip that can cause your rear tire to pitch up and forward if you take it too tentatively. You will have to commit. I took a friend down a slightly easier section of it and warned him not to touch his brakes until he had both tires safely on the ground on a less steep grade. Instead, he panicked, tapped his front brake, flew over his handle bars, landed on his knee and head at about the same time and ended up with a shattered helmet and trip to the emergency room.

With a full faced helmet and a DH bike, yes. Otherwise, maybe avoid the tail whip.

Joe opted for the bailout route which is still a little treacherous. Knocked him out cold for a few seconds.

The remaining half of the ride is the roller coaster section. It makes for some of the funnest real estate in the solar system. There are several route options that will increase or decrease the fun/difficulty. The routes are normally well marked. We have spent hours stopped at some of the better jumps to see just how far and high we can launch. 

Dangerous Dan the Rock Licka coming off one of the jumps

This is a classic, not-to-be-missed ride. Due to the various trail options, it can be ridden by all skill levels. Joe's crash was due less to the trail and more to a sharply increased confidence level that out grew his judgement. He has since taken the same route several times with no mishap. 

The area around the designated trail is fragile and not to be touched. Please respect the signage. Do not adventure off trail. The area is habitat for endangered species including the Dwarf Bearclaw Poppy, the trail's namesake. If the trail is abused, it will get shut down, so don't be a scrub. 

Finally, do not ride the trail when muddy! About every other year some bikers that can't seem to wait ride it in poor conditions. The grooves created by the tires and mud harden and take an entire summer to smooth out. As I write this, the trail on the roller coaster section is quite bumpy and far less fun than it will be in the fall when things thousands of riders have been on it. 

Here are some links to some reviews of the trail...

http://www.bikepirate.com/dh-trails/bear-claw-poppy/
http://www.trailtrainer.net/trails/bearclaw-poppy/
http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/bearclaw.htm
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?41323-Bad-Crash-on-Bear-Claw-Poppy-Trail/page2