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What Worked for Me at Brazil 135

One final post about Brazil 135 and the trip down to Brazil for the race. This race was a totally new experience for me – traveling to a different country to race, having crew access pretty much constantly throughout the race, and the longest race I’d ever done. And I tried a bunch of new things during the race. To be clear, they weren’t new on raceday, they were just new for me while racing. I’d tested everything out on long runs while training for the race. But, still, in a race environment and using them for a distance over four times longer than my longest training run meant that there would be some unknown. This blog is a report about what I wore, ate and used during the race and how it went.

Here’s what worked well during the race:

  • Tailwind Nutrition. Ever since my blow-up at San Diego 100, I’ve been using Tailwind as my primary fuel for long runs. It worked great during training and it worked just as well during the race. I never got sick of drinking it and I was able to suck down calories consistently through the 32+ hours of the race. I was also able to eat pretty much anything else I wanted throughout the race, which I think it partly due to the fact that Tailwind was keeping me going and not upsetting my stomach. For most of day 1, I used the Naked/Unflavored version and a little bit of Mandarin Orange. On day 2, when I started to get a little tired, I switched to the new Raspberry Buzz caffeinated version (one scoop of Raspberry Buzz and one scoop of Naked per bottle) and it kept me awake and alert through to the finish.
  • Salomon S-Lab Shorts. I started the race in my usual Exo S-Lab Short Tight and sometime before sunrise I changed into the Exo S-Lab Twin Skin Short. Both shorts worked great – no chafing and neither got too heavy with all my sweating. They have big pockets around the waistband.

  • Nathan QuickDraw Plus handheld bottle. I had one of these bottles in my hand for entire friggin’ race. The race took me 32:49 and I bet there wasn’t more than 30 minutes where a bottle wasn’t strapped to my right hand. I even crossed the finish line with it on my hand (see photo). Thankfully this strap is comfortable and I never really got sick of it. I reviewed this bottle back in July and one of my issues was the valve, which wouldn’t seal tightly. My bottles from Badwater still have this issue, but I bought a new one before Brazil and it’s totally fine. So maybe those other ones were defects or maybe something’s been tweaked in the design. Either way, it worked great.
  • Hoka Bondi B (sorta). I switched into the Hokas at around mile 55. My feet were feeling pretty good to that point but it seemed like a good point to change shoes. I had planned to change out of the Hokas at some point, but never wanted to. The cushioning felt great and my legs never got too tired. Also, the soles of my feet did great. This pair of Hokas fit my feet well under normal circumstances, but by the time I put them on in Brazil and especially by the end of the race, my feet had swelled up a ton. A half-size bigger might have helped, but who can afford to buy an extra pair of Hokas just for the end of a 135 mile race?  I did end up with tons of blisters and I’m not sure if that was due to the Hokas, the Injinji socks (see below), the heat and humidity or just the distance. Also, maybe a half-size up would have resulted in more blisters… So, the shoe worked but not “perfectly”. And I’m sorta, back to the drawing board regarding shoes for long races…
  • Vespa. Even though I’ve used Vespa before and took some during Run Rabbit Run, I used it much more regularly during Brazil than ever before. I took one packet before the start and took another one every 3-5 hours during the race. I felt great each time after I took the Vespa. I don’t follow their recommended diet and I won’t say that Vespa made all the difference, but I’ll continue to use it at races. 
  • 2Toms Sportshield Roll-On. I had actually never used this before the race. So that was a little risky, but I also knew that if I started to chafe, Aaron and Natan weren’t far away. But I never had any issues. I used this stuff on my crotch, nipples, armpits and feet. I reapplied it a few times throughout the race. I think it works at least as well as Bodyglide and since it’s a roll-on, it doesn’t get soft and mushy in the heat like Bodyglide can.
  • Trader Joe’s Mushroom Rice Noodle Soup Bowl. I brought this down with me. It was easy to make – just add hot water and some packets of spice and oil and it’s ready to eat. It has a ton of sodium, so I probably wouldn’t eat it very often in “regular” life, but that hooked me up huge during the race. I’d definitely bring these to future races where hot water is available.

  • Brazilian fig-newton style cookies. These things were the bomb. They’re crunchy, a little chewy and were one solid food I was able to eat the entire time. Yum. 

And here’s what didn’t work:

  • Injinji socks. This one makes me a little sad. A few weeks before the race, I got a couple pairs of Injinjis and used them on a bunch of runs with all of my different shoes. I’d always been a little skeptical of the toe socks so I was surprised at how comfortable they were and how much I liked them. I used lightweight mini-crew version of them for runs up to 25 miles in training and never had any issues. But during the race, my feet got covered in blisters – on the balls of my feet, around my heels and between my toes. Trust me when I say you should thank me for not including those photos on my blog (or on Facebook). Before Brazil, I almost always raced in Drymax socks and never got blisters like I did at Brazil. I went with the Injinjis here because my swollen feet wouldn’t have comfortably fit into my Hokas with the thicker Drymax. I have to blame the Injinjis at least a little bit, but like I said above, I’m sure the Hokas and the conditions and the distance all contributed. I’ll definitely continue wearing the socks for training runs and runs up to 25 miles, but I don’t see myself wearing Injinjis for this long of a race again, at least not the lightweight ones.
  • Mental toughness. Sure it takes plenty of mental toughness just to keep moving for 33 hours. And I’m not discounting that one bit. But I feel like I came up a little short at various points during the race and especially towards the end when the blisters started to bother me. I was tired and my feet hurt for sure, but I think I could have blocked more of that pain and walked a little less. After all, I was able to run pretty much every step of the last 3 miles (except that one short big hill), so why wasn’t I running more the miles before that?
  • Maintaining a plant-based/vegan diet.  There is no doubt in my mind that it could have been done, but I made the decision before the trip that (1) the trip was going to be stressful enough and I needed to eat so worrying over food would be about the least healthy thing I could do and (2) I did not want to be “that” guy who made meals or social events more difficult. For example, a few nights before the race, we met some new Brazilian friends at a restaurant and it happened to be a pizza place where they had already ordered pizzas. I sucked it up and ate the dairy. I’m sure I could have ordered some pasta or cheeseless pizza but I was hungry and didn’t want to deal with the stress and potential hassle of explaining my diet, having someone translate with the waiter and then waiting for my food. Also, on the Monday after the race, Ari invited us to his bakery and restaurant for lunch. It was a real Brazilian barbeque. I could have skipped the meat, but my choices then would have been some rice, onions, lettuce and beets; that’s not what I needed to be eating and frankly the meat sounded good. During the race itself, I was almost completely plant-based, except a few bites of some beef jerky. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision to make big dietary exceptions right before and after the race, but I’ll just be happy that it worked out. Since I’ve been back, I’m back to my now-normal plant-based diet ways. 

One thought on “What Worked for Me at Brazil 135”

  1. Stuart says:

    Interesting feedback, I fell out of love with Injinjis a ways back too! I might have to look into that Tailwind I know a couple of people who have had good experiences with it!

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