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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: