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TFS Interview: Brendan Brazier, premier vegan athlete

Posted December 5th, 2006 at 11:59 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Running & Training, Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Vegetarianism, Special Features, Interviews

Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete, the 2003 and 2006 Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion, a bestselling author on performance nutrition and the creator of an award-winning meal replacement and energy bar formula called Vega.

I had the luck of meeting Brendan at the ING New York City Marathon Health & Wellness expo this past November. I later had the opportunity to speak with him about his life, career, Vega and about being the world’s premier vegan athlete.

1. When did you decide to be a vegan and why?
I wanted to help improve my athletic performance. I don’t remember where I got the idea, except that I was running track and I just wanted to get better. I was trying different training principles and I was looking at diet as one way to improve my performance and a plant-based diet came up as something that seemed interesting to me. People seemed so certain it wouldn’t work that it motivated me even more. This was about 16 years ago.

2. What difficulties did you encounter when you first switched your diet?

According to my blood type, I should eat a lot of meat, but I never really did eat a lot. I pretty much just ate what was in front of me. However, when I did become a vegan I found that complete protein, iron, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium and vitamin b 12 were all lacking in my diet. I had to find ways to change that and discover new forms of protein and other supplementation for vegans (More about this is discussed later in the interview).

3. Why a vegan and not a vegetarian?

I started off being a vegetarian. When I stopped eating meat I ate no dairy except maybe a little cheese. That was just a part of the things I was learning. I wasn’t very strict at the time. I started to feel a lot better once I became strict; the fewer animal products the better. At first it didn’t work out very well. I was constantly hungry, tired and I didn’t recover very well.

4. People often gain weight when they switch to a plant-based lifestyle. Did you also experience this type of weight-gain?

Well, I didn’t gain any weight because of training for the track team. But I can see why people do if they start to fill-up on chips and soy ice cream. They become junk food vegans.

5. Are there any other elite athletes vegetarian or vegans?

There are a few. It is really opening up and getting much better. There is a friend of mine who is a bodybuilder. He has been a vegetarian for about four years now and has even won a few competitions. There is also, of course, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke.

6. Do you think being a vegan gives you a competitive edge - or - do you think it serves, at least to a degree, as a hindrance?

Oh, I think it is an advantage. (More about this below) When I would try to get over hunger pains in the beginning, I would make a blender drink with Protein, b12, and omega 3 fatty acids. Because it was so well balanced and so easy to digest, I felt more energized and healthy. With junk food or anything heavily processed, such as dairy and meat, you end up forming a lot of acid. The acid can weaken bones and the calcium is pulled into the blood stream to deal with the acid. This can lead to stress fractures and other injuries. This blender drink is what later would evolve into Vega.

7. What’s your typical daily diet like?

During training I will have half a Vegabar in the morning before swimming at 5am. After the swim I have the other half. Then I do my gym work out and make a smoothie out of fruit and VEGA powder. The rest of the day I graze on fruit and vegetables. After the bike ride and run in the evening I’ll have a huge salad with avocado, sprouts, seaweed, and nutritional yeast quality dressing (that has hemp oil, flax oil and balsamic vinaigrette).

8. Would you recommend becoming a vegan to someone who is looking to change to his/her diet and/or lead a healthier lifestyle?

It’s all about progress. You can’t switch overnight. If you are going to make a major change like that, you want to do it when you are not going through a lot of stress so you don’t use food as crutch. Move slowly; add a shake a day, add fruit or vegetables, and you wont even crave the bad foods anymore. Don’t expect to just eliminate all animal products and feel amazing. A lot of people will feel worse before feeling better. I even had headaches at the beginning. It is a cleansing process. Then I felt so much greater.

9. What’s your favorite food?

You know, once you start cutting out grains you don’t look at food the same way. You don’t have cravings the same way. You enjoy eating, but your relationship with food really changes.

10. Let’s talk a little more about how you got started. What sports did you play as a little kid?

In high school I ran track. I started off as most kids did with the 1500 and then moved into the 5,000 and eventually the 10,000. Right after high school I did some duathlons (running and biking) and then took the logical step and moved to triathlons. I always wanted to be an athlete. I did some more competitions in college and moved to Victoria from Vancouver. Victoria is really the Mecca of training; kind of like San Diego, California. I eventually had to make the choice between doing OK in school and OK in sports, or really focus on one of them. I decided to chose sports and stopped school. The rest is history I guess.

(Just to be clear, Brendan was not trying to convince student athletes to drop out of school. Conversely, he mentioned that what you can take from his own life choices is that everyone really needs to find what there niche in life is; what they can really succeed in and love doing).

11. Tell me about your professional career and your development as a professional Ironman triathlete.

I did my first triathlon in 1993. I did my first pro race in 1998. It took a few years to turn pro, but that is actually a lot quicker than a lot of people. I attribute that to attention to detail; especially my diet. I could recover and improve faster through my diet. I am most proud of how fast I got to the pro level.

12. Have you ever run a marathon?
I have done a few marathons, but I didn’t really want to train specifically for one. I ran 2:29 in the 1999 Victoria Marathon, but I feel like I am more aerobically fit than before. I think now I could run one in the low 2:20’s. But now I think with more training I could break that time barrier over the next four or five years.

13. As a multi-sport athlete, how do you feel about Lance Armstrong (who did triathlons before he decided to do strictly cycling) saying that running the NYC marathon was the hardest thing he ever did?

I think that he probably said that because it was a though that came just after the end of the race . . . He has been training and living like a monk for the past 6 or 7 years. People need to realize he is probably having the time of his life not being in such a strict training routine. I also think that he had shin-splints; which is pretty common for people who haven’t really put in the time commitment - and he certainly has a lot of other intense commitments - He probably just didn’t (and couldn’t) put in the necessary amount of time and mileage. But again - he is retired and just did the marathon for the experience.

14. What type of gear do you use when you run?

I’m pretty minimalist. I wear shoes, shorts and t-shirt. For my shoes I like Mizuno Waves because they fit my foot really well. They are one of the best shoes I have ever worn.

15. What are your next athletic goals?

I want to get in some good marathon training. In terms of triathlons I don’t know how many more I will do. I have a new book coming out so I have to try to fit everything in.

(Brendan’s book is entitled “Thrive: A Guide to Optimal Health & Performance Through Plant-Based Whole Foods” and is available on Amazon)

16. Why did you take 2005 off?

Mostly because of Vega. There was a real big push in 2005; I was on the road a lot. I did do a half-marathon in Oregon. It was OK. It just felt good to get out there and race again.

17. Do you still feel any side effects after being hit by a car in 2003? How did that accident happen exactly?

Not directly. I have little twinges in my back and some other things, but I’m not sure if they’re related or not. Maybe I am just compensating for the damage that was done then. I was just riding along and a car was near me. No other cars were around. It did a u-turn right in front of me. I flipped over and landed on my hip. I couldn’t even really feel it when I was walking around, but every time I tried to ride bike I felt really bad in the middle of the pedal stroke. Cycling was really inefficient and I just couldn’t train at a high level for a while.

18. Let’s talk more about Vega. How did you get started with Sequel Naturals?

I approached Sequel Naturals about sponsorship after I had been successfully using my blender drink and after being impressed with their MacaSure brand of maca and ChlorEssence brand of chlorella. I told Charles Chang, the owner of Sequel, about my idea of making my own drinks into a commercial product. Charles liked the idea a lot and we went to work to make it happen. Now Vega is the primary focus of Sequel Natural . . . Now, we are growing incredibly fast.

19. What is your favorite Vega product?

The chocolate meal replacement is the one I personally use the most. Berry is the best selling; probably because it is so sweet (Here at The Final Sprint, we also happen to love the berry flavored meal replacement shakes!). I eat the natural flavor of the bars the most. The berry bar is also the best selling. It is more a transitional flavor. I think the berry covers up the green earthy flavor a lot more.

20. Do you consider yourself an athlete, author, speaker or corporate executive?

I don’t know, haha. I really like to improvise and learn new things. As much as I still love training it gets to the point you have to work so hard to make such small improvements. All these other things (business, writing, public speaking, etc) I improve on so much quicker. That keeps me interested. I enjoy the business, the formulation and writing side. They are all so different. They use different parts of your brain. I never really have to take a break. I can keep going and I just feel like I am doing what I want.

21. Are you trying to now focus on expanding Vega’s distribution in the United States? How’s it been going thus far?

We have spoken to Vitamin Shoppe and they are interested. Whole Foods in one of our biggest customers right now; primarily in NY, NJ, Boston and other New England areas. To get national distribution is almost too much; it would lose something. With a brand like Vega, people require a lot more information about the products.

22. What was it like when you got to speak in front of Congress? Do you think you’ll have a career in politics one day?

Not any time soon. But I wouldn’t completely rule it out. In ten or fifteen years or so maybe - but what is great about politics is that you can get in to it later in life. Speaking to congress was a great experience. Our mission was to talk about how health and nutrition are linked. If you eat better, you will be healthier at some level. . It seems so basic, but that was the main goal or the presentation, in addition to, ultimately having healthy food available everywhere. That way, when people are busy and on the go - they don’t have to just settle for foods. We pitched it all as an economic benefit: Increase production and availability of healthy goods leads to lower health care costs, etc. Essentially, if you help build healthier people then that helps build a healthier country and therefore a healthier economy.

23. Do you have any words of advice for The Final Sprint’s readers who are beginner runners or just starting to get active in other ways?

I think one of the main things is to pick something you enjoy. You and I like to go out on a long run - so people like us should do that. If you like head to head competition - play tennis or baseball or volleyball. If you like the social aspect, then train with other people. Do a solo sport if you like the alone time. Let your personality type define what you get involved in; it’ll help you find an activity that you can be really passionate about.

Brendan, congratulations on all of your success with Vega. I think that what you have been able to accomplish as a vegan athlete is incredible. Being a vegetarian marathon runner myself, I can certainly relate to all of the doubters out there who believe that without meat a person cannot be a serious athlete. However, as you have certainly proved, they are quite mistaken. Thanks again for taking the time to speak with me and for sharing your insights with our readers. We all look forward to your increased involvement in marathon running and wish you the best of luck with Vega.

Further reading about Brendan and Vega:

Past TFS articles about Brendan, Vega and/or vegetarian nutrition for athletes:

Interested in winning some free Vega products? Keep checking in because later this winter The Final Sprint and Vega will be teaming up to offer great Vega giveaways!

Jenna Sumara also contributed to the publication of this interview.