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PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO.COMThere's no reason why you should pass up the sand this vacation and hit up
the treadmill instead. And skipping your miles simply isn't an option. “Don’t
sideline yourself for your whole vacation,” says Honerkamp.
Here’s why you should hit the sand...IT’S GREAT FOR
INTENSITY TRAINING
Ryan Adames is a lifeguard
in Santa Cruz, Calif., and a
physical therapist’s aide.
He runs on the beach mul-
tiple times each week. He’ll
do some easy running and
core work too, but he likes
to do short sand sprints
for high-intensity interval
training (HIIT). The simple
act of running through the
sand “ups the intensity
a lot more,” he says, and
lends itself to working on
explosiveness.
Brian Clarke, a runner and
coach in Hawaii, compares
sand running to hill run-
ning, where the purpose
is often to build power.
“Think of it as the deeper
the sand, the steeper the
hill,” he says. Soft or deep
sand means there’s more
resistance, which means
you’ll need more power to
get through it.IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR
FOOT MUSCLES
There are reasons most
runners also cross-
train: to build up their
non-running muscles and
prevent injury. Running
on the beach isn’t exactly
cross-training, but it sort
of counts. “You’re using
your body differently,
which is good,” says
Honerkamp. Your core
has to stabilize itself on
the soft, uneven surface.
And more importantly,
your feet and lower
legs have to stabilize
themselves.
“It’s doing work,” says
Adames of your foot. “It’s
trying to make sense of
the soft ground beneath
you.” There’s some bene-
fi t to your body learning
and practicing that—as
long as you don’t overdo
it (which we’ll get into
soon).IT BEATS NO
RUNNING
When Honerkamp
coached thousands
of runners through
the New York Road
Runners program, he’d
regularly have partic-
ipants tell him they
were going on vaca-
tion or to a resort and
wouldn’t be able to
run. That's not going to
cut it with this coach.
“I’d rather you run 20
minutes on the beach
than no minutes,” he’d
say, though he advises
not to do your long
run on the beach and
to build up slowly.
Like any new form of
running or training,
easing into it is best.
Maybe you just do
strides or 10 minutes
on the beach. It still
adds something to
your training.BECAUSE
IT IS FUN!
“It’s hard to have a
bad day running on
the beach,” says Dr.
Amadeus Mason, a
professor of ortho-
pedics at Emory and
a team doctor for
USA Track & Field.
Part of the reason
you run is to experi-
ence new things and
enjoy yourself.
Just don’t enjoy
yourself so much
you end up getting
injured and being
miserable the rest
of your vacation. It’s
better to underdo it
than overdo it and
cause a c alf or foot
strain. This is espe-
cially true if you’re
not even used to
running on trails
regularly or if you’re
prone to injuries.FOUR REASONS
TO RUN ON THE BEACH
CM0817_FEAT_BEACHRUNNING.indd 26 7/12/17 2:33 PM