Hasselhoffian Effort

“Sand, I can’t get rid of the sand!”  – Kramer in Seinfeld’s The Marine Biologist episode

Our annual March Break vacation consists of a week of rest, relaxation and re-energizing near the quaint town of Cabarete in beautiful Dominican Republic.  My wife and I rent a one bedroom condominium apartment at a quiet resort and usually park our buns in a chaise longue by the pool armed with a few good books or an iPod.  Nevertheless, our daily routine does consist of a morning workout.  Joanne opts for either a brisk walk or a yoga routine.  I on the other hand, lace ‘em up and hit the beach for an hour run and my best impersonation of Mitch Buchanon, minus the red shorts and bare chest of course!  Our unit is equipped with a kitchenette which allows us to prepare some of our own meals, although we usually treat ourselves to one feast per day at a local restaurant (notably the scrumptious stone baked pizza at Pomodoro’s).   Maintaining our respective workout regimens somewhat reduces the guilt-factor of these indulgences.  After all, we are on holidays!

In past blog posts I have suggested combining a vacation with a race (see California Running or Volcano Marathon for instance).  You can either choose a destination first and then try to find a race there, or you can pick a race of interest and build a vacation around the desired event.  This type of run-centric holiday permits the traveler/runner to taper while visiting the attractions before the race or do the bulk of the sightseeing after the run during the recovery period.  But not every vacation will, nor should it, include a race.  This is the case with our Dominican getaway.

Inspired by a suggestion by my wife, I decided to do some research to offer advice on running in the sand for your next vacation to a sun destination or perhaps a race that features sand sections.  As I searched the Internet for information, I came across the following video on the LiveStrong website.

I had not seen these recommendations prior to my own beach exercise.  I simply plowed through the sand no matter how deep or soft it was.  Generally, Tim Borland’s advice makes sense and I will certainly try to apply some of these strategies on my next sand encounter, specifically at my upcoming Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim trek in April.  However, based on my limited beach running experience, contrary to what the video suggests, I wouldn’t recommend running barefoot.  In a previous trip to Australia I tried this technique and wound up twisting and injuring my knee.  Since this incident, I always wear my trusted Nike Free 5.0 on ALL surfaces!

My rudimentary research revealed that benefits of running on sand outweigh the few drawbacks.

Benefits include:

-significant strengthening of lower-body stability muscles;

-an upper-body workout as your shoulders and arms must work in order to help you maintain your balance;

-less impact on the joints thus reducing risk of injury;

-a great cardio workout in less the mileage and time while burning 1.6 more calories per mile than running on roads;

-sand imprints can help you analyze and correct your foot-strike.

Some drawbacks are:-getting sand in your shoes and increasing the chance of blisters;

-potential strain on calf and Achilles if you are not careful;

-since these natural surfaces tend to slope, too much sand running can result in tendinitis of joints and ligaments.

So once you’ve mastered the art of running on sand, where can you apply these new techniques?  For the hardcore adventure seeker, the Racing the Planet series offers some of the toughest stage races on the planet’s harshest conditions.  Although Canada does not have desert in which to train, Canadian ultra runners have fared well at these races.  Before well-known Ray Zahab had won some of these demanding events, Ancaster’s Mark Tamminga blazed the trail (or desert) for others by earning wins at Chile’s Atacama Crossing and China’s Gobi March.

Another extreme race is the Trans 333 which is a single stage 300+ Km race across a different desert every year, but if you’re looking for a shorter ultra, there is a 100-mile race in Sweden, the Gax 100, which offers several miles of beach running and the Javelina Jundred in Arizona features several loops in a desert setting.  Still too long?  The Edge to Edge Marathon on Vancouver Island has several miles along Chesterman’s Beach.  For more sane people, the book Great Places, Incredible Places suggests shorter distances like Manly Wharf Hotel Soft Sand Classic, a 7-mile run in Sidney Australia.

The next time you have a chance to run on a beach, instead of simply imagining that you are a character from Chariots of Fire or Baywatch, you can actually focus on proper sand running techniques and prepare yourself mentally for a Monumental Effort trans-desert expedition.     

Have you run one of these epic races?  Do you know of other events involving sandy sections?  Please comment below or share your ME story by clicking on the “Submit your story” tab.

Gotta run,

Vince