Beth Baker, a running coach in Seattle, Washington, ranks surfaces hierarchically: Concrete is the worst, adopted by asphalt. Running on hard-packed grime is good, because it’s obtained simply sufficient give to minimize the blows in opposition to your poor knees. On surfaces softer than that, it will get tough. Running in sand is less complicated on the physique in some methods and more durable in others. The rapid influence of slapping your ft in opposition to a tough slab is lessened, however you then’re pushing off from a shifting, unstable floor.
“You have complete range of motion in the sand,” Baker says. “There’s more opportunity for injury because your muscles are getting lengthened quicker. The older you get, it turns out, your body doesn’t like that as much.”
Take it gradual and regular once you first begin working on the seashore, Baker says. Try to start out near the water the place the sand is firmer, then work your means as much as looser sand.
“If you just go balls-to-the-wall on loose sand, it’s not going to be comfortable,” Baker says. “You have to go a lot slower and just be nicer to yourself, because it’s not going to be the same.”
Also, whereas it may be extra obvious on some seashores than others, your working floor is sure to be slanted barely towards the water. That means your gait might be a little bit off kilter, with every foot on barely totally different elevation. Baker advises retracing your steps on a seashore run to even out the expertise. So in case you run a method up the seashore, plan to make it a spherical journey. And in case you solely see one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.
