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| Picturesque Thiruvanmiyur Beach |
I had the comfort of going at my apartment gym for one year.
Having shifted to a new independent home, I was missing that luxury. Initially,
I spent 1 or 2 weeks sleeping till late in the morning, recovering from a minor
injury. I then realized that it was not the way. I was craving for some action.
I live pretty close to beach and wanted to capitalize that opportunity too. As soon as I felt comfortable with the injury,
I tied my shoelaces and set out for run on the beach.
Since then, I have been running on the beach almost
consistently (leaving a few on and offs) for past 3 months. I have tried
summarizing my experience of beach running and I hope it should be useful for
people pondering about or new to beach running. Many of the points are obvious
but still I have mentioned them.
- Running on beach is
tough. I realized this during my first 10 m stretch when I went running
for the first time. You would have walked over sand and felt the need for
extra efforts to walk. Believe me. That is nothing compared to running. It’s damn difficult for the first few
times until you get used to it. Your feet just go inside the sand and it
takes more energy to pull them out. The obvious reason being loose nature
of sand and hence not able to provide enough reaction force necessary for
walking/running. A perfect opportunity for those looking challenging
workouts.
- More Calories. As I
mentioned above that it requires more efforts for each and every step that
you take on sand hence you burns more calories compared to running on a
hard surface. Depending on sand types (size of sand particles, water
content, compactness etc.) one burns 1.2-1.7 times the calories for same
distance on a hard surface. A person of my weight (64kg) will burn nearly
300-400 calories running at a medium pace for half an hour on the road. Imagine
burning 450 – 600 calories for the same distance. Certainly good for those
looking to cut a few kgs. If it is too hard for you in the beginning try
running in wetter sands which will be relatively easy.
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| Dharmesh sweating out |
- Watch your ankle. One has
to be careful while running on the beach not to twist one of your ankles.
Generally your feet will go in pretty bizarre manner over the sand and
that creates the risk of ankle sprain. The plus side of this is it will
make your muscles in ankle strong over the period of time.
- Stronger muscles. Because
of the irregular manner in which your feet go into the sand, it requires
excessive use of some important muscles of your leg. Calf muscles are used
a lot and hence they become pretty strong. Same goes for muscles that
support your ankles as I mentioned above.
- Lower back pain. I noticed
pain in my lower back when I started running over the sands. The pain was identical
to the one I had encountered during all of the 3 half-marathons I had run
till date. Only difference was the time of onset of the pain. While in
half marathons on tar roads, the pain started after running 12-15 km, in
contrast, on the sands the pain started merely after initial 2 km. Yeah,
but don’t be discouraged by that. It will be gone soon, may be in a week
or so. The reason being, since one is running on an uneven surface, the
body needs to adjust its posture accordingly which requires extra efforts
from some of the lower back muscles. After regular practice, those muscles
will become strong too and running will be fun again. Till that stage have
patience and keep running.
- Easier on joints. Running
on beach (or in general sands) is of course easier on your knees. The sand
acts as an efficient cushion thus giving minimum impacts to your knees.
You don’t need those ‘high quality easy on knees’ shoes for beach running.
Normal jogging shoes would do.
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| Myself one fine morning |
- Fresh air. I live in
Chennai and fresh and unpolluted air is certainly extinct here and it comes
at a price. Those living in a metropolitan city will realize it easily. Neither
a park nor a playground around too. You can expect the dusty unpolluted
roads even at 6 in the morning. Beach on the other hand will provide you with
fresh air coming from sea and it is totally free. One of the major reasons
I preferred beach over roads.
- Breeze. Talking about fresh air, it
doesn’t come perpendicular to the coastline. It always makes some angle to
it. This in turn results in headwind running in one direction and tailwind
while running the opposite. Headwind, now she’s a bitch. Cyclists would
know that. It gives you tough resistance and drastically reduces your
speed while at the same time cooling you down. Tailwind is a friend but it
won’t take away your body heat. So there’s a tradeoff in both the cases.
- Barefoot or not? It depends on the kind of beach you are running. If it attracts lots of tourists or there are locals living around, then chances are there might be some bottles spread around. If it less frequented by people, barefoot running is worth giving a try. Sea shells should not be a worry. They tend to go inside the sand as you step upon them.
- Sun. This one is pretty
obvious. If you prefer running in the morning, you really have to be an
early riser. Beaches don’t have shades. The sun might get heavy on you,
especially in summers. Evening runs should be cool though I never tried
that.
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| The hide and seek game of sun behind the clouds |
- This one is for guys. Depending
on where the beach is located, you might get to see some babes coming for
morning fun on the beach and that can be a motivation for some of the
guys. That being said, if you are single you might feel jealous seeing a few
couples having their own moments on the beach. Someone also posted about
bikini clad babes will be a real energy booster for running. Well, take
that as a myth. That is not gonna happen in most of Indian beaches, at
least.
To summarize, beach running is tough, challenging, fun,
healthy, non - monotonous and free. I like it for these reasons and hope you’ll
enjoy it too.
"Keep running, if you are running. Start running, if you are not."
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| A Couple enjoying sunrise on the beach |
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