Part of race on beach. Sandpaper?

dano-oly

Barefooters
Jun 20, 2014
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Hi guys; first post here. Where has this site been all my life?? :)

I have a Pose-method background, and have been barefooting for about a year and a half. I've built up to runs of 10 miles on relatively-smooth pavement (my feet get "warm" beyond that). There is a half-iron race (Ocean Shores WA Toughman) in a month I'd like to BF that is mostly pavement, but has about 3.5 miles on the beach.

I'm pretty sure I could run 13.1 on pavement, at least at tri pace, maybe not open pace. So, compared to pavement, will running on damp compact sand abrade my sole, or upgrade my soul?

Incidentally, I'm more worried about the gravel section between the roads and the beach, but I think I can survive a few hundred yards of that, especially if I add more chip seal road sections to my training....
 
Welcome, Dano!
 
If you are running along the water's edge, then it will be compact and flat. Otherwise, you will have to slow down and it also works the calves a bit more.
 
The racers can run anywhere on the beach, so I'll try to pick the most compact surface between the water's edge and the dry sand farther in.

I think I need to explore this site more to find the answer, but any good tips for making it through the gravel section?
 
I do the bulk of my running on a beach at low tide - I don't find hard packed sand to be any more abrasive than concrete, but it might depend on the grain size if we want to get all technical. Coarser sand might rough things up a little, but it should be OK as long as you can find a surface that doesn't have too much 'give' in it near the water's edge. If there are waves coming in and out and the beach curves around, you might even be able to pull off a few sneaky passing moves by running through the shallows while people are running away from the water to avoid getting their shoes wet. :)

As for the gravel bit, the only thing that really helps me when I run into a stretch of gravel is a good laugh. :)
 
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Had a nice run on the beach recently. It was a nice wide beach, so not much of a slope.

The dry, loose sandy part was not abrasive at all.
The damp, firm section closer to the water was less abrasive than running on sidewalk concrete.
 
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