Bondi Beach soft sand training run

Date	5th Jan 2013
Location	Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia
Running surface	Soft sand
Start time	06:07am
Finish time	08:04am
Total duration	1hr 57mins
Distance	15.01km
Sustanance	Plenty of water and one Hammer energy gel
Weather summary	Full sunshine, zero cloud cover
Temp at start	21.9 deg celsius
Temp at finish	24.4 deg celsius
Wind direction	NNE
Wind speed	17 km/h

Rod and I knew that the next couple of days in Sydney were forecast to be very warm, so we decided to head down to Bondi Beach to do a soft sand training run. This way we could enjoy a beautiful morning at the beach, whilst hopefully running with a small north easterly sea breeze to help cool us off.

I've found soft sand running is a great way to work on technique. Soft sand forces you to make your foot strike pretty much under your central mass. It is very difficult to heel strike out in front of your body, thus soft sand is a great way to get used to the feeling of landing your foot under your body.
Soft sand also forces you to take smaller steps with each stride. This is a good thing as it stops you from trying to throw your foot out in front of your body with each step.

If you're going to run for a long time on soft sand without destroying your legs, you need to think about effeciency. I like to picture my archilles tendon loading up like a spring as my foot connects with the sand at the start of the step, and then releasing that energy at the end of the step, giving me some forward propulsion for free.

This was something that I really focused on during this run. It was a warm morning and we were running under direct sunlight and I was feeling the heat after the first few laps. I hadn't done a soft sand run in a while so I knew that in order to make it through, I had to be efficient. The mental picture that sticks with me is a guy wearing jumping stilts, where the stilt itself is a super archilles tendon. With each step he is propelled forward by his super tendon.

Soft sand also works your feet differently to a firm surface. I find I curl my foot as it enters the sand, to try and create a type of scoop, which helps with traction on each step. This repeated flexing of the foot is something that you don't do whilst running on a firm surface so you definitely feel like your feet have had a good workout after soft sand run.

We completed just over 15kms in about 2 hours and had a great time doing it. We spent the first 6 or 7 laps chatting. The chit chat dropped off pretty sharply as we both started to feel the heat of the sun and strain in the feet. We both commented on how difficult it was for us to think in the later parts of the run.

It is amazing how much brain power running consumes even though you are not necessarily performing any brain bending calculations. I guess your body doesn't leave many spare calories in the later stages in of long run, which in turn shifts your brain into energy save mode. I have found that this is the state that I really enjoy. A state of simple emotion, where day to day stresses seem to melt away and you are left with nothing more than the gliding motion of your body and a simple need to carry on.

From sore to serene

I've never been particularly good at running, although I have been trying on and off ever since I was a teenager. The best that I had managed up until the age of 33 was completing the City to Surf, a 14km fun run in Sydney, a couple of times in my early 20's.

Every run felt like an absolute chore, which in turn made it hard to get motivated to do it all again the next time. My legs would ache and I always found that if I had somthing to eat anytime from about 3 hours prior to a run, I would suffer from stiches, or feel like I was going to involuntarily reverse the food consumption process.

I tried investing in 'proper' running shoes, given that like most of us, I had been brought up to believe that the soles of our feet need cushioning to protect the rest of ourselves from ourselves while we run. It sure felt great walking around the house in my cushioned shoes, but unfortunately I didn't ever find that a 'proper' running shoe was the answer for me.

Running changed for me after reading the first few chapters of 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall. This book has had a huge impact on the way the world now thinks about running and it certainly changed my perception in quite a profound way.

The book ultimately builds to explain how humans have evolved to become long distance runners. It talks about humans having specific design features that exist purely to make us super efficient long distance runners in the heat, as compared with other species on the planet. Things like our archilles tendons, our arched feet, our relative lack of body hair and our sweat glands all make us optimsed for the long haul on foot.

The book weaves this story through an account of holding a 50 mile ultra marathon in Copper Canyon, Mexico with the Tarahumara people. The Tarahumara are a running people and have been know to run for hundreds of miles at a time, with very little in the way of foot technology supporting them and often just for fun.

This was the first of the concepts that really got me thinking differently about running. How on earth is it possible that anyone can run for hundreds of miles at a time, let alone for fun? The book goes on to explain that the Tarahumara's runnning technique allows them to use their bodies as they were designed to be used. One of the most important points to note here is about where their foot strikes the ground relative to the rest of their body, and what part of the foot makes contact with the ground first.

For each each stride, their foot connects with the ground when it is under, or just in front of the their body. The ball or mid part of their foot connects first, allowing them to roll onto the remainder of their foot during the remainder of the stride. Interesting enough, this is pretty much the action most people use when they run barefoot. It allows the built in arch in your foot to take the weight of your body while connecting with the ground, while your archilles tendon loads up and provides a free spring for the rest of your step.

I began trying to run like this, making sure my foot was connecting with the ground while directly under my body, which in turn made me land on the ball of my foot. It felt very strange to begin with as I was used to landing on my heel, with my foot connecting with the ground out in front of my body.

Apart from feeling like a sissy for a while, I found that my calf muscles were getting used in a way that they probably had never been used. As a result I was getting sore calfs after running. Although this was the case, I was motivated to carry on, more so than I had ever been in the past.

The soreness lasted about a month, and I found that after buying a pair of transition barefoot running shoes, I was feeling good during a run and motivated to do more and more.

I began my new technique in August 2012 and since then I have been averaging about 40kms a week and absolutely loving running. The stiches have stopped, I'm able to eat before I run and my legs are recovering a little quicker each time.

I will be sharing more detail about my specific runs in future posts to show how running has become my passion and can become yours as well!