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.