THE RW BEACH BODY PLAN

Build strength and speed by trading in the pavement for sessions on the beach. There’s no better time to do it

When Kyra Oliver heads out for her morning run, she usually opts for a paved route. But once or twice a week, the 50-year-old runs past her usual starting point and heads to the beach near her home in San Diego, US, where she watches the sun rise and listens to the waves crash as the miles tick by. Running on the sand helps Oliver clear her mind, but it also supplements her training for marathons and 50-mile trail races.

‘It works different muscles and requires a different focus for me,’ says Oliver. ‘If I’m on the packed sand by the water, I can set a nice pace and do short accelerations. Running where it’s looser can be a good strength workout that simulates the variances I might find on the trail.’

Oliver’s right: opting for a soft surface such as sand is a smart way to add variety to your regular training routine. ‘By putting in mileage on the sand, you’ll put less stress on your weight-bearing joints, such as your hips, knees and ankles, which can help decrease the risk of impact-associated injuries such as stress fractures,’ says Erika Lee Sperl, a kinesiologist and high-performance consultant for Orreco, a sports and data analytics company that helps elite athletes optimise their performance.

Research backs that up. Studies have shown that running on sand – especially soft, dry sand – will probably lower your chances of developing impact-associated overuse injuries. In a small 2017 study published in the Europeanjournalofsportscience, for example, women who ran on soft sand experienced less muscle damage and inflammation than those who ran on grass. And a 2014 study published in the Journalofsportssciences found that the soft surface even reduced muscle soreness and fatigue.

‘With every foot strike, there is almost four times less impact force on soft sand versus firm ground like grass,’ says Martyn Binnie, a physiologist at the Western Australian Institute of Sport and co-author of the latter study. ‘This is a good thing for reducing the load through the body,’ he says. So when you need a lower impact session but still want to get in a hard workout, sand is a great option.

There is, of course, a flip side: running on soft sand makes you less likely to suffer an impact injury, but the chances of other injuries (such as a

sprained ankle) rise, says orthopaedic surgeon Dr Armin Tehrany. The uneven surface and softer, constantly shifting ground are to blame, he explains, but as long as you exercise caution, those are two factors that can also enhance your workout. ‘You’ll have to work harder [to stay balanced] and, as a result, you will get a better workout if you spend the same amount of time on sand,’ he says.

In fact, a 2013 study published in the Journalofstrengthandconditioning Research found that running on sand forces your body to work at least 10 per cent harder than it does on grass. Again, soft, loose sand is where you’ll score the most benefits, says Binnie, who conducted the study, but even firm, packed-down sand can boost your performance. ‘Firm sand near the water is still about five to 10 per cent softer than grass,’ he explains. ‘[But] if you want the big benefits, you need to aim for the soft stuff.’

So what exactly makes sand so special for runners? Binnie says that when you run on firm ground, you lose less elastic energy, which is stored in your tendons, so you don’t have to work quite as hard. Sand does not extend that courtesy to you. Instead, it absorbs that vital energy, which means that you have to generate more force with your muscles. Proof: a study published in Thejournal ofexperimentalbiology found that running on sand actually requires 1.6 times as much energy expenditure as running on a firmer surface. Couple that with the fact that your hip- and knee-stabilising muscles are working nearly twice as hard, according to a study published in the European Journalofappliedphysiology, and you’ve got a recipe for a higher heart rate and higher blood-lactate threshold, says Binnie. Translation: your cardiovascular training gets a boost without the added stress of you having to run faster or further.

Those aren’t the only benefits you’ll gain, either. ‘Running, especially on the road or a treadmill, is a very uniplanar, repetitive exercise, which can lead to muscular imbalances. Often the common weakest links for runners are the glutes, hamstrings, hips and ankles,’ says Sperl. ‘By running on sand and challenging your stability, you’ll start to build strength in these areas, which can carry over to performance benefits on the road.’

Binnie notes that because of the different technique and range of motion used on sand to combat the ‘slip’ element, the joint angles around the hip, knee, and ankle are similar to those normally seen during faster running speeds on firm ground. So, theoretically, he says that if you wanted to improve your road-running time, then incorporating some sand-running sessions into your training, specifically early in the season, can help augment training adaptations.

That’s why each expert suggests adding a sand run to your routine on a regular basis if you have access. If not, hit the beach when you are on holiday. You should, of course, be smart about it, and ease into any new training technique slowly to minimise soreness and reduce injury risk. To go barefoot or not is a big question, and Sperl says the answer is often based on preference and where you are running. When staying close to the water, most runners wear shoes to protect their feet from crushed seashells, small rocks or the hard undulations in the tightly packed sand, while those running in softer areas usually go barefoot so sand doesn’t fill their shoes. But Tehrany says to think twice before ditching your shoes. Keeping them on makes an ankle and foot injury less likely because the shoes act as an ankle stabiliser and provide that elevated heel and arch support that your feet are used to, he explains.

How often you hit the sand – and in which way – depends on your personal fitness and goals. Sperl, for example, turns to sand for added resistance during short interval speed sessions, whereas Binnie suggests doing long, slow runs on the beach when you’re not gearing up for a road race. ‘The greatest difference in energy cost between sand and firm surfaces occurs at slower running speeds, as you spend more time in contact with the surface during footstrike,’ he explains.

So while doing those slower runs on the sand means you’re probably not moving any faster, you’ll be getting a better overall workout. And what runner doesn’t want that? Also, of course, you’re on a beach.

‘ BY PUTTING IN MILEAGE ON THE SAND, YOU’LL PUT LESS STRESS ON YOUR WEIGHT- BEARING JOINTS, SUCH AS YOUR HIPS, KNEES AND ANKLES, WHICH CAN HELP DECREASE THE RISK OF IMPACT- ASSOCIATED INJURIES’