20:00 | Soft sand I drove down to Bondi last night about 8.30pm. The balmy spring night certainly dragged out the punters as the normally empty boardwalk was thick with tourists and joggers. Thankfully I have a Council Beach Pass which allows me free parking along the beach and I parked as close as I could get to North Bondi Surf Club. I stretched for a good 5 mins at home before I left and did some more calf stretches once I got down on the sand. I ran south along the row of bins and noticed that a few guys were doing the same. There seemed to be a well worn track that runners have made throughout the day so I kept to the left and turned around at the last bin at each end. I can't really remember running much on soft sand before. I think that whenever I have run on the beach previously it was always on the hard sand near the waters edge. Soft sand is certainly very different. Compared to road running, your stance is very much leaning forward and there is a tendency for your toes to dig into the sand. I was trying to run "on top of the sand" as Guru Larry suggested - but it was much easier said than done. I think I was getting the hang of it towards the end. After about 15 mins (which was about 2 laps of the beach) I was pretty buggered so I was happy to call it quits when my watch went off at 20 mins. I'd say that 20 mins on the sand would have to be an equivalent effort of double that or more on the road. It was a bit like running up a gentle hill for the whole 20 mins. As I was walking back to the car I reflected on the guys who run the soft sand marathon at Manly. Amazing stuff to pump away for 3/4/5 hours like that. Anyway, very happy with my workout and love that I have almost zero post run muscle woes. It was nice to experience a change of venue and surface and I'm very much looking forward to next Tuesday when I will try for 25 mins. Mood: --->

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 02, 2005 at 7:33 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.