Run: The plan was for about 30 minutes of running along the surf
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: 37:08
Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)
Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★
Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★
Energy ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
Mind: ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
Soundtrack: Led Zeppelin, Box Set, Disc 2
Oh man, this was just the perfect way to spend a little part of this summer vacation! With our three little ones, a beach trip to Cape Cod was a great plan. My kids love beaches, hotel swimming pools and fried seafood - so this was a perfect pick. I had fond memories of the Cape as a child, and it has been a long time since I've been out here myself.
A beautiful Cape cottage about 0.5 miles into my run.
One of the things that I was looking forward to was getting in a beach run or two so that I could post some cool pictures for everyone. Today's run certainly lived up to my expectations. We made our way out to Mayo Beach, part of Wellfleet, MA. We basically picked our beach based on friendliness to little kids. This beach certainly was mild as it was on the bay side of the Cape and had very little to no surf.
I decided to get running once I saw that the tide was coming in and I was going to lose some of my surf-side running territory to the sea. Beach running is certainly its own animal. I suppose I was planning on running a tempo run today, but beach running provides its own challenges for the legs and the mind. It's not trail running, but it's also not road running. For example, how often do you have to climb over a rock jetty when running on the road?!?!
The tide came in just enough that I had to CLIMB over this rock jetty!
Also, running on the sand is the ultimate in low impact. In fact, the sinking of your foot into the soft sand causes you to work even harder for each step. It's sort of like hills without the hill. And when you step into something really wet, or find a good sized rock under the sand, your trail running skills will certainly come in handy.
So I was hoping to make this great run out to the tip of the coast that I could see from where I started. What ended up happening is when I came around the corner I found this HUGE bay that was probably 2 miles around to the other side to continue on to what originally looked like a continuation of the coast.
Some of the bay that I found when I got around the corner of where I had started.
So basically I decided that the tide was coming in, the family needed to get some lunch, and no way was I turing today's run into a 6 or 7 miler on the sand! I picked out a reasonable turn around point, gave a tap to the wooden stairs and turned it back around.
About 1.7 miles out. As good a turn around point as any!
It's funny how most beach-goers will look at the beach runner in a little bit of disbelief. I sort of agree in that your pace is much slower and your stride is made funny by the soft sand. I got many nice waves and hello's as I ran by a lot of people getting some sun, but then ran into a group of Canada geese who weren't too happy to see me crossing their path!
A small flock of geese not so happy to see me coming.
All in all I got in a great run, and I think that I worked as hard as if I had run intervals on the road. The natural surrounding were certainly a great part of the run! I'm not sure if I could do a beach run every day, but mixing things up is always the best way to go. I covered some good ground today, as you can see from the map of the Cape below.
Mayo Beach in the heart of Wellfleet, MA.
We'll see what tomorrow brings, and if I can find some time to steal away for another beach run tomorrow. Until then, stay sandy my running friends!
Sandy dirty is a whole different kind of dirty! Yeah Beach Runs!!
CMM - The Running Obstetrician, July 23, 2015