Just did a LSD run on the beach and after about 2 hours I was promptly reduced to a walk. I was going SLOW (10 minute miles), and my legs feel like I did a 5 hour long workout. Really quite interesting and I wonder how great I am going to feel next time I hit solid road.
I did an out and back to make sure I messed up both legs from the slant.
Any beach runners?
Wow! I would never do what could be called L in LSD on a beach! The slant would definitely cause me injury in just a couple of miles.
Running in loose sand somewhere else, like the desert would be awesome!
I used to run at the local university’s cross-country race course. They would keep the grass really long most of the year - like 6". Plus it was bottom-land and nice and very soft ground. The difference between that and pavement was amazing.
Just wait til tomorrow 
sand requires more of a pushoff; more strain on your calves.
Dude I have a acre property and did my first mow. Well the drive went in my self propelled mower and I had to push it. OLD SCHOOL! Took me about a hour and a half ( have to cut on a angle.) and I was dead tired after that. Muscles ached like hell but they were all different muscles that I am used to using. Of course I did bike twice that day. Making wonder about my first half.
Excellent cross training!
The hardest local running race in my area is a 10K trail run that’s almost entirely in soft sand (and then for that last little bit of fun, the Army Rangers that RD the race make you scramble up an 8 foot escarpment right before the finish line)
It really is amazing how much different it is in the sand.
I’d be carefull with the beach running. I was in Sarasota FL in mid Feb and while the sand at Siesta Key is pretty well packed and the slop toe the water minimal, on my second 1 hour run I felt my calf tighten. Took me 5 weeks to recover! Guess the lesson is when you change surfaces, do it gradually!
I do all my long runs on the beach.
From Fletcher cove (here in San Diego), to Lajolla its 10 miles each way, or you can go North from Fletcher up to Carlsbad (smokestacks) and that’s 10 miles too, but there are about a dozen sets of stairs along the way that you can run, and really frag your legs.
And yes, running on the sand takes some of the steam out of your legs, but you get another 1.5mph (well, I do) for the same HR when you hit the asphalt!