I am doing a spring tri that finishes with a 5k run in the sand. Supposedly low tide and hard pack.
Barefoot or shoes?
I don’t know about barefeet or shoes, but make sure you don’t have any tenderness, pain, or soreness in you achilles because the sand is going to aggravate it.
Maybe you could check out the course a few hours before the race starts and decide then.
Shoes, definitely shoes. A group of us train in Long Beach, NY on the beach (a pristine, well-kept beach) and have learned it’s always best to be safe when running on the beach.
If you wear a shoe that you like and are generally running injury free, I would go with shoes. No need to change mechanics for a 3 mile run and the beach that may lead to injury. Just due to sharp objects such as broken shell on the beach, I would also opt for shoes.
Now if you have run on the beach without shoes or Vibrams and remained injury free and sure that your aren’t going to step on a sharp shell, I would go without.
Shoes. Sand is abrasive and can cause blisters in short notice. I went for a barefoot run on the beach during a vaction. Logged 2 miles and had 3 huge, painful blisters for 3 days. I also have very wussy tender feet.
Shoes it is. Thanks everyone!
-Tim
Shoes for sure. No need to change how you would normally run.
How timely - just finished a very short beach run barefoot (about 2-3 miles/Topsail beach with the family). Feet hurt (and I barefoot run a little at home on the soft golf course greens/fairways out my back). Shoes or your next few training days/weeks might suffer.