Experianced Runners- What are your thoughts of running on the beach?

Question

I live in Florida... about 20 min. from Cocoa beach.. and I am considering maybe doing a few training season runs before my next 5K... what are your thoughts based on reasearch, experiance, ect.?

Answer 1

Beach running is fine and can even provide a great workout because you have to work harder. The slant isn't much of a problem because it's very gradual. It's better than the slant on the sides of roads.

Answer 2

Running next to the water sounds good, but from my experience if you are close to the water where the sand is hard then you are running on a slant and it hurts your joints, if you are running where the sand is level then it is too soft.

If you can find a good, level stretch of sand that would be good.  

Answer 3

I have run barefoot on the beach and I believe it was a good workout.

I have also done training runs in running shoes (from Ventnor NJ to Longport NJ - about 6 miles round trip).  Works great if the tide is going out.  If the tide is coming in it is tougher to find hard surface and you are more likely to find the slanted surface the previous poster mentioned.

I think it would be fine for occasional training.