Running on Sand vs Road: Differences & Benefits
If you’ve ever even walked on sand before, you’ve likely realized it’s more tiring than walking on a road or on grass.
I grew up playing soccer in south Florida, and my coach loved to have weekend practices in the sand on the beach.
I love a good day by the ocean as much as the next guy, but I dreaded this day more than any other.
If you’ve also been personally victimized this way, you may have wondered why running on sand is so much harder.
Furthermore, you may have also wondered if there’s any benefit to running on sand versus running on a road or grass.
I dug into what the research says, and with this article I seek to answer these two questions.
The physical difference of running on sand
When our feet hit the road, the ground does not cave and allow our feet to sink further.
Since the ground is sturdy when we run on normal ground, this makes us more capable to propel ourselves further with each step.
On sand, our feet cave into the ground with every stride of your legs. It is this subtle difference that causes the drastic change in difficulty.
As a result, our speed is more greatly influenced by the rate at which we return our legs after each stride on sand than on stable ground. Certain muscles, such as those responsible for hip flexion, will be much more active on sand than on ground.
Benefits of running on sand
So, we’ve covered that running on sand is more difficult than running on sturdier ground.
We’ve also covered why it’s so much harder.
The next question that likely pops into your mind is if this means running on sand is more beneficial than running on normal ground.
It turns out, there are some helpful benefits to running on sand.
#1: Sand running produces less muscle soreness and better recovery
This may come as a surprise, since higher intensity activities tend to cause more soreness than lower intensity activities.
If you’ve ever run on sand, it certainly feels like a higher intensity activity compared to running on grass.
Although, despite what you might expect, research shows that running on sand actually results in less muscle soreness and improved next-day recovery.
Binnie et al. [1] ran a review of the literature and found this to be the case.
The authors state this is because running on sand is a lower impact activity which therefore leads to less muscle damage.
Due to the fact that there is less muscle damage, there is less perceived soreness as a result.
It should be noted that these results indicate that there is less perceived soreness over the course of a running program.
If you don’t normally do any running on sand and then decide to run two miles on sand, you should probably expect to feel a little beat up the next day.
This would mainly be due to your body experiencing a new stimulus, which is a common cause of muscle soreness.
#2: Sand running *can* improves endurance more than running on grass
In most cases in fitness, your training should follow the law of specificity.
This basically means that your training should specifically mimic your overall training goal.
For instance, the best exercise to improve your bench press is the bench press.
At first glance, you’d think if you want to get better at running on grass, then you should run on grass. However, sand training seems to bend this rule a little bit.
Studies show that when you compare running programs on sand versus on grass, individuals who add sand running into their program improve their endurance more than those who run only run on grass [4].
Yigit et al. found that young athletes who performed a running program on sand had an increase in VO2max that was almost double the increase experienced by the athletes who ran on road over the course of 6 weeks.
Related: VO2max explained
I assume this happens for two main reasons.
First, running on sand produces a greater metabolic demand than running on grass. Studies show that there is a greater production of lactate when running on sand [3].
Second, our bodies recover more quickly and there is less muscle damage from sand running as previously mentioned.
As a result, there is likely less accumulated fatigue for each successive training session after running on sand than running on grass. This would mean your performance in each successive training session will be a little bit better, which further means you get a little more out of it.
There’s also two caveats I want to point out regarding this claim.
First, the studies compared sand and grass running versus grass running alone. Therefore, we can conclude that running on sand in conjunction with running on grass will improve our endurance more than running on grass alone; but we cannot say that only running on sand will have the same effect.
Second, running on sand doesn’t seem to have the same beneficial effect on sprint speed as it does on endurance. A 20-meter sprint program on sand produces similar results as on that’s ran on grass [2].
Practical applications
Based on what the research suggests, running on sand seems to be a sensible thing to do if you perform any type of endurance training.
The main benefit seems to be the lower amount of muscle damage compared to running on grass while still achieving a similar or better cardiovascular adaptation.
If you happen to live near a beach, another benefit is that running by the ocean is a little more scenic than running on a treadmill.
If you are training for a specific race that will be performed on sturdy ground (5k, triathlon, etc.), then I wouldn’t advise doing all of your training on sand.
You don’t want the feeling of running on a road or grass to be a new feeling come race day. Although, incorporating some running on sand can likely be of great benefit.
If you are doing cardio recreationally (i.e. improving your endurance for the sake of improving your endurance), then I would say it makes sense to do the majority of your running on sand.
You will likely be able to perform better each run and reach a higher weekly volume due to the lower amount of muscle damage occurring.
Sand running can also be a helpful endeavor if you strength train in conjunction with endurance training.
One of the troubles of combining endurance training with strength training is the muscle damage that occurs from running that can interfere with your strength training.
It is often recommended to keep your running to a low intensity in order to minimize this effect form running. Running on sand, however, seems to provide another helpful method to minimize this effect.
References
Sand training: a review of current research and practical applications
PubMed ID: 23968257
Effect of Surface-Specific Training on 20-m Sprint Performance on Sand and Grass Surfaces
Find it here
Effect of Training Surface on Acute Physiological Responses After Interval Training
Find it here
A Comparison of the Endurance Training Responses to Road and Sand Running in High School and College Students
Find it here