Having a summer-house makes hot, humid, sweaty summer days a lot more bearable, especially when it is located on the non-humid Western Black Sea coast. Running in İstanbul during summer is a real challenge, weather wise. But luckily I am only 2-2,5 hours away from a real paradise. To spice up my training for Dam tot Damloop, I made a new running route including a beach, a forest and well, a regular road. Voilà! All essentials are brought together. I started my way from the beach, which makes the rest of the route a lot more easier to run. If you are new to beach running, it is suggested to start out on wet sand rather than soft and dry sand. However I did not have any trouble with dry sand. It is also suggested to keep your running shoes on until you get used to it. Better give barefoot running a short start in order not to injure yourself. You can switch to full barefoot mood once you built up enough strength.
Benefits of running on the beach:
- Your body will use the small muscles that are not being used normally and this will strengthen you. And you will become a stronger runner.
- More effort on the sand means more calories to be burnt. This is highly beneficial if your running goal is to lose weight.
- The view will be amazing and the air will be refreshing.
- The surface you will run on will be softer and this will reduce the stress on your lower body.
- You can always reward yourself with an after-run swim.
The forest part of the route is all about fifty shades of green and lung rewarding amount of oxygen. It is a good idea to pause the running playlist for a while and listening to birds chirping instead. The little ones has a great playlist of their own.
The route is a total of 5,50K but can easily be increased by doing few circles, which is not boring at all.
The last challenge of this route is a very steep hill, which makes me scream like a warrior princess after I reach top of it. I used to hate steep uphill roads but once you start to feel the difference it creates on your body, it becomes an addiction.
I chose my regular running playlist for this route which you can find on Youtube. Good luck with your beach run and hope to see you on the road!
We have the forests and hills to run on but not the beach. I am jealous of the beach. Have fun out there.
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Thanks, Kevin. Let me know if you ever make your way to Turkey for a trail run, I would be happy to be your “beach guide”.
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Thanks for the offer. No plans to get there any time soon but I would love to go.
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You know who to contact when the time comes! 🙂
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I ran on the beach in Pizmo Beach,CA right at the edge of where the water comes in and the dry sand starts. It was the most awful experience of my life probably because I used every single muscle that I have in my body to keep me going forward. It was like running in quicksand even though it was pretty hard packed sand. I think this was bad for me because I had foot surgery a few years ago after dislocating four bones in my left foot. I only like hard packed flat surfaces now.
You had a VERY beautiful place to run through. Super jealous over here looking at those pictures!
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I am really sorry to hear all that you had to go through. Hope everything is fine with your foot after the surgery (and the beach experience).
I wish I was able to enjoy running here everyday, it is truly an amazing place.
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This almost makes me want to start running. ALMOST. 🙂
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It is probably because I did not post any after-run pictures where I look like Mr. Krabs.
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