I have been training by power on the bike and on the run for years. The Stryd power meter is an amazing tool if you know how to use it. Sadly, I think there is a ton of room for improvement on how to properly use it to get the most out of it. Disclosure: I am in no way affiliated with Stryd other than being a user of their device. What is a Stryd? - A power meter that measures the force used to move your foot from point A to point B for every step of your run. Why is that useful? - My Stryd is paired with my watch and my phone. Every time I go for a run, it knows my height, my weight, my age, temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, starting/ending elevation, elevation gains and losses, real time wattage calculation, my performance for every run I’ve done, etc.. Using this data, it will constantly update my critical power and my predictions for power levels I can maintain for given distances - 1 mile, 5K, 10K, half, and marathon. What is Critical Power? - In short, based on the runs recorded using the Stryd, the wattage you can maintain for 1 hour if running in similar weather and elevation locations of your recorded training runs. How is this better than training by HR and pace? - HR is very slow to react, suffers from cardiac drift, and has no clue if you are running flat, uphill, into the wind, with a tailwind, temp/humidity/dew point, etc.. The pace you can run in 50 degree (10C) weather is much different than the pace in 75 degree (24C). That’s why you train to a power figure. This is even more critical when you have high temps and high humidity. How do I use the data collected in my A race to achieve my best performance? - In the Stryd app, input your race in the “Upcoming Events” section for a constantly updated prediction of your targeted power and predicted finish time. On the day prior or two days before, update the temp and humidity for that race so that it can adjust your target power for the utmost accuracy. On race day, follow the target power religiously. Running above the target will make the wheels fall off in the latter stage of the race; running under will have you leaving time on the table. If you follow your targeted power, at the finish you will be spent and will have left nothing on the table, guaranteed. Hope this helps. So much more I could elaborate on, but this post will already be insanely long by YT comments standards.
There are four ways to measure intensity: pace, heart rate, power, and perceived effort. Each metric also has certain advantages and disadvantages. Power is an output, pace is an outcome, and heart rate is an indicator. Using a car as an example. Horsepower (power) is the output, and represents actual work performed regardless of terrain, gradient, or environmental factors. Your speedometer (pace) indicates the speed, or outcome. Your engine temperature (heart rate) represents how the car is responding to the output and environment. During a hilly ascent, the output (power) might be high, but the outcome (speed) might be low. On a hot day, the engine temperature (heart rate) might be very high even when stopped at a light with almost no output and zero outcome. For this reason, power is considered superior to pace, and pace superior to heart rate to measure intensity. The stryd model of your race estimates etc seems to be very accurate as speedgoat says- you just have to keep the model 'fresh' by regularly running at the specified parts of the power distribution curve. Once you adapt to using power zones, you don't have to check your pace, or heart rate, so yes it is more data, but it gives you the freedom to not look at the rest. On a race, I only have the timer and my power showing - none of the other stuff.
Perfect summary with an perfect example Mister! I switched from HR to Stryd in November and to be fair it took time but now I love it. Race prediction is very accurate, I have less aches and pains, train in the correct zones (very hilly here in southern germany - so pace and HR is always wild) and agree Timer + Power is perfect for the races (especially if you upload the course). On point this small thing.
Another good way to explain the effort is going for say a 200w run with hills When you approach a hill the watts will go up as you are putting in more effort to get up the hill at your current pace. As you go down the hill the watts drop off as you need to put less effort in to get down the hill By running to a set wattage you will take it easier on the hills but go quicker down them for a balanced effort for the run Heart rate try’s to do this but can take a while to pick up and settle back down, and pace makes you run up to fast and too slow running down You can choose to use the stryd pod to run purely to power, or simply to collect the data and run to heart rate / pace as you do normally using Garmin data screens as standard The pod will still create the power curve over all your runs and create your power curve and critical power . This will still give you your race times etc
Been racing with Stryd since last June and hitting PBS nearly everytime now. I now only run to pace and am like Neo in the matrix when he no longer sees images but just numbers and letters. When I see power I can instantly read pace/ zones.
I have a Stryd. I don’t pay too much attention to it. But its a good indicator of where the HR is heading. HR lags effort, where as power is instant. So high power means your HR is about to go up and low power means it will come down. Sometimes on an easy run, I try to get the lowest power for a given pace. Which basically means improving form. If mine broke, I wouldn’t bother replacing it. But the one I have, I do use.
I love my Stryd. Run with it a few times over different distances and intensities and it will give you really accurate data on the power/wattage you can or should run at for your given race/session. It provides quick feedback on how hard you are going taking into account hills or wind affected courses. Much more useful than pace or heart rate!! Well worth the $$
It's more accurate on the treadmill and where gps isn't available. Plus it does measure effort better when the weather and atmospheric conditions change.
I used to cycle a lot and got into my power meter. Works really well and is instant feedback, as others have said HR is a lagging indicator. I'm a tech nerd and bow interested as I didn't realise there was a running equivalent. Need to get saving lol
I`ve wondered for ages what they do and thanks to you guys I`m now certain and minds made up that I don`t need one lol 🤣. Can`t see the point when we already have HR Zones, Effort Zones etc, just another gadget to try and get my head around......and I`m crap with tech. Great vid tho and certainly worth while doing so thanks 👍.
Just switching to pace and distance alone is worth the investment. Trail runs and built up city’s mean perfect pacing with no worries about gps drop outs or tunnels. Make sure you can the setting on your watch to get this data from the stryd pod 👍
This sounds really interesting and I can see how it would be more accurate than HR training, because lots of things affect heart rate which makes using that as a training measure unreliable sometimes. You wouldn’t get as much unreliability from measuring power.
Just seen that the new Garmin Forerunner 965 claims to monitor power, but from your wrist rather than shoe. I’d love to see a side by side comparison of the two, because I’m in the market for a new watch.
@@FordyRuns The problem is, there is NO standard metric for measuring power. This is true for cycling power meters too who pioneered this tech. Every manufacturer makes up their own power algorithm. Therefore you can't do a side-by-comparison of 2 products b/c the raw numbers being generated are not using the same scale. The best you can do is compare relative power trends... Power Meter #1 trends up here... Does Power Meter #2 follow? But that's about it.
I use Stryd. I found that my HR unreliable (running bra interfering with HR monitor etc). Using Stryd allows me to test, define targets for various efforts and then measure and monitor. Like anything, you have to use it as intended - or it will be a case of garbage in, garbage out
The other difference to HR is you can actually calibrate it to you quite easily with the different run types Stryd says compared to an outdated formula for HR. Also as the calibration is based on what you can manage for some all out efforts, that is how it provides good result estimates and saves you blowing up chasing for a time your body can’t manage with the training you have done.
Surely if you are using a HR monitor you can very quickly move away from that outdated formula (i assume you mean 220 - age etc?) and use a geniune max hr to calculate the Zones better? Guess power is a more accurate measure though as all sorts of things can effect HR,i have recently swapped to post work runs rather than early morning and have noticed my HR on a few occasions has quite quickly shot up into zone 4 even though low effort but then settles back down into zone 2 before end of first mile! I haven't got a clue why
An idiots guide to stryd, hmmm, buying it ? j/k 🤣, seriously the accurate distance and pace in poor GPS environments is gold , the other metrics is just an alternative to existing metrics . The accuracy over heart rate is due to the instant reading where running to heart rate is delayed (30 sec). Heart rate also can have variances due to other factors (sleep, general health , illness) Power does not get effected by those other factors. Do I have one .. I am pleading the 5th
I don't care about my power wattage per km. It's just data overkill. But I do like that it's much more accurate than using a smartphones GPS or GPS watch.
I just run to feel, breathing.. occasionally checkin with HR. I think get a lactate test for your zones and run to your aerobic threshold to build that aerobic engine..
I have been training by power on the bike and on the run for years. The Stryd power meter is an amazing tool if you know how to use it. Sadly, I think there is a ton of room for improvement on how to properly use it to get the most out of it. Disclosure: I am in no way affiliated with Stryd other than being a user of their device.
What is a Stryd? - A power meter that measures the force used to move your foot from point A to point B for every step of your run.
Why is that useful? - My Stryd is paired with my watch and my phone. Every time I go for a run, it knows my height, my weight, my age, temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, starting/ending elevation, elevation gains and losses, real time wattage calculation, my performance for every run I’ve done, etc.. Using this data, it will constantly update my critical power and my predictions for power levels I can maintain for given distances - 1 mile, 5K, 10K, half, and marathon.
What is Critical Power? - In short, based on the runs recorded using the Stryd, the wattage you can maintain for 1 hour if running in similar weather and elevation locations of your recorded training runs.
How is this better than training by HR and pace? - HR is very slow to react, suffers from cardiac drift, and has no clue if you are running flat, uphill, into the wind, with a tailwind, temp/humidity/dew point, etc.. The pace you can run in 50 degree (10C) weather is much different than the pace in 75 degree (24C). That’s why you train to a power figure. This is even more critical when you have high temps and high humidity.
How do I use the data collected in my A race to achieve my best performance? - In the Stryd app, input your race in the “Upcoming Events” section for a constantly updated prediction of your targeted power and predicted finish time. On the day prior or two days before, update the temp and humidity for that race so that it can adjust your target power for the utmost accuracy. On race day, follow the target power religiously. Running above the target will make the wheels fall off in the latter stage of the race; running under will have you leaving time on the table. If you follow your targeted power, at the finish you will be spent and will have left nothing on the table, guaranteed.
Hope this helps. So much more I could elaborate on, but this post will already be insanely long by YT comments standards.
LOVE this!
@@FordyRuns maybe you can get this dude in for a more indepth part 2 video?!
There are four ways to measure intensity: pace, heart rate, power, and perceived effort. Each metric also has certain advantages and disadvantages. Power is an output, pace is an outcome, and heart rate is an indicator. Using a car as an example. Horsepower (power) is the output, and represents actual work performed regardless of terrain, gradient, or environmental factors. Your speedometer (pace) indicates the speed, or outcome. Your engine temperature (heart rate) represents how the car is responding to the output and environment. During a hilly ascent, the output (power) might be high, but the outcome (speed) might be low. On a hot day, the engine temperature (heart rate) might be very high even when stopped at a light with almost no output and zero outcome. For this reason, power is considered superior to pace, and pace superior to heart rate to measure intensity.
The stryd model of your race estimates etc seems to be very accurate as speedgoat says- you just have to keep the model 'fresh' by regularly running at the specified parts of the power distribution curve.
Once you adapt to using power zones, you don't have to check your pace, or heart rate, so yes it is more data, but it gives you the freedom to not look at the rest. On a race, I only have the timer and my power showing - none of the other stuff.
Perfect summary with an perfect example Mister! I switched from HR to Stryd in November and to be fair it took time but now I love it. Race prediction is very accurate, I have less aches and pains, train in the correct zones (very hilly here in southern germany - so pace and HR is always wild) and agree Timer + Power is perfect for the races (especially if you upload the course). On point this small thing.
love this thank you
Great comment... I coach with power... Stryd is the best running tool of them all.
Another good way to explain the effort is going for say a 200w run with hills
When you approach a hill the watts will go up as you are putting in more effort to get up the hill at your current pace. As you go down the hill the watts drop off as you need to put less effort in to get down the hill
By running to a set wattage you will take it easier on the hills but go quicker down them for a balanced effort for the run
Heart rate try’s to do this but can take a while to pick up and settle back down, and pace makes you run up to fast and too slow running down
You can choose to use the stryd pod to run purely to power, or simply to collect the data and run to heart rate / pace as you do normally using Garmin data screens as standard
The pod will still create the power curve over all your runs and create your power curve and critical power . This will still give you your race times etc
Been racing with Stryd since last June and hitting PBS nearly everytime now. I now only run to pace and am like Neo in the matrix when he no longer sees images but just numbers and letters. When I see power I can instantly read pace/ zones.
I have a Stryd. I don’t pay too much attention to it. But its a good indicator of where the HR is heading. HR lags effort, where as power is instant. So high power means your HR is about to go up and low power means it will come down. Sometimes on an easy run, I try to get the lowest power for a given pace. Which basically means improving form. If mine broke, I wouldn’t bother replacing it. But the one I have, I do use.
Cool
I love my Stryd. Run with it a few times over different distances and intensities and it will give you really accurate data on the power/wattage you can or should run at for your given race/session. It provides quick feedback on how hard you are going taking into account hills or wind affected courses. Much more useful than pace or heart rate!! Well worth the $$
The running and talking is really a skill.
Definitely need a Fordy Runs Zwift run now you all have the Stryd pods 😂
🤣
It's more accurate on the treadmill and where gps isn't available. Plus it does measure effort better when the weather and atmospheric conditions change.
I used to cycle a lot and got into my power meter. Works really well and is instant feedback, as others have said HR is a lagging indicator.
I'm a tech nerd and bow interested as I didn't realise there was a running equivalent.
Need to get saving lol
you'll love it if you like speedgoat
I use my Stryd pod to run on Zwift when the weather is icy outside.
Is it accurate? I'm currently using the zwift pod and the accuracy is awfull. I'm looking for an alternative
I`ve wondered for ages what they do and thanks to you guys I`m now certain and minds made up that I don`t need one lol 🤣. Can`t see the point when we already have HR Zones, Effort Zones etc, just another gadget to try and get my head around......and I`m crap with tech. Great vid tho and certainly worth while doing so thanks 👍.
Thank you Ian
Just switching to pace and distance alone is worth the investment. Trail runs and built up city’s mean perfect pacing with no worries about gps drop outs or tunnels. Make sure you can the setting on your watch to get this data from the stryd pod 👍
This sounds really interesting and I can see how it would be more accurate than HR training, because lots of things affect heart rate which makes using that as a training measure unreliable sometimes. You wouldn’t get as much unreliability from measuring power.
Just seen that the new Garmin Forerunner 965 claims to monitor power, but from your wrist rather than shoe. I’d love to see a side by side comparison of the two, because I’m in the market for a new watch.
We have that in for testing
@@FordyRuns The problem is, there is NO standard metric for measuring power. This is true for cycling power meters too who pioneered this tech. Every manufacturer makes up their own power algorithm. Therefore you can't do a side-by-comparison of 2 products b/c the raw numbers being generated are not using the same scale. The best you can do is compare relative power trends... Power Meter #1 trends up here... Does Power Meter #2 follow? But that's about it.
I use Stryd. I found that my HR unreliable (running bra interfering with HR monitor etc). Using Stryd allows me to test, define targets for various efforts and then measure and monitor. Like anything, you have to use it as intended - or it will be a case of garbage in, garbage out
Great video Chris and Toby. Might get one at some point.
The other difference to HR is you can actually calibrate it to you quite easily with the different run types Stryd says compared to an outdated formula for HR. Also as the calibration is based on what you can manage for some all out efforts, that is how it provides good result estimates and saves you blowing up chasing for a time your body can’t manage with the training you have done.
Interesting thanks
Surely if you are using a HR monitor you can very quickly move away from that outdated formula (i assume you mean 220 - age etc?) and use a geniune max hr to calculate the Zones better? Guess power is a more accurate measure though as all sorts of things can effect HR,i have recently swapped to post work runs rather than early morning and have noticed my HR on a few occasions has quite quickly shot up into zone 4 even though low effort but then settles back down into zone 2 before end of first mile! I haven't got a clue why
I have no interest in the stryd pod, I just like it when you do idiots guides 😂😂😂
we specialise in them
An idiots guide to stryd, hmmm, buying it ? j/k 🤣, seriously the accurate distance and pace in poor GPS environments is gold , the other metrics is just an alternative to existing metrics . The accuracy over heart rate is due to the instant reading where running to heart rate is delayed (30 sec). Heart rate also can have variances due to other factors (sleep, general health , illness) Power does not get effected by those other factors. Do I have one .. I am pleading the 5th
I don't care about my power wattage per km. It's just data overkill. But I do like that it's much more accurate than using a smartphones GPS or GPS watch.
Me too
correct
He is not in hr zone 1 😂😂 definitely zone 2
🤣🤣🤣
I was thinking how sh!t my fitness must be, I can't get anywhere near that pace in my HR z1
I just run to feel, breathing.. occasionally checkin with HR. I think get a lactate test for your zones and run to your aerobic threshold to build that aerobic engine..