Running with power fully explained

[@davebannister]

Really useful to see and understand the (albeit simplified) mechanics behind the Stryd algorithm and your wonderfully clear explanation of the terminology of the various power components. Stryd calculator and CP graph is problematic for me as I do lots of my runs at 15% incline on the TM so it really skews the CP graph for when I do flat runs as my CP is basically my 15% incline figure I think. My CP of 310W would be impossible for me to match on a flat course/TM run. I can do their 3 tests but they would be influenced too much by my hill runs and distort the CP graph. Hopefully now I can do a manual calculation of my FTP and work out approximate 0% incline race times out manually. I am in the FB Stryd group which is brilliant if you are technically minded but mainly goes over my head or does not apply due to my extensive hill running.

[@sergioflor9207]

Hi! Congratulations. It is the best video I watched about power on running. Thank you!

[@Cookefan59]

The chart has also helped me figure out where I am presently. It’s really an eye opener.

[@MrTheMrLol]

Great video, love the maths! i love how every endurance athlete ever thinks they can raise their ftp and reduce their weight at the same time 😂

[@Roberto-Escobar]

Do you have a video explaining how we could use our power to improve our running? besides pacing better at races, is there a way to learn how we can improve our training using power?

[@LuckyPandaX]

Thanks for the very educational content. I still wonder if running by heart rate is better than running by power. If you are fixated by the power you need to run at on race day, but it's unusually hot, your body will not sustain that power. I believe Stryd can calculate another number for you to account for heat and humidity. But if you just run by heart rate, it will account for heat, humidity, slopes, and other body stress factors such as lack of sleep etc. Power is what you must produce but heart rate tells you what your body can do at the moment. So if we can translate the 4 hour sustain power to the corresponding heart rate, would it be more useful?

[@SwimCycleRunCoach]

interesting, however, if you go up a slope and maintain your wattage you are taking into account the hill. With HR you would naturally increase effort until your HR caught up with the effort, power is immediate so you don't go into the red for the time you HR lags behind your real effort. In reality HR can be lower or higher if you are under the weather - illness or lack of sleep - it's not an exact relationship. But you don't use power as a stand alone metric, you have HR as well, so would know that your HR was low/high for a given wattage. You should also see that earlier than just responding to an effort through HR. Cheers

[@davebannister]

There can also be an advantage with Power discounting some of the body stress factors that you mention in that our bodies can actually take a lot more stress than we credit or often allow them to. Therefore especially on a race event where you are likely to have lots of nerves, distraction, lack of a bit of sleep time etc the extra "indifferent" push of using Power might work in our favour whereas HR might force more caution than is perhaps necessary. I am not advocating doing this all the time as we do need to listen to our bodies but just not all the time. Also regular/pre-event Resting HR or e.g. heart rate variability could be used for extra reassurance that we can push ourselves a bit harder than our heart might want to go.

[@waynehadley1999]

Ah, a fellow Wilbur Smith fan I see 👍

[@SwimCycleRunCoach]

My wife is

[@davebannister]

Just tried the spreadsheet link but it seems broken or at least not working for me on Edge, Brave or Chrome browsers.

[@SwimCycleRunCoach]

I'm using it on Chrome fine - it should be working but takes a few seconds to load.

[@davebannister]

@@SwimCycleRunCoach Seems to be working now whereas it definitely wasn't before even waiting awhile. Temporary blip perhaps. Very useful anyway. Many thanks.