TR Running Thread 2023

Running pace for myself is pretty useless due to the terrain I’m running on. To say power is simply unnecessary and not useful, your welcome to be in whatever camp you want, but it is useful for me and many others. Is it necessary? nothing but your body is necessary for running.

Like all power measurements you want something that is consistent between sessions and I find what it measures is such. I can alter my form and see what effect that has on form power. It does measure “aero” impact, when running into a headwind, to maintain that ‘pace’ more power is required. I can back off and maintain the same effort regardless of external factors, something pace doesn’t provide for me. With the Stryd you do get lots of nerdy data, some I find useful like form power, some less so but interesting to see, vertical oscillation measurements, ground time, leg spring stiffness.

I know you’ll never be able to accurately measure power when running due to the nature of measuring it, but what the Stryd pod captures is useful for me and a great aid in the mountains and wind.

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This. You cant compare it with bike power or at least not at the moment, it is just a scaled number that may or may not represent you current effort / output.
I am not say it is or isnt useful, but it probably shouldn’t be called power at this stage, but then how would you market it :thinking: :wink:

You’ve probably got it there, marketing! Also there is no way I relate it to my bike power. Stryd also tell you not to alter you entered weight once you start using it! So I do see it as that scaled number you mention to work too.

I do relate the Stryd to the cycling Power pod I originally had on my bike. You entered a static CDA value (photoshop measuring here!) , rolling resistance, weight and it did its magic. Downside was power values changed if you altered you CDA during a ride for same effort, also data was inaccurate if you went off road, surface change, or added bags to bike etc.

It gave decent ‘power’ data (Also headwind data) but nowhere near the consistent values I now get from my Quarq. It was something I worked with for a number of years and did me well.

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Even without RR and CdA, speed is useless for cycling as a training metric, the landscape and body composition/weight are too variable outside track elites.

Power could allow runners to base training on output rather than resulting speed, eg pacing hills and rough terrain most effectively. Not sure it’s up to that yet, or at least whether coaching with power is.

I reckon TR could convince me to get one if they were committed to it.

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First off, for structured training pretty much all serious runners use a track or a nice flat stretch of road. This is a controlled environment that allows good, even pacing. Nobody wants to be staring at a watch every 30 seconds while running.

Second, pacing should be done by feel, in any endurance sport. Relying on numbers from a device is for people who are not experienced enough to know how hard they can push. I personally hate looking at any physiological metrics when racing. That includes heart rate. If they look too good, they can cause me to back down for fear of blowing up. If they look bad, it’s discouraging. I will look at that stuff after the fact, but during a race it’s all judging effort and that’s how I like it.

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Back in my racing days I wouldn’t even race with a watch. You got to know your pace. Don’t know how many races I did where mile markers were off and so splits were “estimated” anyways. In cycling there is talk of keeping your watts in training zones and all that. Running is a bit more simple… go out on the trails and run for X amount of time. Before GPS watches we all used “badger miles” where you calculated mileage at 7 min pace (though often it was much faster).

As you said the biggest tool for serious training is the track. Once we got in shape we could get our 400 repeats within a few tenths of what the goal pace was. You just know how the pace feels.

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In a race, metrics are useful because i always feel “more powerful” in a race within a group. So i might burn the candle on both ends and it feels AWESOME.
Until it doesn’t. So the watch can help me pace better instead of letting the adrenaline rush dictate my pace.
I can change shoes and my pace increases by 20 seconds at the same heart rate.

Some days i might not “feel” as good but can hit a pace without issue but without the objective metric i might’ve have gone slower than i should’ve just because of how i felt.

Or on my half iron, when doing some hills pn the bike,i felt like death but looking at the power i reminded myself that i’d hit that exact power for 5 minutes in intervals so doing 1 or 2 minutes should be feasible, so it helped me push harder, within my limits

The data is a tool, it’s just a matter of using the tools appropriately to lift your performance to the next level, whether it be just during training or even during a race

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Adrenaline? I used to be an 800m runner. That was adrenaline, and at that distance that’s a useful thing. Never felt like that since. I line up for a distance race and I feel nothing. In a half marathon I ease into it for a mile or two. In a marathon, even longer. No reason to push early. Harnessing your emotions is an important part of racing.

I haven’t done track distance races so i wouldn’t know.

All i’ve had in comparison is a feeling that i could go “this fast, forever” due to the crowds as far as the eye can see, running and lining the sides of the streets/course. Lasted about an hour and then my body caught up to me and brought me back to reality.
If i’d listened to my watch it would’ve probably faded away sooner but i would’ve had better overall results as i would’ve run within my limits :slight_smile:

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That’s because you were running that 800m on pure hate. :laughing:

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No other choice. It would have been news to most of my fellow competitors that running is supposed to be a non contact sport. And at my level, I rarely saw a foul called even when someone went down.

ha! I had track spike scars on my left forearm for the longest time from the runner in the adjacent lane while running the 110m hurdles.

Hope everyone’s running is coming along well. I’m still going to PT (e-stim, heat, traction), but I’m pain free. Doc cleared me to return to my normal exercise routine and load gradually as long as nothing hurts. So, I went for a jog this morning for the first time in over a month. Short 5km w/out any issues other than overthinking :sweat_smile:

@Bbt67 @mhandwerk How goes the April marathon prep? March is half over!

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Great to see you back out there, good luck for rest of year, hope it stays injury free.

Sounds promising.

Coming along ok. My long run last week was a confidence booster. 3 x 5 miles at ‘marathon effort.’ The course was flatter than Boston so I won’t be quite that fast on race day (unless there is a big western wind, haha). But I was still pleased with how it went. I need to figure out how to loosen my hip flexors as they tightened up quite a bit towards the send of the second interval

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Managed a quick run this morning! Missing the bike. Back on it tomorrow.

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That is a massive issue for me as well, often leaving me on the verge of injury, (although my MP is a touch slower than your 1st warmup mile lol.) Tight hip flexors are really problem, and sometimes non firing glutes.

PS Great session. Must try 3x 5mi, sounds like fun, never thought of doing that but it is a season that makes total sense.

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Came across this, thought I’d share with the running thread…

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I like Mark Lewis. A good blend of useful, educational, interesting, amusing, and sometimes philosophical. Pretty well grounded.

Thanks por posting that, I hadn’t seen it. And while I love my metrics, in the end I agree with him: you’re doing this because you want to do it, not to get a better time. Getting a better time is frosting on the cake and a totally separate source of satisfaction. The simple joy of sport is first and foremost.

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