Infographic – Training Stress

Infographic about Training Stress
Infographic about Training Stress

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 … 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜

Something different this week.

My posts are usually quite short (200-300 words) and deliberately so.

Bitesize, for easy consumption; each a sequence of 5 posts, building throughout the week.

But this week … pictures!

One infographic per day on the core concepts underpinning Running with Power.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬?

I’m curious to see what AI can create from some handwritten posts.

Curious to discover how it presents the concepts.

Curious to see what it includes (and what it leaves out).

Curious to consider what the infographic says about the way I’ve written the content.

𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤

I’ll post an infographic generated by NotebookLM using the phrase “Please generate an infographic using the selected source” … and for days 2 through 5 I add “in the same style as the previous infographic.”

I’ll also include the URL for the source used for the infographic.

And I’d love to hear from you!

What do you think? Does the picture capture the concept? Does it help with understanding? Is it confusing? Could it be improved?

Today’s URL: https://startrunningwithpower.substack.com/p/how-can-you-ensure-your-training

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ Infographic – Power-Duration Curve

Infographic – Training Stress

Infographic – Running Effectiveness ⏩

Infographic – Power-Duration Curve

Infographic about your Power-Duration Curve

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫-𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞 … 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜

Something different this week.

My posts are usually quite short (200-300 words) and deliberately so.

Bitesize, for easy consumption; each a sequence of 5 posts, building throughout the week.

But this week … pictures!

One infographic per day on the core concepts underpinning Running with Power.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬?

I’m curious to see what AI can create from some handwritten posts.

Curious to discover how it presents the concepts.

Curious to see what it includes (and what it leaves out).

Curious to consider what the infographic says about the way I’ve written the content.

𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤

I’ll post an infographic generated by NotebookLM using the phrase “Please generate an infographic using the selected source” … and for days 2 through 5 I add “in the same style as the previous infographic.”

I’ll also include the URL for the source used for the infographic.

And I’d love to hear from you!

What do you think? Does the picture capture the concept? Does it help with understanding? Is it confusing? Could it be improved?

Today’s URL: https://startrunningwithpower.substack.com/p/want-to-know-your-running-capability

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ Infographic – Threshold Power

Infographic – Power-Duration Curve

Infographic – Training Stress ⏩

Infographic – Threshold Power

Infographic showing key information about Threshold Power

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 … 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜

Something different this week.

My posts are usually quite short (200-300 words) and deliberately so.

Bitesize, for easy consumption; each a sequence of 5 posts, building throughout the week.

But this week … pictures!

One infographic per day on the core concepts underpinning Running with Power.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬?

I’m curious to see what AI can create from some handwritten posts.

Curious to discover how it presents the concepts.

Curious to see what it includes (and what it leaves out).

Curious to consider what the infographic says about the way I’ve written the content.

𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤

I’ll post an infographic generated by NotebookLM using the phrase “Please generate an infographic using the selected source” … and for days 2 through 5 I add “in the same style as the previous infographic.”

I’ll also include the URL for the source used for the infographic.

And I’d love to hear from you!

What do you think? Does the picture capture the concept? Does it help with understanding? Is it confusing? Could it be improved?

Today’s URL: https://startrunningwithpower.substack.com/p/no-need-for-lactate-testing

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ Infographic – Power=Effort

Infographic – Threshold Power

Infographic – Power-Duration Curve ⏩

Infographic – Power=Effort

Infographic explaining 'What is Power'

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫=𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 … 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜

Something different this week.

My posts are usually quite short (200-300 words) and deliberately so.

Bitesize, for easy consumption; each a sequence of 5 posts, building throughout the week.

But this week … pictures!

One infographic per day on the core concepts underpinning Running with Power.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬?

I’m curious to see what AI can create from some handwritten posts.

Curious to discover how it presents the concepts.

Curious to see what it includes (and what it leaves out).

Curious to consider what the infographic says about the way I’ve written the content.

𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤

I’ll post an infographic generated by NotebookLM using the phrase “Please generate an infographic using the selected source” … and for days 2 through 5 I add “in the same style as the previous infographic.”

I’ll also include the URL for the source used for the infographic.

And I’d love to hear from you!

What do you think? Does the picture capture the concept? Does it help with understanding? Is it confusing? Could it be improved?

Today’s URL: https://startrunningwithpower.substack.com/p/what-is-running-with-power

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

Infographic – Power=Effort

Infographic – Threshold Power ⏩

Getting Started – Next Steps

Man with pen researching a book

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 – 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬

I’ve written a book to help runners get started with Running with Power.

And I wrote it with the help of a testing team, who made it into the book they’d be happy to recommend to their friends who were curious about power.

But there are still thousands of runners who don’t know about power, or don’t know how to get started.

And the difficult thing is, there’s no easy way to reach them …

So how can we ‘spread the word’?

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞?

There are some great Facebook groups where runners can learn more about power, share their stories (and challenges), and ask for advice – and these continue to grow:
✅ Palladino Power Project
✅ Stryd Community
✅ from1runner2another

I’ve started blogging on https://f1r2a.com/blog/ – daily posts, 5 per week, on Running with Power topics. I leverage the posts:
✅ as a daily feed on the Facebook page ‘Running with Power – Getting Started’
✅ to post twice a week (with daily notes) on Substack

And there are lots of us who contribute to online communities where power is occasionally the topic, sharing our successes using power, and working to correct misconceptions and misunderstandings.

𝐈𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 ‘𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞’?

You could see it that way.

Or you could see it as ‘feeding the algorithm’. I’ve already seen ChatGPT linking to my content – alongside content from Stryd and other reputable sources for running power information.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨?

⚡ Tell your fellow runners
⚡ Share your successes
⚡ Point runners who are curious to the sources above

Running with Power is the most effective, and yet the most underutilised way to train.

Let’s change that.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ What makes this book different?

Next Steps

Getting Started – What makes this book different?

Man with pen researching a book

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 – 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭?

I’ve written three books that cover running with power.

  1. The Basics. A reference for the world of running with power, and heavily focused on power concepts and metrics. The book covers equipment and apps, but not from the perspective of getting started.
  2. Why would you? This book explains why you might use power, as well as its differences and potential disadvantages. It’s for runners who are deciding whether to try using power.
  3. Getting Started. Written specifically for runners who’ve decided to try using power, this is a hands-on guide that walks you through the things you need to begin your journey.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 ‘𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝’ 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭?

The key differences:
✅ It covers the Stryd footpod and wrist-based power – wrist-based power is a recent development, and one that may be more budget-friendly for many runners.
✅ A heavy focus on choosing equipment & apps – so that you can make the right choices from the start, avoiding expensive or frustrating mistakes.
✅ Coverage of five fundamental power concepts – so that you have a solid foundation on which to continue building your knowledge and use of power, without getting stuck in too much detail or nuance. And the activities help translate the learning into practice.

… finally, with my third book, there are some things I’ve learned from the previous two that make this book more accessible to readers.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ Team contributions

What makes this book different?

Next Steps ⏩

Getting Started – Team contributions

Man with pen researching a book

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 – 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

The book wouldn’t be the book it is without contributions and feedback from the testing team – some major, some less so.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦

Here are some major changes:
👏🏼 I re-wrote Chapter 10 ‘Power-Duration’ from the point of view of fatigue, which makes much more sense than the previous explanation.
👏🏼 Added Chapter 6 ‘Example combinations’ to show equipment and app combinations (with diagrams) proven to work well together.
👏🏼 Moved Part 3 ‘Setups and Configs’ and some of Part 1 online, as power equipment & apps are still developing rapidly.

And some not so major, but just as important:
👏🏼 Added runner ages (to the nearest decade) to the runner stories – power works no matter your age
👏🏼 Added ‘key takeaway’ items throughout
👏🏼 Removed ‘try it yourself’ phrase when referring to activities
👏🏼 Added emphasis on why it’s critical to include enough recovery (‘magic time’) in your training schedule

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦

I’m so glad I worked with a testing team. The team acted as editors and as an early book audience, feeding back where things weren’t as clear as they could be, especially for readers with English as a second language.

I’m indebted to my testing team – and would use the same approach for any future ‘practical’ books!

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ The testing team

Team contributions

What makes this book different? ⏩

Getting Started – The testing team

Man with pen researching a book

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦

With the goal and structure in place, I realised I was going to need help, for a few different reasons:
🔸 I’ve been using power since 2018, but the audience would be new to power
🔸 I run road races; trail runners and track athletes can also use power
🔸 I use a Garmin with a Stryd – what about wrist-based power or other watches?
🔸 I wanted a good mix of runners and coaches, watches, and experience

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦

I asked for volunteers, with the promise of a copy of the book for those able to contribute.

The response was fantastic, 35 people volunteering. After video-calling 20 of the volunteers, 13 made it onto the testing team.

𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬

The testing team included:
✅ 2 people who’d never used power before
✅ 6 Garmin users, 4 Apple Watch, 1 each using COROS, Suunto and Polar
✅ 2 using wrist-based power
✅ 7 road-runners, 1 track, 2 triathlon, 3 trail/triathlon
✅ 6 coaches

I couldn’t have hoped for a better cross-section 😊

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

The video call outlined the book and book goals, coverage of the five fundamental power concepts, and 22 ideas for activities that runners could use to try out power.

Using an outline of each activity, the testing team tried them out and made suggestions … eventually we merged and rearranged the original 22 ideas, landing on 13, and moved on to the rest of the book.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ The story behind the book

The testing team

Team contributions ⏩

Getting Started – The story behind the book

Man with pen researching a book

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤

‘Getting Started’ is my third book. It’s the book I most enjoyed writing.

After ‘The Basics’ and ‘Why would you?’ I thought I was done.

But then I started to explore wrist-based power and realised that runners who wanted to try Running with Power using the power meter built into their running watch had little or no guidance about how to do that.

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬

I was aiming to meet the following goals:
✅ No assumption of a particular power meter
✅ Lots of advice on making the right equipment and app choices
✅ Just enough conceptual content to provide a solid foundation
✅ A learning by doing approach to support the concepts and to start using power
✅ Minimal overlap with the existing books

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

With the above goals, a three-part structure seemed to be the best approach:

  1. Equipment & Apps. Information about options, and how to combine those to end up with something that worked.
  2. Fundamental Concepts. The key concepts underlying Running with Power, to provide a solid foundation for future learning and fine-tuning. This part would include activities that runners could use to try out the use of power.
  3. Setups & Configs. Because Running with Power is still relatively new, things don’t always work as smoothly as they ought to. This part would provide detailed setup and configuration information to make it easier to arrive at a working setup.

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬

With the goal and structure in place, I realised I was going to need help …

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

The story behind the book

The testing team ⏩

Races and Events – The event

Picture of runners waiting to start an event

𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 & 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭

Power can help you perform your personal best on the day.

How? By:
⚡ identifying a single target you can maintain throughout the event
⚡ helping you 𝑛𝑜𝑡 go out too fast
⚡ reducing anxiety associated with trying to achieve a goal time

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬

Before the event, power race calculators use your current fitness, your fatigue resistance (or stamina) and how effectively you convert effort into forward motion to identify a race power target.

Some calculators also allow you to create scenarios, by varying your fatigue resistance or running effectiveness to show best case/worst case targets.

These calculations are based on you – your fitness, your capabilities.

Which means power targets are personal – they identify an effort level you can maintain throughout the event.

It also means that you can’t run with pacers, as they’ll be running to a pace target.

𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭

Your race power target also helps prevent you starting the event too fast – at too high an effort.

Which means you should have enough energy left to finish the event strong.

𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲

There’s nothing worse than running to a (hopeful) goal time, translating that into pace targets, then finding that you’re falling behind the pace.

And there’s nothing better than running to a power target that represents the effort you can maintain throughout the event … to achieve your personal best on the day.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

⏪ Races and Events – Ready, set, go!

Races & Events – The event