Category: Why

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?

This is part of a series of posts on runners’ feedback about Running with Power.

Based on survey responses and book research, here’re the top three pieces of advice that runners using power would give to those not yet using it.

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬

There are a few fundamental concepts that form the foundation for understanding power. They’re not difficult to learn and learning them really helps understand how to make the most of running with power.

𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

The Palladino plans were frequently mentioned, with targets matched to how the body works, incremental progression and built-in power tests. They improve your fitness without you noticing, while reducing the risk of injury or overtraining.

On a related point, power works best when training for an event. If all you ever do is run easy, or run with friends, then Running with Power isn’t for you.

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

Just start by wearing the footpod (or turning on wrist-based power). Later, start looking at the metrics and, combined with learning the concepts, begin to understand what your data is showing you about your training.

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞

There was other advice offered by runners using power, including: it helps you learn about your body and your capabilities; keep your Threshold Power updated (it’s a basic for accurate targets & planning); it helps if you like working with data and numbers; power helps maintain training consistency; use power to calibrate your perceived effort

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝?

This is part of a series of posts on runners’ feedback about Running with Power.

Based on survey responses and book research, here are the top three difficulties runners experienced using power.

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝

There is a learning curve associated with using power – some fundamental concepts that power is based on, and some things you should and shouldn’t do. However, these are well-known, documented and often discussed in the power-focused Facebook groups – it just takes time.

The setup can also be quite complicated – whether you’re using Stryd or using wrist-based power. With a little patience, it’s possible to end up with a watch setup and supporting application setup that work well. It’s just harder than the setup needed to run using pace or heart rate.

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

There are three commonly-used test protocols, all of which produce a usable Threshold Power number. But they all rely on maximum effort runs – and it’s this aspect that runners found difficult. Fortunately for most runners, max-effort runs, while always difficult, got easier to execute with practice.

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

Many runners were already be used to running using pace, HR or perceived effort. They reported that it took time to fully trust power, and to stop relying on the other metrics.

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬

There were other difficulties runners experienced using power, including: using power in mountainous, windy or other ‘unusual’ environments; that power represents your effort (rather than actually being your effort, like cycling); that it was easy to forget (or forget to charge) the pod; that it was difficult to explain to others.

That said, power is still relatively new – we can expect further changes and improvements moving forward!

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝?

This is part of a series of posts on runners’ feedback about Running with Power.

Based on survey responses and book research, here are the top three benefits runners experienced using power.

𝐀𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬

Sounds simple? Yet with power, according to the feedback, it’s much easier to do. First, the targets are numbers or number ranges, rather than ‘10k pace’ or ‘zone 2’ (when your heart rate seems determined to stay in zone 3). Second, they’re based on your current fitness, adjusting as you get fitter. Finally, you just have to run to effort, which changes to match your route, however hilly it might be.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲

The #1 goal of training – being able to follow the plan without getting injured. Training to targets matched to individual fitness gave runners confidence in the plan, allowing them to ‘relax’ and enjoy the experience. And with plans written to add training load slowly and carefully, runners experienced a powerful feedback loop – clear targets => able to run to target => confidence in the plan => increasing fitness without injury => targets adjust to match fitness => able to run to target…

𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

Power offers a couple of race planners, both of which produced power-based targets for races and events that were not only achievable, but for many runners, accurate to within a few watts, and to within a minute or two (over a marathon).

But it was at the start that power was most beneficial, providing a target that prevented runners from starting too fast (given the excitement and the ‘freshness’ that’s usually present at the start of many events).

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬

There were many other benefits runners experienced using power, including: being able to measure fitness improvements; power is responsive, matched to effort; gaining a better understanding of their physiology and capabilities; finding a great community of runners all learning how best to use power.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?

This is part of a series of posts on runners’ feedback about Running with Power.

Based on survey responses and book research, here are the top four reasons why runners started using power.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

The most popular reason – power gives you one number that changes as your effort changes. And it represents your effort when on the flat, up and down hills, or running in wind. You can even adjust for running in heat, high humidity or at altitude. You just need to ‘run to the number’.

𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠

Whether it was because of pace issues on hilly routes, heart rate lags when starting or stopping intervals, or not being able to accurately judge effort, runners were having difficulties using other methods of measuring how hard they were running.

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬

Many non-power plans come with a risk of overtraining or leaving potential training gains unrealised. Power uses narrower target ranges within zones, and the power-based plans from Steve Palladino have worked for hundreds of injury-free runners.

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬

Runners were looking for a way to improve their race results, qualify for Boston (or similar), or to find a way to improve their race pacing. While power can’t guarantee better results or a qualifying time, race planning with power uses current fitness, stamina and running effectiveness to determine personalised race targets.

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬

There were many other reasons why runners started using power, including: power is based on physiology; it’s backed by years of research (from cycling and running); it uses data-driven insights; it can be used on a treadmill or in bad GPS locations.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

A few weeks ago, posts outlined reasons you might choose to use power to measure how hard you’re running.

This week, posts will cover this in a little more depth, exploring the following questions:
❓ Why did you start running with power?
❓ What benefits have you experienced?
❓ What difficulties have you experienced?
❓ What advice would you give to someone not yet Running with Power?

The posts will summarise the top themes from feedback received when asking runners these questions – feedback from two annual surveys, and feedback gathered while researching two of my books (‘Why’ and ‘Getting Started’).

Here are my answers to those questions.

𝐖𝐡𝐲?

I wanted to break sub-4 for the marathon and found training using pace or heart rate difficult in several ways. Power (training using effort) just made sense to me … plus, I like working with data and metrics.

𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬?

There’s magic in the numbers – as a runner using power, I can: measure (and track) my fitness; set precise workout targets; monitor my training load; set achievable race-day targets.

As a coach, power makes it possible to set workout goals that I know will be usable whatever route my runners choose to take (hilly or not). And the insights that are possible using power data make fine-tuning (or course-correcting) so much easier.

𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬?

It was expensive – I bought a running watch and a Stryd footpod. And it was difficult to use, although the Stryd PowerCenter these days is light years ahead of where it was when I first started.

While it is now possible to buy a running watch with a power meter inside, it’s complex to calculate power metrics – hopefully that’ll change in the next few years.

𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞?

Go for it. Based on using power since 2018, I firmly believe Running with Power is the most effective way to train.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started