What is Power?
Power is another name for ‘effort’. At least, that’s the easiest way I’ve found to describe it.
⚡ Second-by-second as you run, power provides numbers representing your effort.
Run harder, and the numbers increase; run easier, and they decrease … whether you made the change, or whether the change is a result of your route or the conditions.
The change is in real-time with minimal delays or lags. And the magnitude of the change in your power numbers reflects the magnitude of your change in effort.
Why Run with Power?
Power is a measure of how hard you’re running, but it’s not the only measure. Runners also use:
- Pace – how fast you’re running, usually expressed as Minutes per Kilometre (min/km) or Minutes per Mile (min/mile).
- Heart Rate – how fast your heart is beating, usually expressed as Beats per Minute (BPM).
- Perceived Effort – how hard it ‘feels’. Perceived effort measurements use various scales, but the key thing is that it’s your perception of your effort, rather than something measured by a sensor.
Which is best?
|
Measure |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
|
Pace |
|
|
|
Heart Rate |
|
|
|
Perceived Effort |
|
|
|
Power |
|
|
Each measure has advantages and disadvantages, but having run (and coached) with power since 2018, the ‘killer’ advantage isn’t what you see as you run …
⚡ Power is an objective number that, second-by-second as you run, measures the effort you’re putting into your running
… it’s what you can do after you’ve run:
⚡ Once you can measure your effort, all sorts of things become possible.
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