Tag: Testing

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?

This is a common question for runners new to power and wanting to ensure an accurate Threshold Power.

You can use any of the three most commonly used protocols.

Why?

Your threshold is a ‘phase transition’ over a narrow range of intensities, with lots of metabolic changes occurring at different rates and in parallel. And your Threshold Power is an intensity that’s within (or close to) the phase transition.

In this context, any of the three most commonly used protocols can produce a usable Threshold Power.

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞?

The answer typically depends on the app you’re using to review your power metrics:
🔹 Using WKO? You’ll most likely use auto-calculated FTP.
🔹 Using Stryd PowerCenter? You’ll most likely use Auto-CP.
🔹 Using another app? You’ll most likely use CP tests.

𝐃𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭?

No.

It’s likely that each will give a slightly different result, although the Threshold Power numbers are usually within 2-3% of each other.

And if you have multiple Threshold Power numbers to choose from, choose the lowest.

This means your training targets will err on the side of under-training, rather than the side of over-training (and an increased risk of injury).

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫
⏩ What is Threshold Power?
⏩ Identifying your Threshold Power
⏩ Using Threshold Power
⏩ Threshold Power vs VO2max
⏩ What’s the best way to calculate Threshold Power?

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐬 – 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Power is still relatively new for runners. And while there are some apps that cover most of the important metrics, you may find that you need additional apps to plug the gaps.

Here are a few apps that can fill those gaps.

𝐔𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

Apple Health doesn’t provide any of the important metrics.

Which means you’ll need to transfer your workout data from Apple Health into an app that can provide these, like WKO or Intervals.icu.

There are a few apps that will do this. I’ve successfully used HealthFit; other options are RunGap or Health Sync.

𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 (𝐑𝐄)

The only app to provide this (natively) is WKO.

If you’re a Stryd user, or if you’re using Intervals.icu, you’ll need to calculate RE manually or use SuperPower Calculator for Sheets (SPCs).

Steve Palladino’s video ‘Running Effectiveness and the SuperPower Calculator’ demonstrates how to use SPCs to calculate RE for a workout or a workout section.

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐬

‘Getting Started’ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the book’s online content provides a more complete comparison of Power Apps.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐬 – 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬.𝐢𝐜𝐮

Intervals.icu analyses your rides, runs, swims and other activities (with and without power). It provides basic and advanced analytics and planning in an easy-to-use web interface with support for desktops, phones, and tablets. Intervals.icu is free to use, with additional features should you choose to subscribe.

It can calculate and display all the most important metrics … and then some.

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬.𝐢𝐜𝐮 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬

✅ Threshold Power. Intervals.icu can calculate threshold power (using your choice from several models) based on the last 90 days of completed workouts or using a custom date range.

✅ Stress Score. Intervals.icu uses the term ‘Training Stress Score’ (TSS) and can calculate a power-based TSS for each completed workout.

✅ Stress Balance. Intervals.icu uses the term ‘Form’ to show the balance between ‘Fitness’ and ‘Fatigue’.

✅ Ramp Rate. Intervals.icu shows your week-on-week Ramp Rate (RR), overlaid onto the same chart as fitness, fatigue and form.

✅ Running Effectiveness. Intervals.icu doesn’t calculate Running Effectiveness, although you can manually calculate this using the detailed workout review pages, or by adding a custom calculation.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬.𝐢𝐜𝐮?

If you’re not using the Stryd ecosystem or TrainingPeaks/WKO, Intervals.icu is a great way to track your power metrics.

‘Getting Started’ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the book’s online content provides a more complete comparison of Intervals.icu vs. other Power Apps.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐬 – 𝐖𝐊𝐎

The WKO app is an analysis and charting tool that runs under MS Windows or on a Mac and provides a wide range of charts and graphs of your power data.

It can calculate and display all the most important metrics … and then some.

𝐖𝐊𝐎 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬

✅ Threshold Power. WKO uses the term ‘Functional Threshold Power’ (FTP) and offers an automatically calculated FTP, as well as the option to manually record your FTP history (and use it in charts).

✅ Stress Score. WKO uses the term ‘Training Stress Score’ (TSS).

✅ Stress Balance. WKO uses the term ‘Training Stress Balance’ (TSB).

✅ Ramp Rate. WKO can chart your week-on-week Ramp Rate (RR).

✅ Running Effectiveness. WKO can show your Running Effectiveness (RE) for an entire workout or just for part of a workout (e.g. an interval).

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐊𝐎?

WKO comes with hundreds of pre-configured charts. You can also build your own charts and calculated metrics using a powerful charting language. WKO integrates seamlessly with TrainingPeaks, syncing planned and completed workout data and a range of health metrics.

‘Getting Started’ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the book’s online content provides a more complete comparison of WKO vs. other Power Apps.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐬 – 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 / 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞

The Stryd PowerCenter / Mobile app is available to anyone using a Stryd footpod (most features are free, some need a subscription).

It calculates and displays some (but not all) of the most important metrics.

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬

In the following, the term ‘Stryd’ includes Stryd PowerCenter and Stryd Mobile

✅ Threshold Power. Stryd uses the term ‘Critical Power’ (CP) and offers an automatically calculated CP (Auto-CP) as well as a manually-set CP (using various protocols).

✅ Stress Score. Stryd uses the term ‘Running Stress Score’ (RSS) and offers a unique calculation which includes a term representing the additional biomechanical stress put on your body from running (vs. cycling).

✅ Stress Balance. Stryd uses the term ‘Running Stress Balance’ (RSB) and offers guidance for how to interpret your RSB.

❌ Ramp Rate. Stryd does not show your Ramp Rate (RR). You’ll need to calculate RR manually using Stryd’s 42d Avg (in Stryd Mobile) or use another system to track this.

❌ Running Effectiveness. Stryd does not show your Running Effectiveness (RE). You’ll need to calculate RE manually using another system, or use one of Stryd’s alternate metrics – for example Form Power, Leg Spring Stiffness, Impact Loading Rate.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 / 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞?

The Stryd ecosystem is probably the most power-friendly app at the moment, designed with power in mind, and aimed at runners who are getting started with power.

‘Getting Started’ covers systems that can calculate the missing metrics, while the book’s online content provides a more complete comparison of Stryd vs. other Power Apps.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐬

Power is a complete system using effort as its fundamental metric.

Power uses your second-by-second effort from completed workouts to calculate metrics that build a detailed picture of your individual running capabilities.

Imagine you run 3 times per week for around an hour each time. That’s 60 pieces of data per minute, 3600 per hour and over 3 runs, over 10,000 pieces of data. That’s a lot of data!

Which is why power relies on power-aware applications (‘apps’) to calculate your metrics.

𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩?

The choice is yours, but some apps are more power-aware than others, with the best apps able to calculate the most important metrics.

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭?

✅ Threshold Power. Represents your current running fitness.

✅ Stress Score. A score (per workout) that combines ‘how hard?’ and ‘how long?’ to represent the workout’s metabolic stress – its impact on your body.

✅ Stress Balance. Indicates whether your training is ‘productive’  – enough stress to encourage adaptations, but not so much that there is a greater risk of injury or over-training.

✅ Ramp Rate. Replaces ‘the 10% rule’ with a metric based on your training volume and intensity, to monitor whether you’re adding training load too quickly.

✅ Running Effectiveness. Measures how effectively you convert power into speed, used to estimate finish times, to assess changes to your running form and to evaluate your fatigue resistance.

There are other criteria that will influence your choice of apps, but being able to obtain these metrics may be the most important.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝

Power is a complete system using effort as its fundamental metric.

So how do you get started?

𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 & 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐬)

At a minimum you’ll need a power meter, but there are a few other choices you’ll need to make and the options are not independent.

Making a choice in one area almost always affects another, but the primary choice is your power meter.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞?

The following are some of the criteria you might consider (each bullet indicates whether the Stryd Footpod 🦶 or wrist-based power 👋 has the advantage)

🦶 Can you use any running watch?

Stryd works with many older watches; Wrist-based power is only found in newer watches.

👋 Do you need to buy a separate power meter?

Wrist-based power meters are built into your running watch; The Stryd footpod is a separate purchase.

🦶 Is it easy to obtain power metrics from supporting apps?

The Stryd ecosystem provides most of the key metrics; There’s no ecosystem for wrist-based power (you’ll need multiple apps).

🦶 Has the power meter been independently validated?

There have been at least 10 independent studies validating Stryd’s power numbers; I’m not aware of any independent studies for wrist-based power aside from my own (N=1).

🦶 Can you easily use power on a treadmill, or in GPS-poor areas?

Stryd provides power numbers without needing GPS; Wrist-based watches need GPS to provide power numbers (Garmin is the exception, but is Garmin Power valid on a Treadmill?)

𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 – 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝

The book provides a more complete comparison and detailed information on how to get started with power, using a Stryd footpod or wrist-based power.

𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?

❓ Questions?
📖 Getting Started