𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?
✅ Power is an objective and consistent measure of effort.
Power is an estimate of your overall metabolic energy expenditure rate. It doesn’t care about your motivation (or lack of motivation) for a given effort. It isn’t fooled by the surge of adrenaline at the start of a race. And it’s not affected by ego or your competitive instincts.
✅ Power is “portable” across different running conditions.
If you’re running Uphill or downhill, changes in effort due to slope are accounted for. If you’re running into a headwind or with a tailwind, changes in effort due to variations in wind speed and direction are accounted for. If you’re on track, road or trail, power works well across varying running surfaces.
Pace is not very portable, Grade Adjusted Pace (GAP) is more portable but still does not account for varying wind conditions.
Heart Rate is more portable than pace, but subject to environmental conditions, drift, and lag.
✅ Power is responsive.
Changes in intensity are reflected quickly, allowing real-time feedback. And power is much more responsive than heart rate.
✅ Power provides a good structure for training zones, workout targets, and race planning.
Critical Power (CP), Reserve Work Capacity (RWC), and fatigue characteristics derived from maximal efforts can provide an accurate snapshot of a runner’s capabilities. And power history provides an excellent basis for race planning.
✅ Power provides a good basis for tracking running stress and training loads.
Power can find the “sweet spot” between overtraining and injury (by increasing load too fast) and stimulating performance improvements (by increasing load fast enough).
𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?
