Getting Started – Power=Consistent Progress

Graphic showing proposed back cover content for the Getting Started book

To celebrate the upcoming release of the Spanish version of โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™, Iโ€™m planning to update the cover of the English version too. This text (on the green background) will be on the back cover of the books (in the appropriate language) and in the book blurb on reseller websites.

This week, I’m posting about each of the ‘Power =’ items ๐Ÿ™‚

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ = ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ

Power identifies training targets, based on your fitness, that maximise training results while minimising over-training and risking injury, enabling consistent, uninterrupted progress toward your target event.

This raises two questions:

  1. How does power maximise training results?
  2. How does power minimise over-training and risking injury?

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฑ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ?

Power enables more precise training targets, using targets relative to your Threshold Power (your current fitness) and that are often just a narrow range of a few percentage points of your Threshold Power.

Which means:
โœ… power targets are easier to achieve than pace or HR targets โ€“ just โ€˜run to the numbersโ€™
โœ… youโ€™re more likely to target the specific adaptations needed for your goal race
โœ… as your fitness improves, your targets automatically adjust to match your increased capability

In other words, Power = Productive Training.

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ-๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฒ?

Power calculates a Training Load Score for each completed workout, based on the workout’s duration and range of intensities.

These scores can be combined (using research-backed maths) to provide a number of metrics used to monitor your Training Load – the cumulative impact of your training on your body.

The three most important are:
โœ… a Training Load Balance, indicating the current balance between shorter-term and longer-term training impacts, so your training can maintain a productive balance between the two
โœ… a Ramp Rate, indicating how quickly your training is adding load, so that you can add load safely
โœ… a Training Intensity Distribution, showing how much time you’re spending at different intensities, to target the right mix of training for your upcoming event

๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ

By maintaining a productive balance, adding load safely and precisely targeting the right mix of intensities, you can:
โšก maximise your training results, and,
โšก minimise your risk of over-training and injury.

Which means consistent, uninterrupted progress toward your upcoming event.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Getting Started – Power=Consistent Progress

Getting Started – Power=Productive Training

Graphic showing proposed back cover content for the Getting Started book

To celebrate the upcoming release of the Spanish version of โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™, Iโ€™m planning to update the cover of the English version too. This text (on the green background) will be on the back cover of the books (in the appropriate language) and in the book blurb on reseller websites.

This week, I’m posting about each of the ‘Power =’ items ๐Ÿ™‚

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ = ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐“๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ 

Power identifies training targets, based on your fitness, that maximise training results while minimising over-training and risking injury.

Which raises two questions:

  1. How does power identify your running fitness?
  2. How does power set training targets based on your fitness?

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ?

Second-by-second as you run, power provides numbers representing your effort.

With a few maximum effort runs (no lab testing needed), you can identify your Threshold Power.

Threshold Power is an important representation of your current running fitness.

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ?

Power uses your Threshold Power as an anchor, positioned at 100% on a scale from 60-65% (no longer walking) up through 200% (short sprints) and beyond.

For example, you might use the following training targets:
๐Ÿ”น 80% or less for an easy run
๐Ÿ”น 94-96% for 10-20 minute intervals at half-marathon power
๐Ÿ”น 102-105% for 3-minute VO2max intervals

And if (when) your fitness improves and your Threshold Power increases, your workout targets adjust to match the new anchor, matching your increased fitness.

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐“๐ก๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ? ๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐•๐Ž๐Ÿ๐ฆ๐š๐ฑ?

VO2max is a measure of your bodyโ€™s maximum aerobic capacity. Threshold Power is the highest intensity you can maintain without rapidly fatiguing and needing to slow down or stop.

Think of VO2max as โ€˜the size of your engineโ€™, and Threshold Power as โ€˜your highest cruising speedโ€™. A bigger VO2max means you could go further and faster, but it doesnโ€™t mean youโ€™ll use that capacity effectively; a higher cruising speed means you can travel faster for a sustained period of time.

Both are important, but of the two, threshold power is more actionable, and a more direct and practical predictor of endurance performance.

๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ?

No.

Training is much more than actions driven by numbers. But training should also be underpinned by quantitative data โ€“ and power can provide those numbers.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Getting Started – Power=Productive Training

Max efforts are hard – is there any alternative?

Hand raised to ask a question

๐Œ๐š๐ฑ ๐„๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ โ€“ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž?

This is a common experience for runners new to power.

A Maximum Effort run is a run at the maximum (average) power you can maintain for a specific duration.

For example, your 3-minute max is the highest average power you can maintain over a 3-minute run.

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ?

๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ By running max efforts over two or more durations (e.g. 3-minutes and 12-minutes) you can calculate your Threshold Power.

โ“ Without max efforts, you wonโ€™t truly know what youโ€™re capable of, and your training targets, training load and race/event targets will probably be understated.

๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž?

Yes.

๐Ÿ’‰ You can pay for lactate testing. But this typically involves a graded exercise test with increasing intensity every few minutes (max efforts in disguise).

๐Ÿงฎ You can estimate your Threshold Power using easy runs, but this method is only recommended until youโ€™re able to complete maximum effort runs.

๐ƒ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐ž๐ซ?

They do โ€ฆ and they donโ€™t.

โŒ They donโ€™t because youโ€™re running at the highest average power you can manage โ€“ thatโ€™s never going to be easy. And itโ€™s typical to start out too fast and fade towards the end, which may mean you didnโ€™t really run to your maximum.

โœ… And they do. You get used to how they feel. You get used to starting out a little slower, then pushing it towards the end. And you can use previous max effort results to gauge how hard to run the first part of your upcoming max effort.

And then you realise (in the words of Dr Andrew Coggan) โ€˜testing is training, tooโ€™.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Max efforts are hard – is there any alternative?

How can I run faster?

Hand raised to ask a question

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ˆ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ?

This is a common question that many runners ask, and not just runners using power.

There are three ways that you can run faster:
โœ… Improve your fitness. If youโ€™re fitter, you should be able to maintain a higher effort, which should mean a higher pace and a quicker finish time.
โœ… Improve your form. If you improve how you run, you should be able to run faster for the same effort, resulting in a quicker finish time.
โœ… Improve both. Although itโ€™s much easier to improve your fitness than to improve your form ๐Ÿ˜Š

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ?

By training.

Ideally, using a training plan that includes both running and strength or other supplementary workouts, as well as recovery time.

Strength or other supplementary workouts will improve (or maintain) your whole-body fitness.

Recovery gives your body time to respond to the training โ€“ itโ€™s when you become fitter.

You can measure fitness improvements using your Threshold Power.

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ?

Using drills, plyometrics, hill runs and other activities that work on leg spring stiffness.

You might also try specific interventions (under the supervision of a running physio or specialist running coach), but these are much harder to embed.

You can measure form improvements using Running Effectiveness.

Power provides specific metrics you can use to track improvements in fitness and in form.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

How can I run faster?

Power Apps – point solutions

Power apps - calculating metrics

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ โ€“ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ

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.

๐”๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ-๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ

Apple Health doesnโ€™t provide any of the important metrics.

Which means youโ€™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. Iโ€™ve successfully used HealthFit; other options are RunGap or Health Sync.

๐‘๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐„๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ (๐‘๐„)

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

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

Steve Palladinoโ€™s video โ€˜Running Effectiveness and the SuperPower Calculatorโ€™ demonstrates how to use SPCs to calculate RE for a workout or a workout section.

๐Ž๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ

โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the bookโ€™s online content provides a more complete comparison of Power Apps.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

โช Intervals.icu

point solutions

Power Apps – Intervals.icu

Power apps - calculating metrics

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ โ€“ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ.๐ข๐œ๐ฎ

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 โ€ฆ and then some.

๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ.๐ข๐œ๐ฎ ๐Œ๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ

โœ… 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.

โœ… Stress Score. Intervals.icu uses the term โ€˜Training Stress Scoreโ€™ (TSS) and can calculate a power-based TSS for each completed workout.

โœ… Stress Balance. Intervals.icu uses the term โ€˜Formโ€™ to show the balance between โ€˜Fitnessโ€™ and โ€˜Fatigueโ€™.

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

โœ… Running Effectiveness. Intervals.icu doesnโ€™t calculate Running Effectiveness, although you can manually calculate this using the detailed workout review pages, or by adding a custom calculation.

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ.๐ข๐œ๐ฎ?

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

โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the bookโ€™s online content provides a more complete comparison of Intervals.icu vs. other Power Apps.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

โช WKO

Intervals.icu

point solutions โฉ

Power Apps – WKO

Power apps - calculating metrics

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ โ€“ ๐–๐Š๐Ž

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 โ€ฆ and then some.

๐–๐Š๐Ž ๐Œ๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ

โœ… Threshold Power. WKO uses the term โ€˜Functional Threshold Powerโ€™ (FTP) and offers an automatically calculated FTP, as well as the option to manually record your FTP history (and use it in charts).

โœ… Stress Score. WKO uses the term โ€˜Training Stress Scoreโ€™ (TSS).

โœ… Stress Balance. WKO uses the term โ€˜Training Stress Balanceโ€™ (TSB).

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

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

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐–๐Š๐Ž?

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.

โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™ covers other apps that can calculate power metrics, while the bookโ€™s online content provides a more complete comparison of WKO vs. other Power Apps.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Power Apps – Stryd PowerCenter / Stryd Mobile

Power apps - calculating metrics

๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ โ€“ ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ / ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ ๐Œ๐จ๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ž

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.

๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ ๐Œ๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ

In the following, the term โ€˜Strydโ€™ includes Stryd PowerCenter and Stryd Mobile

โœ… Threshold Power. Stryd uses the term โ€˜Critical Powerโ€™ (CP) and offers an automatically calculated CP (Auto-CP) as well as a manually-set CP (using various protocols).

โœ… Stress Score. Stryd uses the term โ€˜Running Stress Scoreโ€™ (RSS) and offers a unique calculation which includes a term representing the additional biomechanical stress put on your body from running (vs. cycling).

โœ… Stress Balance. Stryd uses the term โ€˜Running Stress Balanceโ€™ (RSB) and offers guidance for how to interpret your RSB.

โŒ Ramp Rate. Stryd does not show your Ramp Rate (RR). Youโ€™ll need to calculate RR manually using Strydโ€™s 42d Avg (in Stryd Mobile) or use another system to track this.

โŒ Running Effectiveness. Stryd does not show your Running Effectiveness (RE). Youโ€™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.

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž / ๐Œ๐จ๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ž?

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.

โ€˜Getting Startedโ€™ covers systems that can calculate the missing metrics, while the bookโ€™s online content provides a more complete comparison of Stryd vs. other Power Apps.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

โช Choosing Power Apps

Stryd PowerCenter / Stryd Mobile

WKO โฉ

Choosing Power Apps

Power apps - calculating metrics

๐‚๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฌ

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. Thatโ€™s 60 pieces of data per minute, 3600 per hour and over 3 runs, over 10,000 pieces of data. Thatโ€™s a lot of data!

Which is why power relies on power-aware applications (โ€˜appsโ€™) to calculate your metrics.

๐‚๐š๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ?

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

๐–๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ?

โœ… Threshold Power. Represents your current running fitness.

โœ… Stress Score. A score (per workout) that combines โ€˜how hard?โ€™ and โ€˜how long?โ€™ to represent the workoutโ€™s metabolic stress โ€“ its impact on your body.

โœ… Stress Balance. Indicates whether your training is โ€˜productiveโ€™  โ€“ enough stress to encourage adaptations, but not so much that there is a greater risk of injury or over-training.

โœ… Ramp Rate. Replaces โ€˜the 10% ruleโ€™ with a metric based on your training volume and intensity, to monitor whether youโ€™re adding training load too quickly.

โœ… 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.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Choosing Power Apps

Why Steve runs and coaches with power

Why Steve runs and coaches using power

๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž, ๐š ๐”๐Š-๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐จ๐š๐œ๐ก, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ?

There are two reasons:
โšก The numbers match how hard youโ€™re working โ€ฆ they just โ€˜feel rightโ€™
๐ŸŽฏ Targets (for training and racing) are based on you โ€ฆ power is personal

Let me unpack those.

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ 

Power provides numbers representing how hard youโ€™re working while running โ€“ your effort.

Running by effort isnโ€™t new โ€“ runners have used โ€˜Perceived Exertionโ€™ for many years. What is new is being able to put numbers to your effort.

Are the numbers actionable?

YES, based on using power since 2018 โ€ฆ and on multiple independent studies.

๐“๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ

Once you can measure your effort, all sorts of things become possible โ€“ you can:
โœ… assess your running fitness at any point in your training
โœ… ensure your training stays productive by setting workout targets based on your current fitness, rather than on a hopeful goal time
โœ… reduce your risk of injury using completed workouts to track your training load
โœ… personalise your race-day targets to achieve the best result youโ€™re capable of on the day

All of these are calculated using your completed workouts. Power really is Personal.

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ?

Using my runnersโ€™ completed workouts, I can build a detailed profile of each runner based on what they can achieve (right now). And I can use that profile to set targets that are individual to each runnerโ€™s capability (right now), to get the most from their training while minimising injury risk.

I can do all of this virtually, to coach runners in the UK, the US, or any other place worldwide.

Power (and the system behind it) provides a science-backed, metrics-based, individualised approach to training and racing โ€“ for runners and for coaches.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

Why Steve runs and coaches with power