First Runs with Stryds Power Foot Pod

I have been eyeing the Stryd foot pod for a long time. I finally pulled the trigger. It came in the mail last Saturday, 3/7/2020.

Stryd Foot Pod

My first impression, before even using it, was that there was a lot to do and read to set up the pod. There are very clear directions for all the steps, but there were a lot of steps. I had actually started going through the process the day before getting the pod. I had to email to get some clarification of one of the steps, but I got a pretty quick response and the pod is working perfectly.

When the pod arrived in the mail on Saturday, I had already run. I wasn't expecting to arrive, but of course I had to give it a try. The directions said that your first three runs should be specific ones.

• a sustained race pace effort for 10-20 minutes
• short distance sprints
• a long run over an hour in duration.

The pod uses these runs to calculate a Critical Power (CP) number. CP is the threshold at which the dominant type of fatigue your body experiences changes. It is the Power level that should correspond to your 10K pace. This number is used to determine your optimal training intensities (Power Zones) which trigger specific fitness gains and guide the effort that you exert during your runs.

I warmed up on the treadmill and went out for a fast 1.5 miles. Then, I turned around and did a tabata to get back home. My first two runs took care of 2 out of the 3. I planned to do my long run the next day and take care of the third. I assumed that I needed that long run to generate a CP, but when the first two runs uploaded, a CP of 198 was generated for me.

First Long Run using CP
Hansons plans are already entered into the Stryd data base (which is what I'm using). It recommended running my long run between 80-85% of my CP. I decided to go for 80% (Power 158).

I ran 16 miles, I was doing great for 14 of them. The last two miles of my 16 miler had two giant hills, and I couldn't maintain the Power number going up those hills. I slowed down an incredible amount. My averaged Power was 157 which was a pace of 9:37.

Impressions:

I really enjoyed using Power to guide my run. Elevation changes were clearly reflected in the power number that I saw on my watch. Power was easier to use than pace. When I use pace, I know that I have to slow down when going uphill and speed up when I go downhill, but I'm never sure as to what degree. I was really surprised at how hard I had to push myself to maintain the Power number going downhill.


Recovery Runs using CP: Monday 3/9/2020

On Monday, I ran a double. I had planned to run two recovery runs between Power 130-140 which is at the low end of zone 1. When I was out there in the dark early morning, my legs couldn't handle it. I ran 4.5 miles at a 12:50 pace. It took forever. I ran at Power average of 116. I was pretty surprised that my body felt as beat up as it did. As many of you know, I ran a marathon and a 50K in close succession. The 50K was actually a 12 hour, overnight race eight days ago. Am I having such a hard time recovering because I still haven't recovered from that or was it the pace of the long run? Honestly, I have been doing my long runs closer to a ten minute mile on road. I don't think that I even really look at my watch on the trail, so I can't tell how slow I'm running. Whatever the reason, my body was taxed. When I looked at the other data available from that run, I came to the conclusion that I could not have run more inefficiently if I had been trying. I don't understand all of the other data, but I do basically have a sense of bad vs good. Every possible stat showed a movement in a negative direction.

My afternoon run was much longer, but I was a little bit more loosened up. I ran ten miles at an average Power of 129 which is the bottom of my zone 1 (pace 11:39). It was difficult, but easier than my morning run.

Impressions:

My body felt terrible. I had no impression. I didn't care. I was just happy it was over, especially the short morning run.

Run Tuesday 3/10/2020

Tuesday's run seemed like it would be a rainy one which would have been a good test to see if the pod is really waterproof. It rained all day, but when I stepped outside, it stopped raining. So, no test was to be had.

The reason that I really wanted to try out this power meter is because I always run on hills. Here are the elevation profiles of the repeats.

1st repeat: Power Avg. 202, pace 7:43

2nd repeat: Power Avg. 196, pace 7:41

3rd repeat: Power Avg, 187, pace 7:52

It is really difficult to figure out how to pace on hills. Not only is it hilly but windy. Wind is just part of living on the Central Coast. What I really do is just go all out most of the time when I want to run fast which is not the best way to train. I want to be able to train with nuance.

I had cruise intervals at marathon pace -10 on the schedule (goal pace between 7:40-7:45). I wanted to see if I would run the pace that I wanted to if I ran by Power. With a CP of 198, I should have been attempting to hold a power of about 190. I thought that 190 would not give me the overall pace that I wanted, so I upped it to 200.

200 turned out to be just about perfect:

• 1st repeat: Power Avg. 202, pace 7:43
• 2nd repeat: Power Avg. 196, pace 7:41
• 3rd repeat: Power Avg, 187, pace 7:52

Impressions:

I really liked using power as a guide, but I'm pretty sure that my Critical Power, as it was automatically calculated, is too low. As I run more, the CP should continue to update. I think that my CP is probably closer to 209. I am going to make that assumption that it is in fact 209 and attempt my 9 mile marathon pace run on Thursday at 192-199.



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