Conventional knowledge says that “more data” is always useful.
You need “more data” to make informed decisions.
You need “more data” to perform better analysis.
Runners have taken the “more data” tactic to the extreme.
Pace, heart rate, cadence, and distance data pour into the watch. Plus, even more metrics like ground time and vertical oscillation can be added via external sensors.
That already adds up to 6 metrics… and, that is just the start for some runners!
Well, I am here to tell you something that may be shocking.
It will especially be shocking coming from me.
Conventional knowledge is wrong.
Runners don’t need more data.
They need less data.
Think about it:
When you are miles deep into a long run or pushing yourself to your limit during a threshold workout….
All of your energy is directed into your body.
The mind has little energy or bandwidth to analyze data during difficult workouts.
You only need one or two key data points during those moments to guide your workout.
How do you narrow down on the data that matters?
You need a metric that:
- accurately reflects your real time effort so that you can pace your training
- instantly updates as your effort changes so that you can adjust your pacing during mixed intensity workouts
- comprehensively considers the external running environment so that you run at the right intensity on hills and into the wind
- captures your fatigue so that you do not push too hard into your run as fatigue sets in
Pace and heart rate are not good enough for this purpose.
Pace only works reliably when running on flat ground and still air conditions.
Heart rate is slow to respond to your changes in effort and varies on a day-by-day basis.
What metric should runners turn to?
Running power.
We created running power to help runners simply pace their training efforts.
Running power accounts for your speed, slope, run form, fatigue, and wind, to deliver perfect, responsive pacing.
This is the perfect metric to guide your real time effort.
Stryd owners have found running power to be so good that they actually eliminate pace, heart rate, distance, ground time, and vertical oscillation from the data shown on their sportswatch.
They don’t need those extra metrics to pace their training or easy runs any longer.
Power is all that is needed.
Running power adds extremely useful data.
It helps you remove all the less useful data from your analysis.
You end up with less data instead of more data.
(If you love heart rate and pace data, you should keep using those metrics. Power actually enhances the usefulness of those metrics! I will talk about how power enhances heart rate and pace in a future email.)
If you want to simplify your training, you should start running with Stryd.
You can order Stryd at the following link:
https://www.stryd.com/
- Angus at Stryd