STRYD after 2000 miles, a Runner’s Review from 2019 to 2021 – Running Power Meter Pod
Here is the STRYD Footpod ‘Bible’, a review after over 2000 miles of training with the latest STRYD running power meter. This review looks is comprehensive and considers, in detail, every aspect of running with a STRYD power meter from running power plans through to the data analysis and accuracy from the new model STRYD that uniquely accounts for wind.
Last Updated: 16 Jan 2021
Here’s a quick summary of some of the key points of the review and scroll down for all the details.
In Brief
Product Name: STRYD
Product Description: Running Power Meter footpod
Brand: STRYD
-
Price - 80%80%
-
Usefulness - 90%90%
-
Apparent Accuracy - 99%99%
-
Compatability - 90%90%
Awesome running power tool to help race pacing, training, efficiency and injury prevention
STRYD Review Summary
Training with power opens up a whole new way of training accurately and effectively.
Runners love STRYD for a wide range of reasons from those simply wanting a more accurate running pace to those wanting form improvements right through to data-savvy triathletes who understand training-with-power and want to expand how they already rely on power when cycling. There’s a lot of depth to be found in a simple-looking foot pod.
As we move into 2021, the STRYD platform and its pod is a complete offering. You can choose to immerse yourself in every aspect of training with power or tick off the quick wins getting used to the super-accurate pace figures that STRYD will give you – more accurate pace than EVERY GPS watch EVER. Yes, really.
It’s almost certain that a new £/$200 sports watch or your Apple Watch will now support STRYD and it is a simple case of pair-and-go to start using STRYD. Most runners will get calibration-free super-accuracy out-of-the-box.
Conceptually, some people find POWER hard to understand. Just think of it as an always-correct EFFORT measure – the PACE and HEART RATE metrics you might currently use are more flawed.
If you want to follow power running plans or create your own complex workouts & plans, now you can. There are also great insights and analysis features on STRYD’s free PowerCenter or on nearly all the other platforms – Training Peaks, Garmin Connect, Polar Flow, Suunto app, Coros app.
Futures: The major ‘next happening’ will be the full, native inclusion of running power by Garmin and Strava.
Finding a Stryd Discount is a rare thing, there’s usually a 10% Black Friday deal based on buying 2 Stryds, other than that check out the unbeatable bundle deals below from my UK partner New Running Gear (NRG).
Pros
- The most accurate pace and cadence, indoors or outdoors. Period.
- Clip and go
- Supported by all, new medium-to-high spec sports watches
- Free power training plans
- Seemingly accurate power numbers – even in windy conditions on nearly all ground types
- More accurate info covering speed, distance, power, form.
- Simple to use, pair-and-go with calibration rarely required
- Running power has simple uses as well as profoundly deep uses for training and analysis for advanced users.
Cons
- Price
- Garmin need to improve native support for the running power metric (STRYD’s CIQ functionality is a great workaround)
Table of Contents | Jump To
How STRYD has changed my running
I’m an 80% convert to running power. I use it to quantify my performances on workouts and I frequently use it as a sanity check for extended, steady-state efforts. For speedwork, I still like to see the time of my track laps or the pace out on the flat roads. Of course, even when using pace, I use the super-accurate instant pace figures that come from the STRYD pod.
I used STRYD at my last IM, my last HIM and at my last 5k parkrun. It’s on my foot for nearly all of my runs as either a standalone run or as part of a duathlon/triathlon. Take that as a recommendation if you like!
For me, the best aspect of the STRYD Footpod is that it simply integrates into all the sports platforms I use. For many platforms, STRYD ‘just works’ and for Garmin, it ‘just works’ once you add the STRYD Zones data field to your watch.
Does it REALLY measure POWER in WATTS? I’ve no idea! but STRYD claim it does! Whatever it measures, it DOES seem to be a good and consistent proxy for form-related effort and that is good enough for me.
There are many ways that STRYD could help your running, these are the aspects that I regularly use
- Improved, effort-based pacing on undulating ground
- Super-accurate pace.
- STRYD Power curve – to check for power-duration PBs and track my power improvements
- I use both the Garmin STRYD Zones Data Field and the STRYD Watch OS app on AW6.
- I analyse my running power data in Golden Cheetah and STRYD’s Powercenter
- I follow structured workouts from a plan with power alerts
In The Box
Have a look at this short slideshow then I will briefly cover what comes in the box.
STRYD comes with two shoe-lace clips (1x orange, 1x black) and a USB cable. Gone is the original QI/wireless charger and instead you get a wired charging cradle.
Watch Compatibility – STRYD Review
STRYD is broadly compatible with almost every £/$200 BLE and ANT+ Sports Watch. Is your watch is FULLY compatible or PARTLY compatible? By that I mean more than just ‘will it pair to it?’, so you should check for compatibility in any of these areas that YOU might want to use:
- Running Power – You all want this. Some running watches can provide support for STRYD power natively or via Garmin CIQ or via an app or by using your older tri watch’s bike mode
- Pace & Distance from STRYD – this basically means treadmill compatible
- Pace & Distance from STRYD with GPS enabled to record your route – this means you can override one or both of Pace/Distance when used outside
- Extra STRYD Data – Able to view the extra STRYD form/efficiency metrics ON THE WATCH
The watches that I would say are FULLY COMPATIBLE FOR POWER and TREADMILL are:
- Garmin (2015 onwards – Forerunner, Fenix, Vivoactive) – F5, F5S & VA3 have connectivity issues. Fenix 5+/6 are fine.
- Suunto – Ambit 2 & Ambit 3.
- Polar – V800, Vantage M & Vantage V (+Titan), Vantage V2
- Apple Watch – via STRYD Watch OS , also iSmoothRun
- 3rd party Samsung Gear apps also consider Gear Tracker app.
- WearOS apps (Sporty Go app, maybe also Ghost Racer) use on Suunto 7
Whereas if you are looking to view live efficiency metrics on the watch then you either use the STRYD app (on Apple or Garmin), a high-end Garmin and a STRYD CIQ app.
You might want to read this article for the following watches as you may need to bypass Suunto’s FusedSpeed
- Suunto 9, Suunto 5 and earlier SPARTAN models (the Suunto 7 requires a 3rd party Wear OS app)
Any doubt? Detailed clarification at stryd.com
STRYD Review – Model History
As of January 2021, there is only one model available from STRYD and NewRunningGear (UK/EU).
- STRYD v1 – A clip-on pod for the waist (no longer sold)
- STRYD v2 – Chest strap, also called ‘Pioneer’ (no longer sold)
- STRYD v3 – The third iteration, footpod, iteration had 3 variants, all effectively the same except…
- STRYD Summit – power model, no charging cradle, QI-compatible wireless charger (no longer sold)
- STRYD Live – non-power but upgradeable with charging cradle (no longer sold)
- STRYD Everest – power model with charging cradle, QI compatible (June 2018 STRYD have sold out)
- new STRYD v4 – This is new hardware with a new ability to handle WIND effects. This is the only version you can order.
- STRYD v5 ?!?!? – I expect a new model in 2022. 2020-21 will see STRYD focus on platform enhancements.
STRYD – Physical Changes In The Wind Pod?
How Do you use STRYD?
There are several practical ways you might want to use STRYD, perhaps you most want to understand how to use POWER?
- It’s a clip-and-go product. You will instantly get more accurate PACE and that can instantly improve your ability to correctly execute pace-based workouts
- Power and speed/pace would represent the same thing on a flat indoor running track. Elsewhere, pace/speed is ‘wrong’. Once you know what POWER you need to run at you can do it anywhere..up a hill, down a hill or into the wind. It’s ALWAYS right.
- To know the correct training power to run at is as difficult or easy as knowing the correct training speed/pace to run at. Runners look at ‘Daniels Tables’ (and similar), Power Runners would look at a Power Curve to find THEIR maximum power for any duration and then target a certain percentage of that or target a certain percentage of their hour-power (also called CP, CP60, rFTP, FTP)
- A simple way to start is during your weekly long run. Get to your desired flat pace, look at the corresponding power figure and then target that power as the wind and terrain vary over the next hour or more. You will benefit from getting a ‘feel’ about what is your ‘forever power’, ‘maximal 5k power’ and maximal KM-power, these markers initially help you put other efforts into perspective.
- As a novice, constructing a power-based training plan for yourself is NOT easy and you should follow one of the free plans from STRYD.
- STRYD will automatically determine your baseline power (CP). From that STRYD will give you power training zones and you can train based on those as you would do heart rate zones.
The sections that follow give you an idea of how to install, pair and sync your STRYD.
Pairing & Preparing to Run
This section looks at putting STRYD on your shoe; pairing STRYD to your running watch; and configuring the display on your running watch for Suunto, Garmin & Polar.
Installation – STRYD Review
Stick it on your shoe like you would do any old footpod!
Precise shoe positioning was not important for the early STRYD models however it IS important for the wind-enabled models. Putting the effects of wind to one side, I have changed STRYD between countless pairs of shoes and not noticed any differences in readings based on different stack heights/cushioning and between different lace positions. I still seem to get consistent results.
Moving to the other foot CAN give different results depending on the degree of asymmetry to your running gait. Don’t do that!
This is roughly how you should install it onto your laces for ALL versions of STRYD ie it needs to point in a forwards direction and be placed near the toes, like this.
I often use elasticated laces which tend to be too thick for older footpods. The STRYD Footpod handles this perfectly and allows 2, 3 or 4 lace lengths to be spanned. Try and span as many as sensibly possible. The STRYD attaches into its cradle VERY firmly and feels like it won’t come out.
If you don’t use thicker laces then you may well find the device moves a bit. Try packing out the space. On the STRYD forum, I’ve seen a velcro-based solution to reduce the space. Set against this, if you have tight-fitting running shoes then compounding a tightly-fitting STRYD can sometimes cause discomfort to your foot, solution: move the pod!
After recharging, be REALLY sure that the STRYD Footpod is correctly re-inserted into the prongs on the cradle to avoid loss. A cool feature is that the STRYD Zones data field will buzz if it loses conenction ie if it’s become detached or run out of battery.
Pairing – STRYD Review
For first-time usage, ensure that your weight and height are set in the STRYD SMARTPHONE APP and synchronised to the STRYD pod.
Those of you using the Apple app will find that weight & height can be synchronised from Apple Health – disable synchronisation – #ItsComplicated
Read all this fairly carefully as the INITIAL setup is not as simple as pairing a new HRM for the first time.
Quick Pairing Overview
- iOS/Android: Pair to the Stryd app,
- Garmin: Install the Stryd Zones CIQ app on watch and STRYD silently pairs itself!
- Apple Watch: install the STRYD Watch OS app.
Legacy pairing can be easy, can be tricky. Pairing by ANT+ to your Garmin or by Bluetooth SMART to the app on your smartphone is generally straightforward. As a rule-of-thumb, pair STRYD as a FOOTPOD, not a POWER METER.
- For newer Garmins, optionally pair STRYD as a footpod so that you can also set STRYD to be a source of super-accurate pace and distance.
- For Wahoo ELEMNT Rival – just pair it (as of Jan 2021 there are no other options)
- Polar Vantage V, M & Grit X – just pair it
- Some 3rd party CIQ data fields for Garmin, such as DATARUN, require you to pair STRYD as a POWER METER.
- Suunto SPARTAN – pair AS A FOOTPOD (from 17 October 2017)
- Pairing to any other watch model eg Ambit 3 or 920XT/935/645M should be as a footpod.
- Pairing to the STRYD app – do this from within the app, not the Bluetooth General setting on your phone.
- Polar V800 – pair as a power meter
- Legacy Suunto: With AMBITs, you pair as a POWERPOD and use in RUN mode (and it works GREAT).
- Legacy Polar, you just pair as “other device”
If you are investing £/$200 in a running power meter, I would suggest you also invest in a watch that properly supports power indoors and outdoors ie it will DISPLAY and RECORD power. Have a look at these…
Running Preparation – Garmin
If you have a more recent Garmin check compatibility here
Use Garmin Express to download STRYD Zones data field from CIQ, or you can use Connect IQ Mobile App.
You configure the averaging performed by the ‘STRYD Power’ data field in Garmin Express (yes!). As also shown on the slideshow below; here you determine what ‘STRYD Power’ will show to you – be it ‘Real-Time Power’ or one of several longer average power-durations. I mostly use Real-Time Power and like its responsiveness to real-world changes, there are perfectly sensible reasons for wanting to show the longer averages if that is how you choose to pace yourself.
The ‘Stryd Zones’ data field ALSO AUTOMATICALLY RECORDS THE RAW, UN-AVERAGED POWER DATA into the FIT file…PRECISELY what you want it to do.
Running Preparation – Coros
Coros natively supports STRYD. All you have to do is pair the STRYD sensor to your watch and the rest is already there. Coros has the most complete NATIVE STRYD integration sadly it only get this single line because it’s all so easy to get working….
Running Preparation – Suunto (AMBIT, SPARTAN, and Suunto 9)
With Suunto, the situation is different and better than with Garmin in the sense that Running power is natively supported by the watch.
Pairing as a footpod is simple enough, you know how to do that.
Suunto Device Configuration MOVESCOUNT.COM
A sports profile/sports mode is configured in MOVESCOUNT but as running power is native to Suunto it is possible to display MANY running power averages simultaneously – here is one screen with 7 running power metrics. Just perhaps more than you might ever need. Perhaps. Maybe. OK, DEFINITELY MORE.
Movescount will be de-supported in 2020
Suunto Device Configuration – Suunto App – STRYD Review
The Suunto App is now the only supported way forward for looking at STRYD power data in the Suunto environment.
Running Preparation – Polar – STRYD Review
Running with power with Polar’s V800 or either of the new Vantage models (Vantage V2, V or M or Grit X) is also super-easy as running power is native to Polar
For the V800 you pair as a power meter but you ‘just pair’ STRYD to either Polar Vantage model. You then configure your running profile/data screen via FLOW on the app or online and then run. The Vantage V ADDITIONALLY has its own version of running power with readings taken partly from wrist movements and GPS – Use STRYD in preference to Polar’s native power. Whichever you choose, your watch will use the same data fields.
Flow App Configuration
Flow Online Configuration
Polar also offers an interesting full-screen power display
STRYD Calibration
Source: STRYD
Almost every STRYD user will NOT need to calibrate STRYD. STRYD’s internal sensors are accurate at calculating the displacement of every stride in a responsive and accurate manner. But there are some nuances to this
Users who require calibration
The minority of you who do require calibration should look at this post (link to STRYD.com).
The phrase “Don’t do this,” probably applies to you who are reading this now and contemplating making things ‘just that little bit more accurate‘! Don’t do it!. I warned you!
Watches that over-ride calibration:
Garmin, Suunto, Coros and Polar all have auto-calibration as an option
The complication is that some watches have an auto-calibration function which applies a scaling factor to STRYD’s pace+distance calculations in order to match to the watch’s version of pace and distance that the watch obtains from GPS. On many watches that is not going to be super-accurate and that is why you generally want to force the watch to use STRYD Footpod as the source of pace and distance. This is what you would do for Garmin and the V800.
- Set speed & distance to always be from STRYD
- Set calibration to manual.
- Set the calibration factor to 1.000 (on Polar and Suunto), or 100 (on Garmin).
So if you are comparing your old Garmin or V800 to a new Polar Vantage, then the pace/distance factors may well not tally up if you have an autocalibration factor or manual calibration factor set on your Garmin/V800. You would then think the Vantage was wrong.
Watches that can’t be manually calibrated:
edit: V4.0 firmware of the Vantage series enables manual footpod calibration factors.
I’m not sure what would happen with, say, a Suunto Trainer where STRYD can be auto-calibrated or not calibrated ie NO manual calibration option. If you have already chosen auto-calibration then might that value be kept if you revert to no calibration? (I don’t know)
Calibration Factors Vary By Sport:
The Polar Vantage products store a Footpod calibration figure for each sport. So you will potentially need to set them all to the same value
The STRYD Review on Running With Power
Finally, you can get to run with STRYD!
Let’s look at some suggestions on how you can use POWER when running.
You can use POWER as a simple metric and base your training just on that. It is just a number on a linear scale after all.
You run your 5k one week at 300w and then you try for 302w next week. That kind of thing. Neither a scientific nor overly fruitful approach; but if you went from one flat parkrun 5k course to another muddy and hilly one the next week, you may well appreciate the advantage of pacing by your 5k-power level more than your running buddy who is pacing off HR or PACE. Whilst you won’t be able to do the same time on that new & harder course you SHOULD be able to do the same average power level.
You can also mix up your training and get a new kind of PB/PR. A 5k average power PB – even though you might be slower on a harder course than your time-PB over the same distance. That sounds trivial but it mixes your training up a little and you will soon be getting excited about ‘breakthrough’ sessions where you hit a new power levels for different periods of time.
That concept hold true for any distance or any duration. There are lots of breaktrough-PBs to be had to keep the motivation levels up.
Benefits of Running With Power
A full discussion of running with power is beyond the scope of this review. Here are some great and tangible benefits you can CERTAINLY get from running with power.
Forget Pace, Ignore HR, 10 Reasons To Use Running Power
Running With Power Zones (STRYD Review)
Most people would want a more rigorous approach based on different levels of power/durations that the body can bear. Running in these ‘zones’ will cause the body different physiological adaptations. If you are familiar with training by HR zones, then power zones are a broadly similar approach and the HR and power zones might broadly match each other.
Simplistically, Zone2 power might be for your 75-minute endurance run and Zone5 power might be for your 5 minute, or shorter, intervals. Knowing your Zone 5 power could be quite handy for hills reps couldn’t it? What pace do you run up hills at? All hills at the same pace? Regardless of the gradient? Thought not!
Even if you don’t look at your watch when running hard up a hill you can look at your stats afterwards to quantify your efforts. If it was a 30-second hill then I bet that both your HR and PACE stats for those 30 seconds are largely meaningless…but your power stats will be 100% meaningful (with some minor caveats on running form changes when doing hill reps).
As you know, if you pace by Heart Rate then you will know it’s difficult to answer this question, “How do you pace short 1-minute interval reps?” It will take your heart quite a while to get into the zone that properly reflects your effort. It will take the STRYD Footpod about 3 seconds…just saying. Indeed it might take several 1-minute INTERVALS for your heart to get into the right zone that reflects what your body is doing inside.
Determining Your Power Zones – Automatic
Critical Power/FTP (CP) is now automatically & continuously updated based on your recent workouts also synchronising your power zones – I recommend that most people enable this after using STRYD for a month – ie once enough data is there to auto-calculate the CP and Zones
New STRYD auto-CP calculation
New STRYD Zones
Determining Your Power Zones – Manual Method
But somehow you have to have a starting point to work out your zones. Typically that starting point is your maximum performance at around one hour which can, supposedly, be estimated from a shorter effort.
- Power Zones – cyclists with power meters will know all about FTP and CPs. For running power it will be the same sort of thing, essentially you use fairly short tests to estimate your hour power. STRYD discuss some of the detail and the PRECISE test protocol at <this> link. You can spend a LOT of time reading various pros and cons of different testing protocols that essentially all end up with a similar-enough answer that is actionable.
- This is the recommended STRYD test: “5-800m-5-1200m-30-2400m-10” ie 5 minutes warmup, 800m easy, 5minutes further warmup, 1200m @near-max, 30 minutes very easy jog recovery, 2400m @max, 10 minutes cooldown. You enter the results in your STRYD dashboard to get your zones. Sorted.
- Vance and others give formulae for running power zone calculations that are subtly different from those for cycling power. So beware of using your cycling power spreadsheet. My recommendation is to use the STRYD Zone method
- CP will probably be the same as your best power for your 10k PB. If not exactly the same, it will be VERY close.
- Pace Zones – there are various online running calculators. This is pretty cool Daniels Tables v3: (original source: electricblues.com/html/runpro.html)
- Heart Rate Zones – essentially these are either based on a lab test, which few of you will be able to afford to do sufficiently regularly, or on the last 20 minutes of a flat-out 30-minute test to estimate your lactate threshold heart rate (or similar).
- RPE Zones – rates of perceived effort, these zones have their value too in training and racing. More so than many of you think.
This link shows a spreadsheet to determine your running power zones by ALL of the currently popular methods including STRYD, Palladino, Vance and Polar.
STRYD Running Power Zone Calculators – All of them
Alternative Methods of Determing CP: RunningByNumbers
Running With Zone Alerts
It’s fine having power zones for analysis, training load and planning but using zones whilst you run is another matter. As of Q4.2020, there is only a decent power alerting facility in the Garmin environment (via STRYD’s app), with Zone lock on the Polar Vantage or natively on Coros watches.
Polar has separate Running Power Zones and a nice ZONE LOCK facility.
STRYD Review Showing Zones on Polar Flow
Suunto SPARTAN/Suunto 9 had power zones introduced in May 2018 and alerts are made if these zones are strayed from. There are also workarounds with earlier Suunto AMBITs “…create a long interval training in iPhone app with selecting power as metric. Watch vibrates than if you move out of selected power limit. Just put from zero on the lower limit and this does a job” Source @KUBA
Running With Zone Displays
STRYD has a new Garmin CIQ app which displays your current running power zone.
Polar has a POWER Zone pointer display
Suunto now has Power Zone indications display around the end of the watch face, however, this is not working on the SPARTAN Trainer and maybe other Suunto watches too (Mar 2020)
Planning, Scheduling and Creating Running Power Workouts
It is now possible to create your own complex running power workouts in Training Peaks or Final Surge and execute them on either a recent Garmin watch or the Apple Watch.
2nd April 2020 – as expected STRYD introduce Structured Workout support…more details at this link.
STRYD Structured Workouts – major app update
January 2021 see further updates to the interface used to execute running power workouts in the new STRYD Workout app (for Garmin).
new STRYD Workout App
Post-Run Power Analysis Options
You have to get the data from your watch (or app) to your chosen reporting and analysis platform. It’s straightforward for the more established platforms but moving data beyond Suunto, Polar, STRYD or Garmin’s own environment can be tricky.
General Data Connectivity – Links & Syncs
Moving running power data to a new data platform needs to be approached with a little caution. Running power is NOT UNIVERSALLY seen as an accepted running metric.
You can NOT assume that you will be able to get what you want, where you want it. ‘Running Power’ is not linked from all platforms to all other platforms even if other data might be properly linked. Plus intermediary data moving tools like TAPIRIIK, FITNESSSYNCER, SYNCMYTRACKS and even STRAVA may well not move Running Power data – there are lots of combinations of possible transfer routes and I’ve not checked every link and am nervous to generalise what will and will not work. Especially as this area is evolving.
Yet, the basics and most commonly used links ARE perfectly fine for most people.
You will have captured your data either on your sports watch and/or on your smartphone. With the more recent models of Garmin, Polar and Suunto, your POWER data on your watch will be automatically collected and then sync’d as normal with the watch’s host platform ie Garmin Connect, Polar FLOW or Suunto MOVESCOUNT.
You can then set up STRYD PowerCenter to automatically collect your data and import from
- Garmin Connect
- Suunto (formerly from Movescount)
- Polar Flow
- STRYD App
STRYD PowerCenter can also be used as a staging post to send data to these analysis & planning platforms
- Today’s Plan
- Final Surge
- Training Peaks
- STRAVA*
- 2PEAK
* When I last checked, Running Power data was not sent to STRAVA when STRAVA is only linked to Garmin Connect. Technically it is sent but STRAVA now rejects it.
Specific Aspects of Data Connectivity
TOP TIP: Make sure you use the STRYD app to RECORD>OFFLINE DATA
Polar, Suunto and some older Garmins do NOT store all the extra GAIT metrics eg the Vantage just stores POWER CADENCE and SPEED. That’s fine for Polar FLOW as Polar FLOW couldn’t, for example, display LSS in any case. However what if you want to analyse the data elsewhere?
We will cover some of that in a minute but you should find that STRYD PowerCenter will merge your data cached in the pod with data from the source system (eg Polar FLOW). Thus you can then export your FULL data from PowerCenter to use in Golden Cheetah or Training PEAKS.
If you are using a later Garmin like the Garmin Forerunner 945 then ALL your data should be in your Garmin’s FIT File.
Analysis – STRYD PowerCenter
STRYD have invested heavily in developing the capability of their apps (iOS/Android) and the web version of Power Center. Originally Power Center offered very little to those of us who run with power, however, there are now some great features and insights to be found there. It’s free and definitely worth a look.
STRYD Power Center – 2020, new features
Analysis – Garmin Connect – STRYD Review
Garmin Connect is not too great for analysis. But it does give you a nice, quick view of your data, like this:
The lack of any further analysis in Garmin Connect, rightly, might entice you to visit PowerCenter for further insights as STRYD continue to introduce new features and power training programs. Garmin Connect and Suunto/MOVESCOUNT will likely never have such functionality.
Don’t forget, PowerCenter also sync’s to Training Peaks
Analysis – Suunto (MOVESCOUNT) – STRYD Review
You can perform a little more analysis in Suunto (MOVESCOUNT) than is possible on Garmin Connect. But Suunto is still essentially a reporting/viewing platform for power and other data.
Of course, you can link Suunto/Movescount and GC directly to TP and you can import the FIT/TCX files from Suunto/Garmin directly into SportsTracks or Golden Cheetah. There are LOTS of options now for linking data platforms. You’ll have to check if all the new metrics go with the links on a case-by-case basis.
Analysis – Polar FLOW – STRYD Review
Polar has the best views of power data over the 3 major platforms. Whilst FLOW is NOT a full-blown analysis platform it CERTAINLY offers more power analysis than you will get from Garmin Connect or Suunto/MOVESCOUNT.
As of Nov 2020, Polar correctly displays running power data in FLOW. But if you want to export power data anywhere else then you must do that manually by creating a TCX file. The TCX file IS then properly imported into, for example, Golden Cheetah. Polar FLOW has automatic links to STRAVA and TRAINING PEAKS but I have not checked if the power data is automatically sent there.
Analysis – Golden Cheetah, TrainingPeaks PowerCenter
There are VERY MANY kinds of advanced analyses and insights to be gleaned from running with power. The analysis platforms mentioned in the title all offer analysis to varying degrees of awesomeness. STRYD’s PowerCenter is free. Golden Cheetah is free but the data analysis gets real complex, real quick. TRAINING PEAKS is well-known, comprehensive but comes at a price.
If you intend to train by power, you should at some point familiarise yourself with a CP curve, like the following example images show. Once you get your head around logarithmic time scales and power durations rather than pace or speed over linear time scales, a CP curve WILL make sense and WILL be useful for many exciting evenings alone in front of your computer 🙂
For the cyclists: one thing I have personally found with running CP curves is that there is much less variation from the highs that can be achieved to lows of CPs over 60/90 minutes. Mainly because cycling supports your bodyweight. Thus running power curves are much flatter AND THE RUNNING ZONES MUCH NARROWER. Running CP curves also tend to be more ‘stepped’ from those I’ve seen.
STRYD have also introduced CP curves to their PowerCenter platform online. PowerCenter has some REALLY nice features but is a little temperamental at times on Internet Explorer/Safari (use Chrome). As shown below STRYD’s CP curve is MUCH more colourful and includes a clever heat map of all your efforts.
PowerCenter also includes new metrics to show you want kinds of training you need to be performing to help you towards your race goal. this is REALLY GREAT INSIGHT – ACTIONABLE too!
Other Running Power Software Analysis Options
- Golden Cheetah – Free, open-source
- Final Surge – Free, includes POWER structured workout creation and scheduling
- TrainingPeaks – Free (Premium @$10/mo)
- WKO4 – $169
- Strive.ai – A great and straightforward tool to help you improve performances. It also alerts you to PEAK THRESHOLD breakthroughs and the like. It DOES work for STRYD via the iOS app and Garmin Connect even though strive is STRAVA-focussed.
- Xertonline.com is a very interesting platform and turns FTP/CP on its head, looking at it from a different perspective. They ‘know’ what maximum power you have available at any given moment and your efforts are quantified and guided by that knowledge. I use it for my cycling power stats but, unfortunately, it can’t handle run AND bike stats. So you either need two accounts or just a running account if you want to use STRYD and a bike power meter. (Xert stuff from me here)
- Runalyze.com – nice platform and interesting analysis tool. Even nicer is the cost…FREE
Example Run – Running Up a Hill
How well can you and I do it in practice? This STRYD Review made me take a look.
Let’s run up my favourite hill in stats.
For me, running on the flat, it seemed that 300w was somewhere close to 3:50/km. So I endeavoured to maintain 300w for the near flat at the bottom of the hill and the same power up the hill and then over the crest of the hill.
To give you an idea of the hill; if you were running DOWN this hill it’s one of those where you have to let go and hope, it’s shortish and steepish. If you were going up it on an otherwise flat run it would rank as ‘short but unpleasant’. It was about 2 and a half minutes long at this speed and gaining 30 vertical metres.
The change (drop) in speed required to hold 300w was considerable. From somewhere around 4:00/km at the start the steepest and hardest part of the hill had me going at 6:00/km. OK, I was trying to focus on a watch and run and maintain effort so the numbers bounced about a bit. You can see that the orange power line is vaguely flat varying from 300w+/-15w (5% or so).
I would say 4 things about this
- This is broadly indicative of the sort of thing that the STRYD Footpod can tell you ie you should probably be running a LOT slower up hills if you want to maintain a constant effort
- As with cycling what I have noticed is that people can regulate efforts WITHOUT A POWER METER quite well for half of the hill or so. But, with the end in sight, people often tend to up the effort even more (when they are already going faster than they should). Typically they make it to the top before you and then grin. They’re grinning because they beat you but they have taken a lot out of themselves. In a hilly race, you WILL catch people like this, of a similar ability, after a few hills. YOU tend to power smoothly over the apex and keep the same effort going.
- You can use HR for this but, with a 30 second or so, lag it’s not quite as effective.
- Running by RPE/feel works if you are ‘at one with yourself’. Typically we aren’t! and, as pointed out on the second point, the competitive urge often kicks in.
Hill Pacing Strategy in the STRYD Review
Generally, in a ‘time trial’ on the flat and in ideal conditions, where it is you against the clock, the best strategy is to aim for your critical power for the likely duration.
However, if you are racing other people or if there are hills then the reality is that you will need to exceed your target critical power at times. Your ‘normal’ training is likely to be sufficient to allow some variation around your critical power. However, if you expect to encounter LOTS of hills in your race then you will need to reflect that in your training. I suppose that is stating the obvious. But the point I would like to make here is that power metrics can cover these types of scenarios/issues if you really get into running/cycling with power.
Other power metrics exist for this like NGP:avgpower but they are out of scope here.
Treadmill Running
I run infrequently on treadmills and so things don’t need to be so accurate for me.
You should probably set the incline to 1% and you will probably find that changing the incline at a given speed does not change the power you see. You will probably also find a much smoother power track is recorded than when outdoors.
For less than a couple of weeks, I just live with the fact that my recorded power numbers will likely be a bit lower and that I won’t bother calibrating one of the many treadmills in the gym. However, if you are training all winter indoors consider all the points in this key resource
Key Resource: from1runner2another
Consider also: NPE RUNN Review Treadmill Sensor
Special STRYD Running Form Metrics
Many/most casual runners neglect consideration of their running form. One of the points of those long slow miles is to increase your aerobic efficiency BUT also to increase the efficiency of your FORM AND ALSO to reduce the risk of injury.
There are probably some relatively quick gains to be made here with aerobic training but also lots of rather elusive ones. Tread carefully.
If you are looking at power for running then maybe you have plateaued and are desperately looking for something that might make you faster. Anything! 🙂
Once your stride length/cadence are in a ‘sensible zone’ then it becomes much less clear which ‘efficiency metric’ is the next best one to look at. Even if you look at the next best metric and it tells you X%, then you are not so sure what to do about it. Normally to improve on X% involves running faster. That “insight” doesn’t really help.
STRYD adds the new metrics of Leg Spring Stiffness (LSS) and Form Power (FP) to existing ones of vertical oscillation (VO), cadence, and ground contact time (GCT/GT).
- FP is the power produced by the essence of your form alone, ignoring everything else. Lower is better.
- LSS: Stiffer muscles/tendons require less energy to move you forward. Higher is better.
- GCT: Is the amount of time your foot is on the ground, try to lower it
- VO: Is how much you bounce, try to lower it.
The metrics probably don’t tell you what you are doing wrong and how to improve it, instead, they will probably gradually improve over time as you train more (and as you get faster!).
Note well: Plyometrics, strength work, anaerobic intervals including VO2max intervals are all likely to help improve your form over time. Do those…or just keep plodding along in zone 3 – your call.
It is possible to experiment and attempt to change your form slightly whilst running at a constant pace – for example, on a treadmill. If you find your power DROPS when you change your technique on a treadmill (and the pace is the same) then, in theory, you might have found a way to increase your running form efficiency. It might be worth experimenting but I am not entirely convinced by that argument.
ACCURACY
With the arrival of RunScribe Plus Power, Polar Power and Garmin Running Power I am somewhat disappointed that these power measures simply do not tally – AT ALL. They will probably never tally. You can’t scale one to the other. Have a look at this.
COMPARISON IS FUTILE.
But I tried comparisons regardless! Just for you 😉 Actually, I tried comparisons quite a few times and proved to myself that you just can’t compare these different technologies. Although perhaps more importantly if you switch from one to the other then your historical data will become instantly meaningless. That’s one reason why I won’t switch from STRYD as, to me, it seems to best reflect my true effort
Polar Vantage V Power vs RunScribe Plus vs STRYD vs Garmin Running Power
I know. What if you do the same thing again. Will the results differ? (No!) Here is a similar test I performed when Coros released their on-wrist power calculations which some others seemed to think produced similar power data to Stryd.
Running Power – Comparison – A Windy, Hilly Run with Coros, Garmin, STRYD, Polar
STRYD have their own validations and have stats to demonstrate their accuracy against the true metabolic cost of running. Naturally, the vendors all have such information to some degree.
STRYD claim that their product produces power data that DOES correlate to a true metabolic cost measured by VO2max. It’s a convincing argument and they have, in my mind, convincingly refuted all studies to the contrary
Is STRYD accurate on a variety of surface conditions? There are independent validations like this one (pdf)
Race Day Planning
STRYD has now introduced a race day and event planning tool which lets you model race day conditions and possible finish times. As your CP progresses with training then yoru race day power target adjusts accordingly.
STRYD Race Calculator 🥇Event Planner
Alternatives to STRYD
I’ve just mentioned that there are other technologies out there (with more to come).
Since Q4.2018 RunScribe PLUS has their dual-sided RUNNING POD working live with Suunto and Garmin CIQ. However, RunScribe has mostly withdrawn from the consumer side of the market, although you can still buy it.
Also in Q4.2018 Polar announced their own Power Calculations from the WRIST on the Vantage V and Vantage V2. Both Vantage V, M, V2 and Grit X still natively support STRYD.
Garmin announced ‘Garmin Running Power‘ formally in Q4.2017. I don’t see this ever being a viable alternative to STRYD as a ‘pro’ training tool. The Garmin power figures are partly derived from GPS pace and are thus highly variable. You could use a footpod to improve accuracy but then what is the most accurate footpod? A: STRYD. Go figure.
There are alternatives for looking at your running form including stats and feedback from Runscribe Plus, LUMO Body, Garmin’s HRM-RUN, SHFT, Runteq’s ZOI and others. WatchOS users might also consider Power2Run .
These two tables list the headline differences between the 4 major Running Power players. As you can see STRYD will work on most of your existing watches. I need to add the Apple Watch to this and Zone Lock support (Stryd doesn’t do this) and maybe even mention Coros on-wrist power too.
More explanation of this chart here.
Adding in Polar’s own power calculations, this table compares the pros and cons of the 4 major running with power solutions. Overall STRYD probably wins if you ignore cost but you might have a specific need or preference for one of the other solutions.
Overall I would say that STRYD probably is the best running power meter. However, Coros’s (free) Running Power clearly wins on cost ! and RunScribe Plus would win if you would specifically interested in gait metrics. The inbuilt running power meter in the Polar Vantage V/V2 would win for ‘ease of use’ as there are no additional components to pair, remember and charge, same is true for Coros.
STRYD vs Garmin Footpod – Differences Between STRYD and Garmin Footpod
I have several Garmin footpods and used to use them a lot before the arrival of STRYD. If you think STRYD is over-priced then Garmin’s footpods are also over-priced at $70 for what they are. And ‘what they are‘ is LESS THAN what STRYD is.
- A Garmin footpod does not supply RUNNING POWER data and nor does it provide more unusual running gait metrics that you find in STRYD. Having said that the Garmin footpod can be used as a source of pace for Garmin Running Power and that will improve the accuracy of Garmin’s power calculation somewhat.
- STRYD is more accurate than a Garmin footpod for pace and distance.
- Other than your height and weight, STRYD requires no calibration
- Garmin footpods effectively require calibration at each pace you intend to run at. You don’t have to do that but you will lose accuracy if you do not. On the other hand, the Garmin footpod will still improve and stabilise pace when compared to pace from a Garmin GPS device.
- The Garmin Footpod has a coin cell battery with a long battery life whereas STRYD is rechargeable
- Both are a broadly similar size, weight and mounting method. The Garmin mount is more secure and durable.
- Garmin’s pod is only ANT+, STRYD is BLE and ANT+. STRYD can thus provide pace/distance/cadence to Zwift Run, whereas Garmin would need an additional ANT+ BLE dongle to do that.
- Garmin also makes the RD-POD which has running dynamics and this is particularly intended to companion a modern Garmin watch with an oHRM. I’m not sure of the accuracy of the RD-POD. My gut feeling would be that accuracy with the RD-POD is poorer than the regular Garmin pod.
3rd Party CIQ Data Field Awesomeness
There are some very nice people out there who are developing stuff for us to use for free. Partly to address some of the shortcomings of Garmin’s native support for Running Power. If you know of any other interesting and useful RUNNING POWER related data fields/apps please let me know in the comments below and I will add to this list.
@Joop tells me that STRYD’s ANT+ is private and cannot be used by developers. 3rd party developers are then exposed to working within the remaining memory constraints of each device. Thus developers typically create new functionality via Data Fields for the display of metrics whilst also having the STRYD data field running in the background.
- 16kB Watches – Forerunner 920XT, Fenix 3, Fenix 3HR
- 32kB Watches – Fenix 5, Fenix 5S, Garmin Forerunner 935
- 128kB Watches – Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X Plus, Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 5S Plus.
Here are some Data Fields
- DataRun (links to garmin.com) and here is the manual (link to manual) – adds lots of fields on one screen partially to get around the limitation of only having 2 active CIQ data fields (?), certainly around the Garmin 935‘s limitation of only allowing 4 data fields per page (Some Fenix 6 models allow 6 or 8 data fields per page)
- Power Run by FlowState (links to Garmin.com). This allows RUN POWER alerts, display of custom calcs and more. I’m going to look at this. It looks very interesting.
- Appbuilder also by flowstate (links to Garmin.com). Build your own custom calcs to display on-screen eg FORM POWER-to power would be a good efficiency ratio. Details: blogspot
- PowerDashBoard (links to Garmin.com).
STRYD and the Apple Watch
STRYD have developed their own app for iOS that also works on WatchOS ie it works on the Apple Watch. I’ve used it on earlier Apple Watches and plan to use it some more in 2020/21.
It’s a sweet little app and here are some screenshots from the app in 2018 from just before it was released, so it will have changed a little from the current version.
You can read more about the
STRYD Rolls out Apple Watch Training Service – Garmin too | STRYD Membership for 2021
STRYD and Android’s WearOS
Currently, only you have the choice of using a third-party app on WearOS devices, most notably the Sporty Go app, although Ghost Racer should also work, I had no success with it.
With the introduction of the Suunto 7, WearOS can now be found there too. Suunto’s app (as of January 2020) does not support STRYD. However, I am clarifying if other WearOS apps, ie those I just mentioned, will work on the Suunto 7 OR IF the Suunto 7 hardware itself has restrictions on 3rd party sensor support.
STRYD and Samsung Gear
Again, you can use the Sporty Go app on Samsung Gear: here
Spares, Accessories & Add-ons
You can buy the following spares from the STRYD store
- Spare FOOT POD clip ($5)
- Spare wireless charger ($25, no longer sold)
- Spare wired charger ($15)
- Shoe pouch as a cradle replacement, 3rd party vendor. ($25, Amazon)
Interesting Points, Tips and Issues
Here are some points to consider.
Good points – STRYD Review
- SUPER accurate running pace from STRYD has now been independently verified by other reviewers and STRYD owners almost all say it is the most accurate
- Power averages are taken over 5 steps or about 10 seconds. STRYD can be set to transmit various averages to Garmin watches via the app settings in Garmin Express.
- No calibration is required. Enable auto-calibration and always being used as a source of pace and distance if your watch allows that setting – this is true for 99% of you and it’s what I do.
- Do not change your weight setting in the app, indeed if you automatically sync your weight to the STRYD app from Apple Health then disable that feature. The data you get will be more actionable if you keep your weight setting unchanged and will naturally better reflect the subtle changes in your power and weight over time. Even if you were carrying one litre/one kg of fluids I would still not change the weight setting. The only exception to this would be if you were carrying unusual weight, such as a backpack.
- As of April 2017 pod calibration was introduced on SPARTANs.
- As of Jun 2017 manual (and automatic), pod calibration is possible with Polar’s V800.
- October 2019 now has manual calibration on the Polar Vantage V2/M/V
- You can calibrate for pace through the STRYD app on your smartphone. I would suggest calibrating in ideal conditions for GPS reception.
- Unlike Garmin footpods, shoe type/stack/drop or running speed do not seem to affect calibration.
- Footpod devotees might want to look at fellrnr’s footpod calibration tool but I do not think that calibration makes much difference and I see no need to do that.
- Unlike STRYD’s earlier chest strap model, you can now use STRYD in triathlon alongside your HRM-TRI and bike power meter which respectively records all the lovely HR stuff for swimming and cycling power when cycling.
- The LED blinks twice for a new connection or disconnection. A faster blink means ‘charge it now’ or more precisely:
- Low battery: The LED will double blink every second. Place the device on charge.
- Bluetooth Connections: The LED will double-blink when (dis-)connected to/from. This does not apply to ANT+.
- Power-on: When placing a fully discharged unit on charge, it will power-on and there will be five short blinks in quick succession during the power-on sequence.
- STRYD report their footpod device to better reflect real power levels compared to the chest strap STRYD when measured in their labs. Anecdotally I agree as do other reviewers/runners elsewhere on the net.
- STRYD handles thick elasticated laces, unlike other footpods. Looping through 3 or 4 lengths is recommended
- Since 2016, internally, the footpod is known as the STRYD SUMMIT – now you know. The chest strap was called STRYD PIONEER.
- Data metrics are broadcast over both ANT+ and Bluetooth SMART channels. Multiple, simultaneous pairings are possible.
- When running UPHILL you will find that you have to run a LOT slower than you would imagine maintaining a constant effort. Even if you have a target power you might still want to go slightly over that target (5%) when going uphill in a race.
- When running UPHILL you will probably find that is when you can produce the most power ie more than when running super fast on the flat. Generally, many people find that true in cycling too. Hill reps are a good way to increase your power whilst also improving your technique AND whilst having a lower risk of injury than speedy reps on the road.
- Many of the metrics are the same or similar to other devices (HRM-RUN and Runscribe). I have compared them here, here and elsewhere on this blog.
- The unit weighs less than 10g and is fully rechargeable giving >20 hours of continuous running time. It leaves battery saving mode when your running CADENCE is detected. A 2018 firmware update prevented STRYD’s battery from being topped up, this was to extend the overall STRYD battery life.
- STRYD is sufficiently waterproof for normal running. Perhaps running in a knee-deep stream for 30 minutes might be pushing the limits. (Officially 30 minutes at 1m)
- STRYD has approximately 9-10 hours of workout storage on the device. That’s irrelevant if you are using a sports watch and sufficient if you frequently sync with the app.
- STRYD uses proximity pairing on their app. When pairing with the app the first thing in the list should be the closest.
Other Points & Tips – STRYD Review
- Whilst STRYD does take ground conditions and slope into account it will not do so at the extremes. ie if you are either running on ice or running through mud then you (will fall over) get incorrect readings
- STRYD takes account of actual wind. Garmin attempts to take into account WIND from weather forecasts. Watch-based power solutions from Coros and Polar do not account for wind at all.
- STRYD does work on treadmills. Make sure you input the INCLINE into any of the STRYD apps (Apple, CIQ, smartphone).
- Moving STRYD from shoe-to-shoe is mildly inconvenient. That’s why I have 3x Garmin footpods. But 3x STRYDs would be a considerable investment, especially if/when STRYD move to dual-sided power.
- The STRYD Running Power Meter has a battery life of about 15-17 hours (officially 20) which is good for most running needs except those of ULTRA runners. It seems to re-charge quickly, although I’ve never timed it. Charging ‘on-the-run’ is not possible.
- The charging light goes off when STRYD is fully charged.
- Some users cite dropouts when worn on an opposite foot to the watch eg left foot and right wrist. I never find that and always wear it like that.
- From the STRYD app, you might also want to optionally check that STRYD is set to cache data on the pod as you run – just in case. This enables another route for you to get your data sent through to the STRYD power centre dashboard AND for analysing some of the cleverer metrics which will not find their way into your 3rd party sports data platform.
- At present only one STRYD device can be paired with the STRYD app.
- AMBIT Tip: Get pace and distance from STRYD. Then set GPS accuracy to the lowest level (as it will be overridden by STRYD). That will extend your battery life.
- Garmin & Suunto 9/SpartanTip: Like the previous AMBIT tip, set your GPS to the lowest setting to save battery. ie having GLONASS enabled DOES increase power consumption.
- SPARTAN Tip: pair as a FOOTPOD from 17 October 2017 onwards – delete the old pairing first, just in case.
- Calibration Tip: Don’t bother trying to configure it on your watch! Just set your weight correctly on the app and sync that through to STRYD. You will probably spend a long time trying to manually calibrate for VERY little if any, improvement.
- DATA RECOVERY TIP: Embarrassingly I once forgot my watch for a race. Embarrassingly I also got a PB/PR. If you have caching enabled via the app then you will at least be able to recover your power data after the race. That’s one tip this STRYD Review can quietly pass on 😉 Ssssh.
- STRYD absolutely DOES take into ground conditions AND slope. It is not the same as Grade Adjusted Pace. Although there are obvious similarities.
FAQ – STRYD Review
This is ‘wasted’ power from running. It’s related to vertical oscillation and you want to reduce it to increase your running efficiency
The Stryd battery lasts 20 hours
A full charge takes 3 hours, a quick 30-minute charge is usually sufficient for you to quickly use Stryd.
Stryd is equally as accurate on a treadmill when using your normal recording device on a treadmill providing there is a 0% or 1% incline. For a steeper incline tell the stryd CIQ app/ apple watch app or Stryd app the incline.
Yes. Even an uncalibrated Stryd is more accurate than GPS in most scenarios
Yes. Stryd works best with the Garmin CIQ data field called Stryd Zones. Most Garmin watches from the last few years will support it.
Yes. The Stryd app for the Apple Watch is a very powerful and feature-rich app
No. Stryd does not normally need any calibration. Calibration MAY slightly improve accuracy.
Yes. Stryd is IP67 compliant but is not designed to run in streams.
Stryd measures distance with an onboard accelerometer. It also has other sensors.
Stryd’s sensors measure all the 3d forces, impacts and accelerations to calculate the power using standard equations
Stryd’s sensors measure all the 3d forces, impacts and accelerations to calculate the power using standard equations which are validated against the metabolic cost of your running.
Usually, you install the Stryd Zones CIQ data field, wear the pod and run. Stryd even self-pairs to the data field.
Complete your profile in the Stryd app giving your correct height and weight. Usually, you then would install the Stryd Zones CIQ data field, wear the pod and run. Stryd even self-pairs to the data field.
Stryd starts itseld when it detects your RUNNING cadence. You can also tap it to wake it up.
Place the cradle under 2 or 3 laces at the toe-end of your running shoe and properly attach the pod to the cradle. Complete your profile in the Stryd app giving your correct height and weight. Usually, you then would install the Stryd Zones CIQ data field, wear the pod and run. Stryd even self-pairs to the data field.
Normally you do not calibrate Stryd. If you want to then the calibration factor is actual distance/recorded distance. For example, 400m/402m, where 402m is the average distance from several laps of running 30cm from the inside of Lane 1 on a standard 400m running track. Enter the result into the calibration section of the Stryd footpod.
You have to weigh up the value of accurate pace, power and running gait metrics to you. Stryd is expensive but it is also the most accurate sensor. If you just want some consistency in pace and distance then buy a Polar Stride Pod or a Garmin Footpod, neither of those will be as accurate as Stryd but they will be more accurate than GPS if you can properly calibrate them (Stryd requries no calibration).
Futures – STRYD Review
In my opinion Running Power will grow in popularity significantly through 2021 and beyond. There may be more new entrants with now pod-based hardware. However we ar emost likely to see further refinement from vendors using on-the-wrist calculations of power. These rely on GPS to some degree and hence will be wrong.
STRYD’s Future – STRYD Review
STRYD’s product range will be significantly developed over the coming years on the back of significant outside VC investment. As of Q4.2020, we have seen many improvements with the platform and POD – both are now at a ‘complete’ state, although refinement is always possible.
- I hope we shall also see the automatic detection of treadmill incline (currently do it via the app)
- My guess is that STRYD might also introduce new metrics into the FIT file like TEMPERATURE
- The most likely NEW development is dual-sided power and accompanying duplicate/aggregate versions of the existing metrics.
- Work will continue to expand on the wealth of power insights on the STRYD data platform (online+app)
MARKET FUTURE – STRYD Review
New entrants will drive innovation.
The key to success for a new entrant is 3rd party validation; full Garmin CIQ data field compatibility; triathlon-readiness; built within a long-lasting product format.
Don’t expect this market to evolve like cycling power meters. Cycling power meters essentially all strive for the same ‘correct’ power figure. Cycle Power is a more mechanically derived figure upon which there is general agreement as to what is ‘correct’.
Note well: Running power will NOT be like that. So I would expect that you will NOT be able to switch between technologies as the numbers will be different. This was true for STRYD going from their chest strap to their Footpod.
ONE of the reasons for the differences in power is that the STRYD Running Power Meter aims to asses the true metabolic cost of running whereas other approaches include the recoiled power from the lower leg.
Further Research – STRYD Review
- Competitor.com have good look at a 2:16:00 marathoner’s race power.
- RECOMMENDED: STRYD’s own White Paper about their new metrics is a good sports-science based read for those of you looking at that type of training you need to do to improve.
- RECOMMENDED: STRYD’s white paper looking at the effects of wind
- STRYD’s Critical Power Test (I recommend you use the automatic calculation method instead of this)
- In 2018 STRYD produced the Running With Power Manual, this is more of a ‘how to train with power‘ document than a ‘functions and features’ document. So it’s worth a look for power newbies.
- For a technical review of STRYD’s Running Power MEter model, you will need to head over to Ron George’s site if you want to talk about GOVSS, EESA and STRYD.
Current Anomalies
As at Nov2020 I would note the following:
- There are unsolvable issues with the Garmin Fenix 5 and Fenix 5s (just those exact two models). The issue is that the Fenix 5 and 5S are unable to always receive some ANT+ signals including those of STRYD, STAGES and others too. These issues are hardware-dependent at the Garmin end and not able to be changed. STRYD v4 has a more powerful antenna and may rectify this for the Fenix 5+/5S+ (not tested)
- STRAVA has disabled Running Power support. It used to work but STRAVA could not keep running power and cycling power separate.
- XERT requires two accounts. One for running power and one for cycling power. I think you can get an extra free one for that purpose if you ask Armando nicely.
Handling Data Corruptions & Data Losses – STRYD Review
I probably get a corrupt FIT file a year where I can’t access my STRYD power data.
- Fit File Repair Tool does fix most FIT file corruptions that can be fixed.
- Read this if you still have problems.
Summary & Further Comments
In this STRYD Review we’ve found that the STRYD Running Power Meter is a highly functional device that pretty much works as it should. It wears well, it fits seamlessly into how many of us currently work with sports data and the data is both consistent, actionable and sufficiently open across all the key vendor platforms.
The STRYD Running Power Meter is unusual-looking but that’s not important. STRYD’s PowerCenter (Q4.2020) is now well-designed and useful; again, not important if you are going to use the STRYD with Garmin Connect, Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah or other 3rd party platforms.
- The Garmin environment is good-to-go with STRYD – providing you get a CIQ-enabled watch.
- Polar’s environment is good to go with the V800 and Vantage models. Expect improvements in 2020.
- Suunto’s Spartan, 5 and 9 watches now work nicely with STRYD albeit without calibration.
- The Apple Watch 6 STRYD App works well.
- Running with the STRYD app to get data to STRYD PowerCenter is also perfectly sensible for those of you who carry smartphones
Running with power has hopefully reached a critical mass and there is a broad acceptance from that mass of runners/coaches on how to train for running with power zones.
STRYD give actionably-accurate instant pace figures. Other reviewers and runners now generally agree.
STRYD’s new form-metrics look compelling but the truth behind how compelling they are will be in the ability of committed runners to understand them and use them to improve form.
In this STRYD Review, we found a relatively expensive but useful accessory – especially for a data-driven runner/triathlete or even for those endurance runners who feel the need to gain a competitive edge on non-flat ground.
Is it worth updating your watch to this year’s model to get 5 new features that you won’t use OR is it best to, instead, get new and more accurate data that might provide additional benefits above what you currently have? ie Don’t upgrade your watch…buy a STRYD!
I use it for most runs. I like it.
Price, Availability & STRYD Discount Code 2020
STRYD Black Friday 2020 Discount Code UK, USA, EU ⚡🏃⚡ Best Ever
I use STRYD regularly each week and would say it’s definitely worth it for me.
ALTERNATIVES: Some other running systems claim to produce power. The only ones worth considering as of Nov 2020 are RunScribe Plus (pod), Polar Vantage V2 or V (watch) and Garmin Running Powerhttps://the5krunner.com/2018/01/31/garmin-running-power-updated/ (app). If you want to proceed with STRYD then the following are your buying options and these mostly include local shipping and taxes but not international shipping.
- 🇺🇸 STRYD USA: $219
- 🇪🇺 New Running Gear: £199/Eu219 – Eu Fulfimment – no import taxes
- 🇪🇺 Amazon UK: £205 – UK Fulfilment – no import taxes
- 🇪🇺 STRYD Europe: $199 – Eu Fulfimment – no import taxes
- 🇪🇺 Amazon Europe – Eu 219-Eu249
- 🇺🇸 Amazon USA – Normally not sold
I partner directly with STRYD in the USA and with New Running Gear (the EU/UK distributor – my preferred EU partner).
Apps are at the end of your sports profiles STRYD Discount Code 2020: STRYD coupons, promotions and discounts rarely happen. In 2017/18, there has been a relatively small discount if you buy 2 as part of a Black Friday deal and in 2019/20 there was 10% off one but that’s it, another other deal periods. New Running Gear, above, is no longer able to offer my the5krunner10 10% discount however they are allowed to offer excellent bundled deals when you buy STRYD with a new watch.
Reader-Powered Content
This content is not sponsored. It's mostly me behind the labour of love which is this site, meaning it's entirely reader-powered content ❤️ I'd really appreciate it if you'd follow, subscribe or Buy Me A Coffee ❤️ Alternatively please buy the reviewed product from my partners (which costs you no extra) and, for that, I receive a small commission. Thank you!
