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STRYD after 3000 miles, a Runner’s Review from 2019 to 2022 – Running Power Meter Pod

Here is the STRYD Footpod ‘Bible’, a review after over 3000 miles of training with the latest STRYD running power meter. This is a comprehensive review 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: 11 July 2022

Let’s start with a quick summary of some of the key points of the review and please use the table of contents further below to skip ahead to STRYD feature sections that most interest you. If you have come here for a STRYD discount you will most likely be out of luck. Your best bet for a STRYD discount in the USA, UK or EU is around Black Friday when you will get 10% – try this link to stryd.com for their Black Friday deal.

In Brief

Product Name: STRYD

Product Description: Running Power Meter footpod

Brand: STRYD

[ Manufacturer Details ]

• Price - 85%
  85%
• Usefulness - 90%
  90%
• Apparent Accuracy - 99%
  99%
• Compatability - 90%
  90%

91%

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.

With the updates in late 2021, the STRYD platform and its pod is a complete offering from training planning through to race execution and workout analyses. Don’t worry about the Member subscription tier, only a very few of you will need those premium planning features.

You can choose to immerse yourself in every aspect of training with power or tick off the quick wins by getting used to the super-accurate pace figures that STRYD will give you – a more accurate pace than EVERY GPS watch EVER.

It’s almost certain that your 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 have flaws.

If you want to follow power running plans or create your own complex workouts & plans, now you can. There are great insights and analysis features on STRYD’s free PowerCenter or on nearly all the other platforms like Final Surge, Training Peaks, Garmin Connect, Polar Flow, Suunto app and the Coros app.

Finding a Stryd Discount is a rare thing, there’s usually a 10% Black Friday deal.

 

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 seems expensive for a pod but add in the great app and watch-based apps then I reckon it’s good value.
• Garmin need to improve native support for the running power metric (STRYD’s CIQ functionality is a great workaround)

• Local Amazon Link
• USA Manufacturer Link

How STRYD has changed my running

I’m a 90% 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 targetting pace, I always use the accurate instant pace figures that the STRYD pod produces.

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!

For me, the best aspect of the STRYD Footpod is that it integrates into all the sports platforms I use. For most sports 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.

There are many ways that STRYD could help your running, I use it for these

• 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 STRYD’s watchOS app on my Apple Watch 7 (check the review).
• I analyse my running power data in Golden Cheetah and STRYD’s Powercenter
• I follow structured workouts from a plan with power alerts

A Brief History Of Running With Power

Stryd is the most-used Running Power platform and is based on a single footpod. The first iteration was a clip-on pod for the waist and then came a chest strap. Stryd considers its 3rd generation footpod to be the best and most accurate hardware approach which it subsequently refined to add a wind sensor. More recent approaches are based on calculations made within watches but that is a calculation of convenience rather than a necessarily better or more accurate approach.

Neither Garmin nor Polar has a foot pod that determines power. The only other consumer running power pod is from Coros, although Runscribe still partially competes as a power pod but its main strength is as a dual-sided gait tool for professional gait labs.

The dominant trend now for running power is for it to be fully calculated using sensors within a sports watch. Garmin started this trend over 5 years ago and also requires you to use an RD-POD or HRM. Polar, Coros and Suunto all have proprietary approaches to calculate their own flavour of power within some of their watches. In June 2022, Apple announced that it will also produce a version of power.

Running power can probably never be directly measured and so algorithms are used to calculate it. There is no accepted standard for that calculation and two broad approaches are used. Stryd is validated against the ‘metabolic cost’ of running and probably uses the External Energy Summation Approach (EESA) whereas others use the Gravity Ordered Velocity Stress Score (GOVSS). Neither is accepted as correct and each produces significantly different results. Every GOVSS approach has different results although some are similar.

All the sports watch makers offer a ‘native’ solution which means that their own proprietary power is incorporated throughout the platform for example supporting power-based running plans and power-based alerts. However Coros, Suunto and Polar also support Stryd as a fully integrated alternative to their own proprietary power. Until 2022, Garmin did not do this and so Stryd has built its platform around Garmin CIQ (apps) and this enables Stryd to work on every Garmin watch but, for example, Stryd has to create its own power alerting mechanism on a Garmin watch rather than using the alerts that are already there for cadence and pace.

With the Garmin Forerunner 955, Garmin effectively pre-installed its existing running power apps on the watch and added some reporting structures and workout/alert features at the same time

In the Apple Watch environment, Stryd has its own app that supports its wider ecosystem but has no similar solution for Google’s Wear OS, where 3rd parties offer alternatives that work with Stryd.

Apple has also announced its intention to show running power on the Apple Watch Series 4 to Series 8 in August/September 2022.

Running Power is finally mainstream.

Alongside all of this, there are numerous apps that claim to calculate and display power in various ways.

Thus we are in the situation where there is no accepted standard that defines power nor ANT+ standards to integrate it into Garmin watches. Considering there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who use running power this is a strange situation.

In The Box

STRYD comes with two shoe-lace clips (1x orange, 1x black) and a wired charging cradle.  

Watch Compatibility for the STRYD Review

STRYD is broadly compatible with almost every £/$200 BLE and ANT+ Sports Watch. Is your watch 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:

1. Running Power – You all want this. Some running watches can provide support for STRYD power natively or via Garmin CIQ or via an Apple app 
2. Pace & Distance from STRYD – this basically means treadmill compatible
3. 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
4. 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+/6/7/935/945/955 are fine.
• Suunto – Ambit 2 & Ambit 3
• Polar – V800, Grit X (+Pro), Vantage M/M2 & Vantage V (+Titan), Vantage V2, Pacer Pro
• Apple Watch – via STRYD Watch OS , also iSmoothRun
• 3rd party Samsung Gear apps also consider Gear Tracker app.
• WearOS apps –Sporty Go app and 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), or a high-end Garmin and a STRYD CIQ app.

You might want to read this article for the following Suunto watches as you may need to bypass Suunto’s FusedSpeed

• Suunto 9/9Peak, 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 July 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.

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.
• Knowing 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 just as they would do with pace/speed.
• 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 have 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 gap. 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 the watch and STRYD silently pairs itself!
  • Apple Watch: install the STRYD Watch OS app.

Legacy pairing can be easy or tricky. Pair by ANT+ to your Garmin or by Bluetooth SMART to the app on your smartphone. As a rule-of-thumb, pair STRYD as a FOOTPOD, not a POWER METER.

• Recommended: For newer Garmins, pair STRYD as a footpod (optional) then set STRYD as the source of pace and distance. Do NOT pair as a power meter.
• For Wahoo ELEMNT Rival – just pair it (as of July 2021 there are no other options)
• Polar Vantage V/V2, M/M2, Pacer Pro & Grit X – just pair it
• Suunto 5 or Suunto 9 – pair as a footpod
• 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 it 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!) be it ‘Real-Time Power’ or one of several longer average power-durations. I mostly use Real-Time Power and I 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 – 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 the Vantage models (Vantage V2, V, M2 or M or Grit X) is easy because running power is native to Polar

For the V800, pair Stryd 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 V2 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 that applies a scaling factor to STRYD’s pace+distance calculations in order to match the watch’s version of pace and distance that the watch obtains from GPS. On many watches, this is inaccurate 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 will not match if the (auto-)calibration factors are different.

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 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 and these breakthrough sessions are meaningul markers of running improvement.

Benefits of Running With Power

A full discussion of running with power is beyond the scope of this review. Here are 10 tangible benefits you get from running with 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. 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. It will take the STRYD Footpod about 3 seconds.

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

Determining Your Power Zones – Manual Method

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.

My personal view is that your 10K power PB is probably very similar your critical power/rFTP. For sub-40 runners your 10K power PB can be adjusted based on the time to give a more accurate estimation of rFTP (it will be something like 0.97*10Kaverage power for very good runners)

This link shows a spreadsheet to determine your running power zones by ALL of the currently popular methods including STRYD, Palladino, Vance and Polar.

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. The watch vibrates than if you move out of the selected power limit. Just put from zero on the lower limit and this does a job” Source @KUBA

Running With Zone Displays

STRYD Zones is a configurable Garmin CIQ data field that 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 with Stryd’s app.

I also like Drew’s Power Workouts which is a fully free, end-to-end solution for Garmin users to create running power workouts in Final Surge and execute them with his app.

2nd April 2020 – as expected STRYD introduce Structured Workout support…more details at this link.

January 2021 see further updates to the interface used to execute running power workouts in the new STRYD Workout app (for Garmin).

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 it from:

• Garmin Connect
• Suunto App (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

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, Training PEAKS or elsewhere.

If you are using a later Garmin like the Garmin Forerunner 955 then ALL your data will 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.

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 Features – Golden Cheetah, Final Surge, TrainingPeaks, Stryd PowerCenter

There are 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, and comprehensive but comes at a price, Final Surge’s analysis features are free.

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 actual and modelled power curves to their PowerCenter platform. 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 performance. 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 – a 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 at dealing with hills to see if it really was the best footpod.

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 gained 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

1. 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
2. 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.
3. You can use HR for this but, with a 30-second or so, lag it’s not quite as effective.
4. Running by RPE/feel works if you are ‘at one with yourself’. Typically we aren’t! and, as pointed out in 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

It is also worth noting that Stryd cannot detect the treadmill incline. If you have an incline of over 1% then your running power will be WRONG unless you tell either the smartphone or watch app the correct incline.

Feb 2022 sees this incline situation slightly improved with indoor treadmill metrics. Whilst Stryd cannot control the treadmill incline nor sense the incline, the workouts assume you have set the incline as specified and adjust your power accordingly. There are 12 free indoor treadmill workouts and subscribers can create new treadmill workouts. Indoor workouts cannot be executed outdoors.

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 was 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

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.

STRYD have their own validations and stats to demonstrate its 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 your race day power target adjusts accordingly.

Alternatives to STRYD

There are no competitors offering the same solution as STRYD. The biggest competitor to a new STRYD is a secondhand version of the previous STRYD pod from eBay.

If the cost of STRYD is too prohibitive for you then consider Coros, Polar and Garmin who all have competing flavours of running power calculated on the watch and without a footpod.

• Since Q4.2018 RunScribe PLUS has their dual-sided RUNNING POWER POD working with Suunto and Garmin CIQ. However, RunScribe has mostly withdrawn from the consumer side of the market.
• In Q4.2018 Polar announced their own Power Calculations from the WRIST on the Vantage V and Vantage V2. Both Vantage V, M, M2, V2 and Grit X 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.
• Coros announced native power support for STRYD on their Pace 2 watch in 2020 and at the same time also introduced a proprietary power metric calculated in the watch.
• Power2Run is an Apple Watch app that enables the Apple Watch to calculate running power.

If you are looking a the gait metrics, STRYD errs towards performance gait metrics whereas

• RunScribe offers a superior gait solution by also adding a focus on rehabilitative metrics.
• LUMO Body, Garmin’s HRM-RUN, Garmin RD-POD, SHFT, Runteq’s ZOI and others offer basic gait metrics like Vertical Oscillation and Ground Contact Time.

Overall I would say that STRYD 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 V2 would win for ‘ease of use’ as there are no additional components to pair, remember and charge, the 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
• To be accurate, Garmin footpods require calibration at the approximate pace you intend to run at. Automatic calibration enables the Garmin footpod to improve and stabilise pace during a run and is superior to Garmin GPS pace
• The Garmin Footpod has a coin cell battery with a long battery life whereas STRYD is rechargeable
• Both are broadly similar in 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, although some Garmins now have a virtual run mode.
• Garmin 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. It’s a powerful watch app that brings workouts, plans and power alerts to the Apple Watch.

It’s a sweet app and here are some (old) screenshots which have changed a little in the current version.

However, I tend to use the iSmoothRun app to record and display running power from STRYD with the Apple Watch. It’s a great app that also supports bike power meters. It’s not as comprehensive as the STRYD Watch OS app for running power but it has a more broad feature set that handles some of my cycling needs and that’s why I use it. If you are a one-sport runner you will use the STRYD app.

STRYD and Android’s WearOS

Currently, there are a limited number of third-party apps for Wear OS watches, 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, Wear OS can now be found there too. Suunto’s app (as of July 2021) does not support STRYD. 

STRYD and Samsung Gear

Again, you can use the Sporty Go app on Samsung Gear: here

The Samsung Galaxy Watch4 from Sep 2021 indicates that Samsung’s way forward will be with WearOS (see the previous section).

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 other averages to Garmin watches via the app settings in Garmin Express or your smartphone’s CIQ app.
• No calibration is required. Enable auto-calibration and always be 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 frequently 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 an 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/M2
• You can calibrate for pace through the STRYD app on your smartphone. I would suggest calibrating in ideal conditions for GPS reception. This method is inferior to a manual calibration factor derived on a running track.
• 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 triathlons 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 the mud then you 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 if the incline is set over 1%. Make sure you input the INCLINE into any of the STRYD apps (Apple, CIQ, smartphone) to compensate.
• Moving STRYD from shoe to shoe is mildly inconvenient. That’s why I used to use 3x Garmin footpods. But 3x STRYDs would be a considerable investment.
• 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 recharge 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 it’s possibly linked to a poor antenna on the watch.
• 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. Annoyingly it creates duplicates.

• 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.

FAQ – STRYD Review

Futures – STRYD Review

In my opinion Running Power will grow in popularity significantly through 2021/2 and beyond. There may be more new entrants with now pod-based hardware. However we are more 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 platform will be significantly developed over the coming years on the back of significant outside VC investment. As of Q4.2021, we have seen many improvements with the platform and POD – both are now at a ‘complete’ state, although refinement is always possible.

1. I hope we shall also see the automatic detection of treadmill incline (currently enabled via the app)
2. My guess is that STRYD might also introduce new metrics into the FIT file like TEMPERATURE
3. The most likely MAJOR NEW development is dual-sided power and accompanying duplicate/aggregate versions of the existing metrics.
4. Perhaps 2022 might see a new pod design. I wouldn’t expect it to be more accurate but I would expect a longer battery life and the availability of 1 or 2 more Bluetooth connections.
5. Work will continue to expand on the wealth of power insights on the STRYD data platform (online+app), although as of Sep 2021 there are few obvious omissions to the platform

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 Reading – 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.

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

The STRYD Running Power Meter is a highly useful pod that works as it should on all sports watches I’ve had the pleasure to review (except Wear OS!)

. It fits seamlessly into how we already use our sports watches and sports data which is both consistent, actionable and sufficiently open across all the key vendor platforms.

STRYD’s PowerCenter is well-designed, useful and the best platform for deeper insights into your running power.

Running with power has 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.

It’s widely accepted that STRYD also give accurate instant pace figures. 

STRYD’s gait metrics look compelling but the truth behind them will be in the ability of committed runners to use them to improve form.

STRYD is 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

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
•  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

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.