STRYD FOOTPATH - quick overview plus Example

STRYD Footpath - a quick overview & Walk Through of my Example More: detailed Stryd Review Hot on the heels of a new sensor last year, Stryd has very recently introduced the ability to pair together two of these next-gen sensors to form STRYD DUO. With one attached to the laces on each of your running shoes, you can now get some novel new metrics for free. Plus there are unique visualisations of the path of your feet in 3D as you run - FOOTPATH! Footpath is the only new feature accessible through the paid-for subscription service all the other features of STRYD DUO are free. where can I find FOOTPATH? The FOOTPATH data is stored in your pods. I don't think it syncs to powercenter in the normal way via your regular sports data platform. It looks like you have to explicitly sync your DUO Pods to the Stryd smartphone app and this causes the FOOTPATH data to be transferred to POWERCENTER. [caption id="attachment_85411" align="aligncenter" width="139"] Choose: FOOTPATH Sync[/caption] After you've synced you'll find FOOTPATH on your desktop POWERCENTER view as indicated here. There are top, side and rear views of the 3D path of each foot in space. These paths can be averaged from any part of your run and compared to the average from any part of another run. You can also mirror/flip one foot's data to the other side to visually assess symmetry. The direction of travel is left to right. Let's start with some simple examples and then build a more complex one Top View Here is an image from the first KM or so of a 90-minute run, it's compared to a KM from the end of the same run in the second image I'm not sure if I can learn anything here but you can see that my right foot seems to follow a less efficient, outward trajectory behind my body. As I tire, the left foot moves in a funny little loop at the front of the stride. [gallery size="medium" columns="2" ids="85583,85582"] Two neat things you can do At the bottom of the screen, you select a time for your run. An average is immediately created for that period. You can then drag one end of the selection to the right and effectively increase the period of the average calculation and watch the FOOTPATH curve change instantly in real-time. Perhaps a better way is to drag that initial selection from left to right. Thus a rolling KM is displayed and you can see how your gait deteriorates as time passes almost like a speeded-up video of aspects of your form It would be interesting to see this when looking at a ramp test on a treadmill. As you progressively speed up, you see your form change. It's cool stuff! However, I'm unsure what to do with it nor how it compares to a peer group average or ideal trajectory. Side View This side view can be averaged in the same way as the other views. The two curves seem fairly symmetrical to me. I feel slightly funny in my right leg/foot and would have expected it to not kick as high as my left. But, actually, that's not the case. Rear View From the rear, each leg can be shown separately or the left leg can be flipped to the right side for a more direct comparison. [gallery size="medium" columns="2" ids="85586,85585"] The two FOOTPATHs here are quite different and maybe I'll try to investigate why in the future. Comparing Runs I'll keep the same run but I'll add to it another, shorter run that I did at roughly the same speed/power (actually it was about 5-10% more). What I'll also do is take my orthotics out and replace them with a neutral pad. My orthotics raised my left side by a few mm or so and were intended to level my hips when running. I'll also add a notably faster interval just to show how it impacts these charts. The first noticeable thing is that even though I tried (and failed) to run at a similar power, the extra power (dotted line, no insoles) resulted in a much higher displacement of both feet from the ground. [caption id="attachment_85590" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Dotted line =no insoles and shorter run[/caption] Now let's compare to the shorter, much faster section I did with no insoles. There is a great displacement due to the increased power but also a much higher heel raise. Again, that's probably to be expected and I'm unsure what to make of this. Returning to the slightly faster interval with no insoles, the view from the top, to me, shows quite similar tracks. As I speed up slightly the track seems to become more central and I would guess more efficient, which I would expect [caption id="attachment_85592" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] dotted line=no insoles and slightly more power[/caption] This compares a top view to a much faster interval. there seems to be more of a difference here but I don't know why. Is it simply the effects of a longer stride length? |And then from the rear, my asymmetry is perhaps more pronounced over both comparisons. It seems that my orthotics don't especially change my form. [gallery size="medium" columns="2" ids="85594,85595"] Takeout FOOTPATH is an extremely intuitive and easy-to-use tool. It's quick, flexible and shows interesting, novel data. In the right hands, it could, no doubt, deliver insights and inspirations galore. Sadly, I'm not those hands!