Tap Into Your Greatest Running Power

RUNNERS LOVE THEIR data, and there are so many ways to analyze performance: distance, pace, heart rate, cadence-and now, power. Cyclists have long tracked power as a metric for effort, but it's a little harder to measure when you're not settled into a saddle. With technological advances, though, devices like the Stryd foot pod, NURVV running insoles, certain running watches, and treadmills can track running power from your foot or wrist.

- ASHLEY MATEO

Even pros pay attention to it. "One huge component I lacked in college and my early career was power," Stephanie Bruce, 38, pro runner with Hoka Northern Arizona Elite, tweeted earlier this year. "I'm proud that after years of strength work and heavy lifting and hills, we have greatly improved my power and stayed essentially injury-free for 6+ years." Less than two weeks after that tweet, in January 2022, Bruce won the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona half marathon in Phoenix.

Who wouldn't want to run faster and stay injury-free? Power is yet another piece of the puzzle that can inform your training so you can get the most out of every run. And now that it's more accessible than ever, it's time to tap into it.

What power tells you about performance

Imagine a sprinter's wide-open stride, and the amount of force they generate with each step. That's power. When it comes down to the numbers, though, "power is one of those metrics that you can use to gauge how hard you're going," says Chris Myers, PhD, CSCS, a coach with Peaks Coaching Group and coauthor of Triathlon Training with Power.

What sets it apart from other metrics: It gives you a real-time effort assessment. Pace and heart rate, which can be affected by several external factors, won't do that. Power is kind of like your rate of perceived exertion-but instead of subjectively rating your perception of your effort during a workout on a scale of 0 to 10, you're getting a quantifiable metric that can inform your training.

Power is also a measure of efficiency, or running faster with less energy: "If you can generate more power with every step while at a lower heart rate or faster pace than in previous workouts, that's a sign of improvement," says Colleen Brough, PT, DPT, director of Columbia RunLab at Columbia University.

How to get a power measurement