For watt it's worth

Is 'running power' a revolution in real-time analysis or just another data field to disregard?

- Charlie Allenby

Running is so popular because it’s so accessible: grab a pair of half-decent trainers and away you go. Get bitten by the running bug, though, and as you progress from parkruns to longer distances, you’ll soon discover a plethora of technology that promises to make you faster in pursuit of PBs.

A watch to track time is generally the first port of call when investing in tech, but most smartwatches or bands will also include access to a heart rate monitor, for zone-based drills and detailed post-run analysis.

Over the last few years, another metric (and its accompanying tool) has started to make the leap to the mainstream. Added to Strava feeds in 2021 and unveiled in an update to certain Garmin smartwatches at the end of 2022, it comes with claims of real-time data that can not only transform your form and efficiency, but help you pace a race to perfection, too.

Running meter

Cyclists will be familiar with the new measurement. Known as ‘power’, it’s a way of calculating the amount of work that you’re putting in. Displayed as watts – where one watt equals the amount of energy it takes to burn a Joule (1,000th of a kiloJoule) per second – it’s essentially a recording of force.

“I think running power has come out of looking at the value that power has brought to how cyclists train and race over the last 15 to 20 years,” says Doug Stewart, founder and running coach at TMR Coaching. “It differs from cycling power, though, in a number of ways.”