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- Recently on GTN, Heather and myself delved into
running with power.
Now, we went into quite some depth to explain
exactly what it is and also how it works in the first place,
and this really seemed to spark
quite a lot of interest with you guys.
As I explained in that previous video,
which I'll throw to you at the end of this one,
I've actually been using this running power
through my own training and analysing it
for some time now.
And you may also be aware that I recently ran
a half-marathon.
I didn't quite run a PB, but I certainly ran
a heck of a lot faster than I was expecting to go.
I went one hour to 12 minutes and five seconds,
and I do genuinely believe this is partly thanks to this use
of power within my training in the lead-up to this event
and also during it.
I do understand this is quite a curious subject,
using power within running, so today, we've actually
teamed up with our channel partner, Polar, with their
Vantage V watch to help you to understand how you
can use power within your own running training.
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So, if you watched that previous video,
you'll know that the Polar Vantage V watch,
which I'm wearing right here,
actually has in-built power measurement.
That means I don't need any other external device
or sensor to read, record that power.
I can just simply head out for my run, press start,
and it will actually start recording
and displaying my power in real time on the watch.
It does this all by computing GPS data
and baromic sensor data,
and then crunching all of that through some
very complicated algorithm and then churning out
that all-important power data, so yeah.
All very fancy stuff.
But don't worry if you have a different brand
or model of watch because if it's a fairly new watch
or fairly advanced watch, it's very likely it'll still
be able to utilize power for running.
All you need in that case is an external sensor
that you can pair to your watch,
and these tend to be foot pods that you can just connect
to the laces of your shoe.
But, regardless of how you're receiving or recording
this power data, they will all display in the same way,
and the metric use for this is Watts
So, probably don't need to explain this to most of you
out there, but the higher the watts, the more power
you are generating with every step in exactly the same
way to cycling.
And, technically speaking, if you're able to generate
more power for the same given heart rate
or a lower hear rate, or a faster pace,
this would suggest that you're progressing and becoming
a more efficient runner.
So, you can start to see how this metric can be really
quite useful in the same way that it has been in cycling
for many years.
And I am not alone in using running power
because I've been joining Vicky Holland for some time now
in the occasional run session.
Now, she's taken bronze at the Rio Olympic games,
and also won the WTS series last year.
And I know that her and her coach and partner,
Rhys Davey, have been using running power for some time now.
So, power's been a pretty integral part of our program
now, especially on the bike, for a number of years.
It's been around cycling, like I said, for a little while,
and we've really been using it pretty closely
since the lead-up to Rio.
What it really allows us to do is be very specific
with key sessions when it comes to kind of creating
a session based around a specific course.
We can be quite clear on what we're trying to get after
and hit specific targets,
but equally, with more like the aerobic work,
if we don't want Vicky to work too hard, then it gives us
really good, instant feedback, which allows us
to kind of control work, as well as aim for some
harder stuff, maybe, on the key sessions.
- Okay, so, it's a tool a lot of us might be familiar with
already from cycling.
I know just how useful it can be,
but how does it differ for running?
- I think the biggest thing that I've noticed
between running and cycling power is just that slightly
higher number that you get with running.
My understanding is that's down
to the metabolic efficiency.
Essentially, what that means is when you're running,
you're carrying your own body weight;
when you're cycling, obviously, the bike carries it.
So, I think that's the first thing,
that's the most obvious thing that I would say
is that you're likely to see.
- Yep, which is exactly what I found,
and I believe they call it your metabolic efficiency,
which is basically how much power you can produce
for the same amount of oxygen,
and it turns out that, generally speaking,
you can produce more power running as opposed to cycling,
or so they say, anyway.
But, personally speaking, that is exactly what I found,
so I allowed myself time to find out
my new numbers for running.
So, I would just head out for a run, start recording them,
and analysing that data after my runs.
But, whilst I was doing all of this, this also allowed
my watch to learn my power for running.
What I was doing was basically logging each of those runs,
and then, it automatically calculates
my maximum aerobic power, or my MAP,
and this is essentially the power that you can produce
at your VO2 max.
And then, once it's calculated that, it actually was
able to then automatically calculate my power
for each given zone.
Now, technically speaking, Polar recommend
that you do a six-minute, maximum-effort run
to find out your MAP.
I'll be totally honest here.
I didn't actually specifically head out and do that myself,
but I honestly did do it somewhere along the lines
in one of my harder run sessions.
But, whatever device you are using, and I'll actually say
it's a pretty good protocol to find the zones for yourself,
but now I do have my zones.
I actually started using them in some of my sessions,
and also planning my paces for races in the same way
that I have on the bike for years.
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I have my zone one numbers, which is between 55-70%
of my maximal aerobic power.
I'll be honest, I'm really bad at staying
within this zone, but this should be used for
your easier runs or your recovery runs.
Zone two, this is between 70-85%
of your maximal aerobic power.
This is for those steady runs, and actually,
a majority of your training, other than for hard intervals,
should likely fall within zone two,
And then, we have zone three.
This is between 85-100% of your maximal aerobic power,
and this is starting to range from a moderate intensity
up to something fairly hard now,
and I do have a nasty habit of creeping into this zone,
even on my steadier runs.
Now, a good sign that you are within this zone
is that you're able to hold a short conversation
with a training partner, but you're going to really
struggle to hold a full-blown conversation
at this intensity.
Zone four, which is between 100-115%
of you maximal aerobic power.
So, this is for those real hard runs.
This tends to be for things like
threshold efforts and above.
In fact, I ran a majority of my half-marathon
in this zone.
And zone five, anything in excessive of 115%
of your maximal aerobic power for this one,
and this is for those really, really hard efforts,
and also up to absolute maximal efforts.
You're really going to start feeling the burn in this zone.
Now, this is a really cool metric if used in conjunction
with your heart rate and even your speed.
So, I'm really interested now to hear how the best
in the world are incorporating this into their training.
- The way we're trying to implement it into our,
into Vicky's program is really, "Can we be more and more
"specific with the run sessions that we're doing?"
That instant feedback that you get from power,
especially on something like the hilly route.
So, behind us here, there's a three-kilometer route that we
use a lot for some of our longer sessions.
It's not that flat; it's pretty up, then down.
It's pretty undulating.
So, what the power gives is us that really instant
feedback on "This is how hard you're working."
What that then allows us to do is to go down onto the canal,
on a completely flat surface,
and compare what it would look like.
So, that's basically been where we've really been
able to use it at the moment.
There's still a lot of kind of gaining understanding
of where it fits into the program
and what the numbers mean,
but, ultimately, what we're really starting to do
is be quite clear and specific with
"This is the numbers that we're after for a session,"
and then, going after them.
- Yeah, I've actually been using it in a very similar way
to Rhys and Vicky.
So, I had a session that I repeated in the lead-up
to my half-marathon I did on the same stretch of the canal.
It's a nice, perfectly flat terrain,
and that was two by 15 minutes that I would do at
my target race pace, and I would do that exact same session
four times through before the race so that I could
monitor my progression, which fortunately, I did do.
I did progress a little bit.
But what I was monitoring was actually that I was able
to produce more power for the same heart rate,
or actually, in fact, in some cases, my heart rate
was lower, all whilst actually reducing my recovery time.
So, that was good news.
But another thing Rhys has mentioned there was
about heart rate and, actually, the fact that it doesn't
respond quite so much in real time,
so if you do ordinarily use heart rate,
you may have noticed this when, say,
you're going up a hill, for instance.
You'd have got to the top of that hall before the heart rate
actually starts to increase and spike.
So, you're not actually finding out how hard
you're working whilst currently going up the hill,
whereas power can do that in real time so you know
how hard your body's working at that moment in time.
But another area we actually haven't touched on just yet
is with our biomechanics, our technique,
and our efficiency.
So, let's take an example, like we're trying to improve
our cadence and improve our leg turning while also running.
We can monitor our power and see how it impacts that,
whether good or bad.
In the same way to if we were changing our bike position,
we want to make sure that we are maintaining our power,
if not increasing our power, rather than that dropping off.
So, it's really good for that, but another thing this
new metric's good for is also looking at how it's straining
our body and how hard we're actually working.
Now, Polar call this muscle load, and basically,
looking at the load and strain upon our muscles
and joints during a session,
and this all forms part of their larger training
load pro feature.
But, regardless of what device you're using
or what features it includes, this is just actually
a really accurate measurement that can be really good
for you during your training.
You can then start to determine what you should be doing
the next day after a session and really learning to optimize
your training so then you don't overtrain and you arrive
at a race in peak shape.
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- So, if a race day for Vicky, she won't be using it,
the reason being that they wouldn't race with a watch on.
It's only 10 kilometers or five kilometers,
so you wouldn't have a watch on.
There's also the dynamic that it's draft league or racing,
so they're often in groups.
So, actually, it's much more of an element
of racing your competitors.
That being said, you take a hill, a course like Leeds,
which has got a hilly, hilly run course.
Actually, what we're learning here is what a hill
actually does to the amount of effort
you're having to put in, and really starting to learn that,
and then, as a result, potentially do you kind of taper
your efforts up that hill because you know that it's
going to come at a cost?
That's something that we've been out to learn
from using it on a hilly route around here.
- Yeah, they make a very good point, actually,
whether you decide to race with power or a watch at all.
By training with it, it's actually going to allow you
to learn how to judge your efforts and how those efforts
actually feel altogether.
Now, personally, I have thoroughly using it
in my own training.
It's really allowed me to fine-tune my training,
and I've just really enjoyed analyzing it.
But then, I am a bit of a secret geek.
Now, if you have enjoyed today's video, please do
hit that "Thumbs-up" button and if you'd like to see
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If you'd like to find out a little bit more about
running with power, we've done a video on what it is
and how it all works.
You can see that by clicking just down here.
If you'd like to find out more about this particular watch,
you can see our "Polar Vantage Unboxing" video
by clicking just down here.