I am returning to running after a long layoff due to injury (hernia) and then work. Before I realized the injury was a hernia and not something that would go away, I bought a stryd power meter.
I am finding that the power I generate when running at a given pace on my treadmill is significantly less then the power zones estimated by stryd.
Stryd estimates 212 to 238 watts for 13:48 to 12:18 where my data is showing ~165 watts for 12:30 pace as measure by the footpod which is lower then the 12:00 pace on the treadmill @ 1%.
Is this mismatch, a function of:
Me being fat and tall 6’'4" and 238 currently
Running slow
Running on a treadmill
All?
I am not a stellar athlete when fit, but ok. And would like the data I am capturing now to be meaningful and also to head off a problem when I am fitter. I trust my treadmill as in the past if anything it read low compared to the real world. At 7.9mph and 1% my garmin footpod would read 7:29 pace for 30 minute tempo runs and in a half marathon afterwards I averaged 7:17 for 30 minutes between ~8.5mi and 12.5mi with a total average of 7:30.
If the stryd estimate being off is a function of my weird running style and it will always read low, it doesn’t matter. But if I set something up wrong, I’d like to resolve it. Because I run many of my hard runs on the treadmill and would like to be able to use power rather the RPE for pacing.
I do a lot of my running on treadmills and I never know if to trust their pace.
I will be traveling more then usual this year which means more time on treadmills.
That last half-marathon, I didn’t trust my RPE and pace on the treadmill. And instead defaulted to slowing down to match the GPS output which I think cost me. As I didn’t trust the treadmill work. When I bought the stryd, I was hoping it would allow me to trust the treadmill work and trust treadmills across a variety of hotels.
Did you update your weight on the app and synced?
Also, when you mention the Garmin pod, why not compare like for like? 13km/h on the treadmill = which pace with which foot pod?
As mentioned, did you calibrate it through the app for your height and weight? You need to keep it calibrated with accurate height and weight numbers.
Also, have you done a recent 3/9min Test or even a 30min rFTPw Test? Then you can make sure your zones are accurate for both power and pace.
I’ve also noticed that my power and pace zones don’t exactly line up, but that also has to do with form. Running power is not so much about raw power like cycling power but it is more about efficiency. So if everything is calibrated correctly and you are seeing lower power numbers at a given pace that means your efficiency is going up… or at least is up in that day.
I did just that and found stryd not the treadmill (which was within measurement error) was out by 9%. Confirmed on an indoor track. Stryd support have been anything but useful and suggested that ‘stryd is accurate out of the box but you can apply any correction factor you wish’ which is of great comfort to the person who has a unit that is anything but accurate. Not any more precise than my 30 dollar garmin pod either. I’m thoroughly underwhelmed.
I think part of the issue may be that I have the treadmill set at 1% but the Stryd doesn’t recognize the incline. Apparently you can use the Stryd app to set that you are running at a % incline.
I think part of the issue may be that I have the treadmill set at 1% but the Stryd doesn’t recognize the incline. Apparently you can use the Stryd app to set that you are running at a % incline.
Yeah, I don’t have any detail but I remember from a while ago that Stryd has issues on a treadmill.
I think part of the issue may be that I have the treadmill set at 1% but the Stryd doesn’t recognize the incline. Apparently you can use the Stryd app to set that you are running at a % incline.
Yeah, I don’t have any detail but I remember from a while ago that Stryd has issues on a treadmill.
In many cases, it is due to the treadmill speeding up while you are in the air, thus giving you credit for distance that you aren’t actually covering.
Some others, though, seem to have problems even when running on treadmills with larger motors and flywheels, which are less prone to this effect. My hypothesis is that this has to do with the way the person’s foot hits the treadmill bed, which fools the detection algorithm.
If this hypothesis is correct, then the same Stryd footpod should work fine for somebody else, whereas the original person will have problems even with another footpod. Maybe somebody out there reading this wants to test this hypothesis?
(We have two footpods, but they both work fine for us on our treadmill.)
I’d be more interested in what you really made of it. I know you have worked on some of their metrics.
I work with runners and I have yet to find an application for it.
From what I have observed, people seem to have benefited the most by using power for pacing purposes, especially on hilly courses, but also on flat ones (due to better temporal resolution and lack of interference/error compared to GPS). For daily training, though, it is the other metrics that Stryd provides (e.g., leg spring stiffness) that really intrigue me.
I use the RunScribe as I actually prefer their metrics.
But the leg stiffness does intrigue me, but I haven’t seen much research of whether it is applicable.
For daily training, though, it is the other metrics that Stryd provides (e.g., leg spring stiffness) that really intrigue me.
I’ve found that the biggest advantage of running power in training is on monitoring efficiency. That’s the biggest take away I had from Jim Vance’s “Running with Power†as well as my own time training with it.
Stryd’s other metrics have potential was well, but it’s EI that really is the meat of where running power is beneficial. Too many people are trying to make direct comparisons to cycling power and it’s just not there.
As far as the treadmill goes, There is def. the potential for the extra inertia of the belt to mess with the pace readings. It almost definitely would affect the power readings as well since you maintain speed better on a treadmill since in effect the “ground†is moving and your body is not whereas outside that is not the case.
I’m kind of interested to see how the Stryd Live Footpod and subsequent firmware updates would affect it all.
I have a similar experience. I’ve had their pod for ~18 months, and it has been utterly useless to me. I engaged their support at various points, but I’m not getting anything of value out of that. Out of the latest attempt:
– Stryd has large drops when running outside. They say it’s because of a defect with Garmin’s Fenix 5. Their proposed approach is that I “do an offline data sync of Stryd data with your phone,” whatever that means.
– Stryd gives widely inaccurate measures of speed and distance on the gym’s Woodway units. They say it’s because slatted treadmills confuse the unit. They don’t provide any remedial approaches.
– Stryd gives inaccurate measures of speed and distance on the gym’s non-slatted treadmill units. They say that an upcoming software update will get rid of instantaneous power, because it confuses people. This, of course, won’t address the issue, but they must be banking on the fact that I’m getting tired of this back and forth.
In short, “thoroughly underwhelmed” is right on the money.
I don’t have Stryd so I can’t comment on the device but running on a treadmill is different than a normal run - you actually run differently (well most people). Thus, things like cadence are different, which is why footpod distances are different on the treadmill vs road. If stryd is calibrated for the road it wouldn’t surprise me that it would be different for most users when they stepped onto a treadmill. Now for those that run the same on the treadmill and road, it would be the same, unfortunately most of us don’t. Not sure this helps your issue as I am just not familiar enough with Stryd but this is what happens with general footpods.