The Power of Better Data

Hey everyone! It's Rachael, brand manager for HAX.

As you've probably seen across our platforms, we've partnered with Stryd this summer to share more of our coaches' stories and continue providing the best resources we can on how to train and race to your fullest potential. Today, I wanted to share my own experience with Stryd—not as a professional athlete, but simply as someone who loves running.

A little background on me: I've been running for about 12 years, competing in cross country and track through middle school, high school, and college at the University of Connecticut. I wrapped up my collegiate career last year and have since continued running just for fun (after all, what better place to do that than Boulder, CO?!).

Perhaps you've seen brands or products that professional athletes have partnered with before and thought, "Okay... but is that actually relevant for me?". My data certainly isn't as flashy as what you'll see from the pros, but I thought it might offer a different perspective on how Stryd can be valuable for not just elites, but regular runners too.

Here are a few of my favorite metrics I've enjoyed diving into with Stryd:

Power

Below are power vs HR comparisons from two threshold workouts I've done over the past few weeks:

On the right is my heart rate data. As expected, it climbs steadily throughout each rep.

On the left is the corresponding power data. While my heart rate gradually increased, my average power stayed consistent across each interval.

Why the difference?

Because power measures your actual output. Over the past few months of using the device, Stryd has learned my running patterns and developed personalized power zones for how I train. Before using Stryd, I mostly relied on my Garmin's heart rate data—which is useful, but still influenced by factors like temperature, fatigue, hydration, and cardiac drift (the natural rise in HR over the course of a run).

Now, power is affected outside factors too, like running uphill, on a different surface, or into a headwind. But because it measures the work you're actually producing rather than your body's response to that work, it often provides a more reliable snapshot of your effort. HR also takes time to respond to changes in effort, so if you check it midway through a rep, it may still be catching up to the intensity you're actually running.

Looking at these charts, you can see that I maintained a consistent power output throughout each workout, which also matched how I thought the session felt. I wasn't trying to progressively get faster with each rep or end on empty. I was simply trying to stay steady, and the power data accurately reflects that.

It took me some time to adjust to using and understanding power, but now I rely on it much more during effort-based workouts like threshold sessions. Stryd integrates easily with Garmin too, so I actually have a screen on my watch that shows my live power metrics and what zone I’m in. Now, during a rep, instead of trying to gauge my effort from splits or HR, I simply check whether I’m in the right power zone. For this kind of workout, that has been a much clearer and more useful reading for executing the way I want to.

Pacing

I remember doing fartlek workouts out on the roads with my teammates in college; we’d be running in a group together, and every watch seemed to display a different pace.

"My watch says we're running X:XX pace…we should slow down a bit."

"Mine says we're right on pace. Maybe your GPS is off."

"Mine says we need to pick it up."

I eventually removed the live pace metric from showing on my watch altogether because it just wasn't accurate. Maybe you can relate; one second it says you're running 6:30 pace, and the next it's showing 7:45.

At the end of the day, I do think learning to judge your effort is far more important than worrying about pace. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t helpful to have a reliable metric to reference, especially at the start of a workout when you’re settling into the right effort.

That's where Stryd has made a big difference.

Instead of relying on GPS, Stryd measures pace directly, providing much more stable, instantaneous feedback. And again, it connects right to your watch. On my Garmin, I can look down and see time, distance, and Stryd's live pace, which has proved to be much more reliable than the wavering pace data I was using before.

Form Power Ratio

One of the clearest signs that you're fatiguing during a workout or race is your form beginning to break down.

Sometimes those changes in form are obvious. At the extreme end of things, just think of the final 100m stretch of a race – most runners aren’t crossing the line holding their very best form. But in most cases, like during workouts, changes in form are subtle enough that you don't even notice them. That’s another area where I’ve found Stryd to valuable.

One metric I like looking at after workouts is Form Power Ratio (FPR). It’s a way to quantify how efficiently you're running (i.e. how well you’re directing power forward rather than up and down). If I'm doing a threshold session that's supposed to feel like roughly a 7/10 effort, I definitely don't want to see my form deteriorating halfway through. You can see below that my FPR numbers stayed pretty consistent throughout each of my threshold workouts, which means I was holding form and running the right effort.

Is Stryd Worth It?

To be honest, I didn't think I'd like using Stryd. I'm a big believer in running by feel and learning to understand your effort. That said, I do rely on data for certain parts of my training—like the workouts shown above—and I do enjoy looking at the data afterward to see if they match how the run felt.

We have access to a ton of data these days. We don't need more numbers to look at—just better, more reliable ones. Ironically enough, I think that having more accurate data can actually helped you become less dependent on it. When I finish a workout and see that my power, pacing, and form metrics align with how I felt, it reinforces that I'm learning to gauge my effort correctly. Over time, that cycle has helped me trust my own instincts in training even more.

The numbers are only useful if they help you make smarter training decisions. For me, Stryd is simply a more accurate way to understand my effort and pace, and affirm that I'm training the way I intend to. And that’s something I think every runner can benefit from.

Learn more about Stryd

Train with Purpose

Thanks for reading this issue of The Hammer!
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