Now that you have your Stryd paired to your watch and phone it's time to set up your Power Zones so you can start training and racing with power.
The Stryd platform has the ability to automatically detect your fitness based on your training and provide you automatically with your critical power number (auto-calculated Critical Power). After just 3 runs with your Stryd, you get an initial estimate.
If you prefer, you can do a Critical Power (CP) test yourself. We find that the automatic system is better for about 95% of Stryders, so we generally recommend that you trust the auto-calculated Critical Power value. You can do the CP test with a watch or phone. It is possible to perform the test without any recording device and use the data directly from Stryd, but that is more complicated.
To do this please follow these instructions:
If you are to enter a 5k or 10k time I would recommend you choose your PB test within the last 3-4 weeks. If you do not have a 5k or 10k time within that time frame we recommend you perform either the lap test or timed test.
If you are to select either or the tests the protocol will be outlined for you underneath the drop-down menu. Once you have performed the test, enter the power values for each of the segments and a CP will be calculated for you along with your running power zones.
When you run with the watch, you should manually lap before and after each significant effort. You can get your pace, time, and power information from PowerCenter after your run. With a phone, recording multiple activities is likely the easiest since the manual lap button is not available.
Test Protocols
- 15 to 20min warm up with various strides and dynamic drills (we recommend doing 2x30sec @ 3k intensity + 4x15sec @ mile intensity all with 60sec recovery, and dynamic drills of your choosing to prepare for a race effort)
9/3minute test
- 9min time trial
- 30min active recovery (light jogging or walking)
- 3min time trial
- 10 to 15min cooldown of light jogging
6/3 lap test
- 2 laps at a medium effort (record duration)
- 5min easy jog
- 6 Lap Time Trial (record duration)
- 30min active recovery (light jogging or walking)
- 3 lap Time Trial (record Duration)
- 10 to 15min cooldown of light jogging
**TRIATHLETES**
Running off the bike is very different than just going for a run. If you are to enter a 5k or 10k time be sure it is a time from a sprint or an Olympic triathlon. If you would like to perform one of the other two options, we recommend you do an hour ride before performing the test.
Comments
5 comments
Yes, I agree with Karen. It would be really nice to have a very hand-holdy video or Help Doc (with lots of screen shots, annotated if necessary) explaining how to do the critical power test (for each platform: Apple, Android, Garmin, etc.).
The above is very helpful... but it stops just short of being dead simple. Ambiguity in the article leads to fear (that I'll invest MORE time, but still not get the solution I want). Fear leads to anxiety and a tendency to spend more time online trying to find that obscure video or article which will provide certainty.
This paragraph is full of jargon ("3k intensity") and assumes the reader is already an experienced runner. I'm not an experienced runner, but I do want to use your product in order to become one.
I need to prepare for a "race effort" ? Is that before or after the 3 and 9 minute tests? Or should I assume that I'm running as fast as I possibly can during the 3 and 9 min tests and that's why you're calling it "the race effort"? The instructions above stop short of being perfectly clear.
Then there's the explanation of the test itself:
"Light jogging or walking" is VERY HELPFUL ... but "9min time trial" isn't. Does that just mean run as fast as you can for 9 mins? Please verify that your help docs are helpful to your customers regardless of their experience with running.
These days we're all busy, we need to be spoon-fed if we're going to be efficiently effective. I bought this thing after 2 days of online research in which I concluded that no one has a heart-rate driven structured workout solution (e.g., exported from TrainingPeaks) that provides a voice-guided workout on the iPhone / Apple Watch. You all are the only ones who are reported to have a solution like this providing the voice-guided workout (audio cues), but yours requires the Stryd pod and that I use a Power-driven structured workout rather than heart-rate driven workout.
Anyway, the pod arrived a few days after I ordered, but I have been busy the last couple days. So now I have one day to figure out my critical power before my training program is supposed to start... and I'd prefer to be really efficient given that I had to spend a lot of time just to get to this point.
Hi, sorry but this sentence does not make sense below. I think it should detail where to actually input the test results?
"If you are to select either or the tests the protocol will be outlined for you underneath the drop-down menu. Once you have performed the test, enter the power values for each of the segments and a CP will be calculated for you along with your running power zones. "
CP-Test on powercenter still asks for the easy 2 lap segment. Is that not needed anymore?
CP-Test in the Training Plans doesn't include the 2 lap segment. Should I add that back into my plan?
Your comment re Triathletes at the bottom - does that mean Triathletes should have two CPs - a run one and a triathlon one? What intensity should the 1Hr Bike be at? Also in previous webcasts/articles you set a range of 80-85% of CP for an Ironman and 85-92% of CP for a Half Ironman - is that the run CP or the triathlon one you suggest above? Thank you
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