The definition of Critical Power
Critical Power is the threshold at which the dominant type of fatigue your body experiences changes. This number is used to determine your optimal training intensities (Power Zones) which trigger specific fitness gains and guide your race day effort.
How do I get my Critical Power?
After purchasing Stryd, simply go for a few runs with it. Your Critical Power (CP) will automatically generate after a few runs and continue to update as it gets to know you and your fitness improves. This is your first step in moving from traditional training to power-based training.
But, your auto-calculated Critical Power is only as good as the data it receives from your training. The variety of your running is important in accurately calculating your Critical Power. Learn about generating an accurate Critical Power in the next section.
Note your Critical Power will change often at first as you do more runs and Stryd gets to know you but will slow down over time with more incremental changes less frequently.
Advanced users may want to manually calculate their Critical Power. We provide this option within the app. See instructions here.
How do I make sure my Critical Power is accurate?
The more variety you have in your running, the more accurate your Critical Power will be. We recommend the following:
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Long duration runs of 40-60 minutes at max effort or near max effort (time trial or 10k race) for those that are training for a half or full marathon distance.
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Medium duration runs of 10-20 minutes at max effort or near max effort (time trial or 5k race)
- A short max effort run that is 3-5 minutes in duration.
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Short distance sprints or strides at max effort (10-30 seconds in duration).
Stryd will use approximately 90 days worth of runs to determine your Critical Power. The runs that contribute to your Critical Power can be viewed in the Power Duration Curve.
Note: Make sure to add the above variety before using the defined Stryd Power Zones as a guide.
Advanced users manually calculating their Critical Power can do Critical Power tests every two-three months and then enter the results in the app. See the testing protocol here.
So I have a Critical Power, now what?
Awesome, you now have a snapshot of your current fitness! Your Critical Power determines your Power Zones which are a power range or ‘zone’ for executing different types of runs. Every run will be executed at a different % of your Critical Power. As you push yourself Stryd will see your improvement and adjust your Critical Power and corresponding zones accordingly.
Example ->
Your Critical Power is 245 Watts.
Your Zone 1 shows as 159 - 196 W.
You should execute your easy run between 159 - 196 W.
The range represents and upper and lower boundary of the zone. You should find an effort that feels easy and the number that works for you.
I had a great run, and improved my Power Duration Curve but my Critical Power went down... why?
Your Critical Power is determined from three major energy sources while running: immediate energy, oxidative energy and nonoxidative energy A change to one of these areas can tell the model that another is overestimated, and your Critical Power will correct itself, becoming more accurate. Continuing to do best efforts at varying durations (as described above) will push your entire curve up, and result in an improved critical power.
More information...
Steve Palladino, a power-based coach has a great article on how Stryd auto-calculates a Critical Power based on your running activity. If you want more insight into how your runs affect your Critical Power, read his article here.
Comments
3 comments
I have been using Stryd since the start of March. My CP was calculated at 238 on 9th March and hasn't changed since despite having run 22 times since then. Is this normal? My zone 1 feels way too easy.
Have you done a true maximal effort in the 15 minute+ range after several weeks of training, making sure you are fresh enough (eg aiming for modelled power for the chosen distance and trying to push it over a bit at the end if you can)? If you have, perseverance with a good training plan is likely the answer! A taper to a race may help. Disclaimer: I am new to Stryd, loving it and haven't beaten my 5k and 10k times from 19 months ago recently, but I have nudged my CP up with a totally draining 5k aiming for modelled power for the appropriate time.
I increased 10 points from 234 last month to 243 today. I did 15 mins tempo run. I think running with Stryd teaching your body the right balance on when to push it vs the recovery time. So far so good. I enjoyed it.
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