Running & Cycling Power

Power-based pacing replaced HR-based pacing in serious cycling 15 years ago, and running power followed in 2018-22 with Stryd. The headline benefit: power is instantaneous and accurate regardless of grade, terrain, wind, or HR drift — so your easy days stay easy and your interval days are honest.

Sister sections: Running & Cycling, Indoor Cycling, Garmin, Apple Watch, HRV & Heart Rate, Training Plans, Virtual Running & Treadmill.

Running power

• ★ ★ Stryd — paid (~$220 hardware); shoe-clip foot pod; the running power standard; broadcasts via BLE / ANT+ to any modern watch / app; Stryd Power Center web for analysis.
  • https://www.stryd.com/
• Coros POD 2 — paid (~$100); foot pod; cheaper alternative; works best with Coros watches.
• Garmin Running Power (built-in) — free with newer Garmin watches (Forerunner 9xx, Fenix 7+); wrist-derived; not as accurate as Stryd. Requires HRM-Pro Plus or RD Pod for some metrics.
• Apple Watch Workout Running Power — built-in since watchOS 9; wrist-derived; reasonable but not Stryd-precise.
• Polar Stride Sensor — paid (~$100); historical foot pod.

Why Stryd wins

• ★ Accuracy regardless of GPS — works on a treadmill (no GPS needed). See Virtual Running & Treadmill.
• Wind speed built-in (Stryd Wind) — adjusts power for headwind / tailwind.
• Terrain-corrected pace — your easy 8:00/mi up a hill might be the same effort as 6:30/mi flat; Stryd shows it.
• Stryd Power Center has been a free + paid tier for years; the paid layer adds plan generation.
• Stryd Race Calculator is one of the best race-day pacing tools in existence.

Cycling power meters

• ★ Favero Assioma — paid ($500-700); pedal-based (swap between bikes); BLE + ANT+; the most popular swap-friendly meter.
• ★ Quarq DZero / Power AXS — paid ($600-1000); spider-based; SRAM ecosystem.
• ★ 4iiii Precision — paid ($350-700); single-side or dual-side crank-arm; cheapest credible.
• ★ Stages Power — paid ($300-1000); single or dual; long history.
• Garmin Rally — paid; pedal-based (Look Keo / Shimano SPD-SL / SPD-MTB); broad fit.
• PowerTap (Saris) — paid; hub-based historically; mostly succeeded by spider-/pedal-based.
• InfoCrank, ROTOR INSpider — pro-tier.

ANT+ + BLE dual-broadcast is now standard. Battery: ANT+ rechargeable (Assioma, 4iiii) or coin-cell (Quarq, some 4iiii).

Power-data analysis

• ★ ★ GoldenCheetah — FOSS desktop; the cycling-power-data nerd's tool of choice; PMC / CTL / ATL / TSB charts; activity import from Garmin / Wahoo / Strava / Stryd.
  • https://www.goldencheetah.org/
• ★ TrainingPeaks — paid; the coach standard. See Training Plans.
• ★ Stryd Power Center — free + paid; running-power-specific.
• WKO5 — paid ($200/yr); GoldenCheetah's commercial cousin; deeper iLevels modeling.
• Strava Premium — paid; surface-level power analytics.
• Runalyze (FOSS) — supports power-derived training load. See Running & Cycling.
• intervals.icu — free + donations; web; surprisingly good free TrainingPeaks competitor; cycling-strong.

Power-zone basics (quick)

• ★ FTP (Functional Threshold Power) — the power you can sustain ~1 hour. Ramp test, 20-min test, or 8-min test.
• ★ Coggan Power Zones (cycling): Z1 active recovery, Z2 endurance, Z3 tempo, Z4 threshold, Z5 VO2max, Z6 anaerobic, Z7 neuromuscular.
• Stryd CP (Critical Power) for running — analogous to FTP; auto-calibrates from your last 90 days.
• TSS (Training Stress Score) / CTL/ATL/TSB (PMC) — load and freshness model from Coggan; pervasive in TrainingPeaks / GoldenCheetah / intervals.icu.

Running cadence / form sensors (companions)

• Garmin HRM-Pro Plus — running dynamics (cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, balance); see Garmin.
• Garmin Running Dynamics Pod — same data without HRM.
• Apple Watch — basic cadence; running power.
• Stryd — gives cadence, leg spring stiffness, ground contact, vertical oscillation alongside power.

DIY / open-source

• ★ stryd-mqtt — community Python; Stryd → MQTT for HA dashboards.
• fit-tool / fit-cli — parse FIT files for custom analytics.
• GoldenCheetah — already FOSS; covered above.
• intervals.icu — free + donations; OpenAPI; can webhook your activities.

Cost / license honesty

• Stryd — $220 hardware; Power Center has free + paid plans.
• Cycling power meters — $300-1000 typical.
• GoldenCheetah — GPL FOSS, free.
• TrainingPeaks Premium — ~$120/yr.
• WKO5 — ~$200/yr.
• intervals.icu — free; donate.
• Garmin / Apple Watch built-in running power — free with hardware.

Pick this if…

• Most accurate running power, multi-platform: Stryd.
• Cheapest running power, Coros owner: Coros POD 2.
• Already have a Garmin Forerunner 9xx / Fenix 7+: start with built-in running power; add Stryd if you care more.
• First cycling power meter, swap-friendly: Favero Assioma pedals.
• Cheapest cycling power: 4iiii single-side crank-arm.
• Free power-data analysis: GoldenCheetah or intervals.icu.
• Coach-standard analytics: TrainingPeaks.