What every runner should know about measuring their miles by power (aka, watts).
Tap your smartwatch right now, and like magic, you can conjure dozens of health metrics: heart rate, HRV, VO2 max, and more. With so many ways to measure your performance, runners may overlook a valuable metric. Power, measured in watts, can help you understand the effort you exert while on the run.
What to Know About Running Power
Watts are a unit of power that amounts to one joule, or unit of energy, of work performed per second. If you’ve taken a spin class, you’re probably familiar with watts to measure your output while riding a stationary bike.
According to Precision Run coach Elizabeth Corkum (you know her as Corky), the metric has made its way to the running world to denote how much power you can produce with your own two legs. The higher the watts, the more oomph produced with every step and the better your running economy.
While studies show that watts may not be a useful tool for the elite runners out there, preliminary research says it may be useful for anyone who’s trying to run their first marathon or hit a 5K PR.
3 Ways to Uplevel Your Runs with Watts
Now that you know that more watts equals more power (and better running economy), you’re ready to use that metric to your advantage. Here’s how:
Look at Your Running History in Terms of Watts
If your wearable has an app or stats that remain native on the device, go ahead and pull those up. Look at your power. Is it getting higher over time? Are your speed workouts marked by higher watts? Do you notice any trends in when your power waxed and waned? For instance, if you run on legs that deadlifted the day before, does your power go down? Take a few minutes to jot down any notes.
Try Pacing a Run by Power Instead of Pace
If your watch shows watts on display, do a little experiment and try pacing your next run in watts instead of minutes per mile. For example, if you have a recovery run on the books and you normally clock in at a 190-watt power for recovery runs, try matching that power throughout the miles instead of keeping your eye on, say, an 8:40 pace. That way, you’re getting to know how certain power levels feel in your legs—and you’ll be able to notice on days when that effort feels harder or easier.
Over time, you’ll actually feel yourself wanting to go faster and pick up the power as your recovery effort becomes faster. That’s a great feeling.
Level Up Your Hill Game
If you’re training for a hilly marathon course, Corkum says that power can be your friend. After all, charging up a hill is one of those running skills that you can always improve. “I think power can be really helpful for a runner who's doing a lot of running on rolling hills or trails where the pace the speed is harder to interpret because of major elevation gain or more of a technical terrain,” says Corkum.
So rather than looking down at your watch as you're battling a muddy hill and thinking, man, my pace just went down 60 seconds, you can focus on that power metric. How are your watts? Are they higher than the last time you ran up this hill, or do you need to pick up the pace? How can you tweak your running form right now to make your body move more efficiently? Or, if you decide to do hill repeats, try keeping up a slightly uncomfortable power as you take on that elevation.