Guest on IM Talk - Run With Power

I was a guest this week on IM Talk, the most popular Ironman Triathlon podcast there is. I was discussing my new book, Run With Power. You can check out the interview here.

http://www.imtalk.me/home/2016/9/12/imtalk-episode-533-jim-vance.html

Have a listen, and let me know your thoughts!

Coach Vance

Run With Power E-Book Now Available

Many of you have been asking, and it is now out and available. Should help many of the international athletes on here who have been waiting. You can find it here: http://amzn.to/28UGzoo

And I am always appreciative of a review on Amazon or other online retailers for the book. I want honest feedback, as the planning for a 2nd version, or a more in-depth sequel will begin soon.

Thanks, and good luck!

Coach Vance

Run Power Based Training Plans Now Available on TrainingPeaks

If you've picked up my new book, Run With Power, or are using a power meter for your run training, and are looking to use it with TrainingPeaks, I have run power-based training plans now available in TrainingPeaks. 

These plans are from the book, and are in Appendix B, so they are available there, but if you'd like them pre-loaded into your TrainingPeaks account, this offers you the chance to do that.

The current plans are all 14 weeks long, and are for the specific phase, where the workouts are designed to simulate the demands of the race, not a base training phase. The plans are:

Sub 16 min 5K
Sub 18 min 5K
Sub 32 min 10K
Sub 40 min 10K
Sub 1:20 Half-Marathon
Sub 1:40 Half-Marathon
Sub 2:30 Marathon
Sub 3:30 Marathon

All these plans can be found here: https://www.TrainingPeaks.com/RunWithPower

Hopefully you'll have a great experience in using one or many of these plans, and your running power meter!

Coach Vance

Efficiency Index Apps - Garmin & Suunto

If you've picked up Run With Power, or been listening to me on podcasts, you know that speed per watt is the key metric for running power meters, or what I call, Efficiency Index, or EI for short. Chapter 5 in the book is devoted to this topic entirely, and I discuss how a rolling 30 second average of your speed per watt in a race or workout can give you a good idea of how efficiently you're running, or the speed you're getting for the watts you're producing.

In this technology age, we can create these metrics to monitor during a run on our watches or head units, and I have a couple of fans of the book who created the Rolling EI for Garmin and Suunto users. The Suunto apps were created by Toni Cumplido, (twitter: @tonicumpli), so thank you Toni for these! I hope to have more Garmin IQ apps coming.

Here are the links for each, if you're using these products and want to see...

Efficiency Index by itself, of the entire session
Garmin IQ App
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/0e5487bc-c147-48dc-8fbd-81d2caacc780

Suunto Moves Count App for Ambit
http://www.movescount.com/apps/app10924730-Efficiency_Index_(w)


Rolling Efficiency Index, just the previous 30 seconds within the session
Suunto Moves Count App for Ambit
http://www.movescount.com/apps/app10917000-Rolling_Efficiency_Index_(w)


Power Training Zones
Suunto Moves Count App for Ambit - Allows you to see what zone you are in while training, based on your rFTPw.
http://www.movescount.com/apps/app10917280-Training_Zone

Again, thanks for the help, and I hope you're enjoying Run With Power, and these metrics for training.

Coach Vance

Article from Competitor on Power for Running

Here's an article from Competitor on power meters for running, (written by Brian Metzler), which I contributed quotes for.

Since the 1950s, distance runners have trained by following structured programs and workouts backed by physiological testing and years and years of positive results.

Beginning in the late 1980s, heart-rate monitors added a new dimension to training, allowing for the advent of workouts based on specific heart-rate zones. Both methods have helped runners and triathletes of all levels improve their performance. By the early 2000s, GPS-enabled smartwatches made it easy to monitor pace, distance, elevation and other types of data.

As the modern age of wearable tech has started to unfold, a new measurement technology has the ability to revolutionize training for runners: the power meter.

Cyclists have used power meters since the 1990s to accurately measure how much power they’re outputting and how that effort corresponds with their physiology. Power is the primary metric for cyclists, although, granted, it’s a much simpler metric to understand on the bike—essentially a function of how much force is being exerted on the pedals, crank arms or rear hub to make it move.

Power meters for runners—and the corresponding training protocols based on power output—have only become available recently, so the art and science of using power for run training are still very much in their infancy. But those closest to the new technology—including pioneering coaches and elite athletes who are already incorporating power into their training—believe it can be a very important metric for running.

Read the rest of the article at http://running.competitor.com/2016/05/shoes-and-gear/power-might-ultimate-training-metric-runners_149697#Ua8CxoxTwPO6Ko01.99

Coach Vance

Free Copies of Run With Power with Power Meter Purchases

If you're interested in running power meters, there are some great limited time offers from the two power meters on the market, Stryd and RPM2, which come with FREE copies of my book, Run With Power, to help you get started on understanding how to use the tools.

RPM2 is offering $100 off their insole power meter, and an autographed copy of Run With Power. You can get the details here.

Stryd is offering a free copy of Run With Power with the purchase of one of their power meters, or packages. You can get the details at: https://store.stryd.com/

Keep following my blog to find out more and learn more about using power meters for running, and other cool offers!

Coach Vance

Interview on Triathlete Training Podcast

I was recently invited to be a guest on another top triathlon podcast, Triathlete Training Podcast, conducted by Eric Schwartz. Eric does great work, and it was a great conversation, from my swim coaching to the books I am releasing this year, and a few laughs even!

You can listen to the podcast here:



You can also download the interview from the site:
http://triathletetraining.com/tt072-triathlon-2-0-data-driven-performance-training-wjim-vance/

If you read this blog, I know you'll love Triathlon 2.0 - Data Driven Performance Training, as it takes what I talk about on here to another level, and completes the picture. As of the date of this post, there are 7 reviews on Amazon, with 6 being 5-star, one being 4-star. You can order a copy here.

Enjoy, and please feel free to reach out to me on social media, via Twitter, @jimvance, and Instagram, @coachjimvance.

Coach Vance

IM Talk Podcast - Triathlon 2.0

I had the privilege of being on another one of the top Ironman podcasts, IM Talk, which is based out of New Zealand. The topic was my new book, Triathlon 2.0, but we also just dipped into Run With Power, which they discussed having me come back on the show to chat about in the future as well.

If you're a long course triathlete, this is a podcast you certainly know. They are on episode 513!

Thanks and enjoy! The interview starts at about 44:00.

http://www.imtalk.me/home/2016/4/25/imtalk-episode-513-jim-vance.html

Coach Vance

Reasons to Get a Power Meter for Running

This post comes from the website from my new book, Run With Power. 

14 Ways a Power Meter Can Make You a Faster Runner

APRIL 20, 2016 / DAVETRENDLER

Adapted with permission of VeloPress from RUN WITH POWER by Jim Vance. Media may republish this article without prior permission in its entirety (2,056 words) including the book cover image and a link to this website. Contact VeloPress with questions or for additional content.

Do you have high goals?

Are you trying to qualify for an event or place high at a certain race?

Perhaps you simply want to run a faster time than you’ve run before. The higher you set your goals and the better you become, the more commitment you’ll need to reach your next level, however you define it. And as your goals become more challenging, the margin for error in your training and performance will become ever smaller. Many of your competitors are just as good as you are, and some of them are better. It’s crucial that you get your training right.

Training is stressful on the body. It has to be, because fitness is really just the ability of your body to tolerate a level of stress. The faster you go, the more stress you put on your body for a given level of fitness. But for as long as runners have been training, our ability to measure the amount of stress we put into our bodies has been quite limited.

We can track volume easily—we don’t need anything more sophisticated than a training diary to record how long and how far we train each day. But volume is not a very accurate way to measure stress. Workout intensity is the real key to fitness, but the usual ways we measure intensity, such as a scale of perceived exertion, are subjective. Heart rate (HR) is a tool we’ve used to infer intensity in the past, but it’s flawed, too. In addition to the fact that heart rate does not measure intensity directly, it can also be affected by factors unrelated to training, such as diet, temperature, and stress. Pace may seem as straightforward as training volume at first, but in fact it is hard to quantify; varying terrain and elevation can markedly affect pace. Windy, hot, or cold conditions can also affect pace negatively or positively, adding to the challenge of quantifying the intensity.

All of these tools are helpful in creating a snapshot to measure fitness, and yet none of them give us an impartial way to monitor training intensity with repeatable precision. But when we measure stress incorrectly, our training suffers. We become more vulnerable to injury. We may suffer from a lack of recovery. We may get intensity wrong. Any one of those setbacks can derail a training plan. What we need, clearly, is a better way to measure the stress we are inflicting in our daily training routines. And that’s exactly what the power meter provides, and it is why the power meter has the potential to revolutionize your run training.

With a power meter, you can measure your performance and training stress more precisely than ever before, and take control of your training and racing to improve every aspect of your running career. No longer will you wonder whether you are meeting the intensity, recovery, pace, and volume goals of your training plan. Instead, you will erase any doubts about your training, and you will be able to monitor changes and improvements in every aspect of your running fitness.

Why Run with a Power Meter?

 If you’re a triathlete, a bicycle racer, or a fan of either pro sport, you are probably already familiar with the use of power meters in cycling. The power meter transformed training and racing in the cycling world. It has surpassed every other training tool because it delivers an objective and repeatable assessment of overall fitness without any of the drawbacks of previous measurement methods, such as heart rate, speed, and perceived exertion. In fact, the advantages of the cycling power meter are so great—and the margin of error so small in the world of competitive cycling and triathlon—that to ignore the information and the advantage from a power meter would be to concede victory before the race had started.

In the running world, we have recently seen a surge in the popularity of GPS units, and we’ve seen these units get smaller and smaller as usage has grown. The increased adoption of GPS shows that the running world, like the cycling world, is open to embracing technology and its benefits.

While the GPS unit is a useful tool, its contribution to training pales in comparison with the advantages the power meter can provide. The leap in technology is something like the difference between using a typewriter and a computer. In the history of running technology, a stopwatch is probably equivalent to using a typewriter—pretty good at its job, but severely limited in scope. Running’s step up to heart rate monitors was a revelation, but in retrospect, it was like moving from the typewriter to what we would now regard as an old, heavy, slow desktop computer. Today’s GPS wrist units are like the first cellphones, much like a flip-phone. The portable power meter for running is the next step, equivalent to the laptop, tablet, and smartphone coming into existence all at once. And while you can still accomplish a lot with a desktop computer, you likely will be much more effective in many ways if you add the laptop, tablet, and smartphone to your arsenal. This is what the power meter brings to the world of training and racing for competitive running.

I am sure you are wondering what makes this technology so great...

You can read the rest here.

Coach Vance

TBC Podcast on Running Power Meters

If you're looking to learn more about running power meters, the boys from TrainingBible Coaching, Scott and Adam, had me on their show to discuss the new book coming out in May on this new technology. You can listen to it here:

Title: Part 3 Running Power Meters
http://trainingbible.libsyn.com

It was a great interview, where I begin to explain some of the cool features, as well as complexities of this new technology. The book will help answer more questions in depth, in terms of the application of how to use your running power meter to train more effectively. I even discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different products out there currently.

You can pre-order the book, Run With Power, here:
http://amzn.to/20YXfO5

I will be sharing more info on the technology and how to use it, at the TrainingPeaks blog, the RunwithPower.net blog, and here at this one as well. If you have specific questions you would like me to address or discuss, please comment here, or email me at j vance at training bible dot com.

Coach Vance

Finding Your Run FTP & Setting Up in TrainingPeaks

The first of many writings on running power meters, this one posted at TrainingPeaks....

Running With Power: How to Find Your Run FTP

If you are now currently using a power meter for running, like the new Stryd or RPM2 products, you likely are wondering how you can utilize the tool to maximize the benefit of the technology in your training and racing. Power meters for running are a very new technology, and there is still a lot to learn ahead. However, to begin using it effectively to learn about your training and training response, you should begin as you would if you were using a cycling power meter.

Collecting Data

The first thing you should be doing is simply performing your normal training and observe the data as you train. Track the data and see how the numbers fluctuate or correlate with different intensities, different inclines or declines, and more. Don’t try to control your training based on the power numbers, as you don’t have a baseline for what they truly mean yet. At first, collect the data from your normal training and see how the numbers are trending.

Testing

When you feel you are ready, you can then test for your run Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Now, if you’re a triathlete who uses power on the bike, this number will not likely be the same as on the bike for you. In fact, it is likely larger than your cycling FTP. So don’t try to use that value. Be specific and set your run functional threshold for power, or what I call, rFTPw. If you’re a runner, you likely already use threshold pace in TrainingPeaks, or what I call rFTPa. I use these terms so not to confuse them with cycling, and especially not to confuse both pace and power when comparing or discussing FTP.

You can read the rest here:

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/running-with-power-how-to-find-your-run-ftp

You can also find more info on my book on power meters for running, at www.runwithpower.net

Coach Vance

Speaking on Running Power Meters in Kona 2015

While in Kona, I spoke at the Ironman Expo, for RPM2, (pronounced RPM squared), about the possibilities of power meters for running, as their product is one of this new technology.

Natural Running Network Podcast on Power Meters for Running

I recently did an interview on the Natural Running Network Podcast, discussing power meters for running, their potential, what we know so far, and more.

You can find the podcast interview here: http://www.naturalrunningnetwork.com/power-running-the-future-is-now/

You can expect a lot more posts coming soon on power meters for running, how they work, how to interpret the data and more.