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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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** '''Footpod with GPS'''. This is the ideal mode; you have your watch get all distance and pace data from Stryd, while still recording a GPS track. This will allow you to show where you've run, enable any navigation like back to start or breadcrumbs, and for things like Strava segments.
** '''Footpod without GPS'''. If your watch doesn't support the above "Footpod with GPS" mode, you have to set it to running indoors or treadmill mode where you lose all the GPS data. This works, but may not be what you want.
* '''Footpod with Power in Cadence'''. This is similar to the above scenario, but Stryd will put power into the Cadence field. That gives you access to its power estimate on a wide range of watches, but there are two significant downsides. Firstly, you don't get Cadence information, which is arguably rather more important than an estimate of power unless you're really confident that your cadence is good. Secondly, because of the underlying protocolsBluetooth protocol, the Cadence field has a range of 0-255, and power estimates can be quite a bit larger. Therefore, stride divides the actual power by 10, so 210 watts will appear as 21 steps/minute. Therefore, you lose a little bit of granularity, though in practice I don't think that's a huge deal.(This is only an issue for Bluetooth watches; Ant+ works fine.)
* '''Cycling Power Meter'''. Stryd can send the same data that a cycling power meter would, so any watch that supports the cycling power meter will support stride in the same way. This gives some good support for power, and in indoor cycling mode you should be able to get pace, distance, and cadence data from the stride as well. There are a few annoyances with this approach, the biggest one being that you get your speed in MPH or KPH rather than min/mile or min/Km which would take some getting used to if you're a runner that used to thinking in terms of pace rather than speed. The other annoyance is that all of your data files will be considered as cycling rather than running, which could confuse your training log.
* '''Connect IQ'''. The advantages of Garmin's [[Connect IQ]] are shown in the ability for Stryd to add their sensor to any Garmin watch that supports Connect IQ. If you install the Stryd Connect IQ data field, it will show the power estimate, as well as recording all of the Stryd data into the fit file. Using this data field does not stop you using the Stryd as a normal Footpod at the same time. Because the Connect IQ only gives you the power, you still have two modes of Footpod integration, giving you two modes:
** '''Connect IQ + Footpod with GPS'''. The perfect solution; you get all the Stryd data, the distance/pace accuracy, and GPS for navigation.
** '''Connect IQ + Footpod without GPS'''. On the lower end Connect IQ enabled watches you have to set them to indoor/treadmill mode, so you get all the Stryd data, the distance/pace accuracy, but you don't have any GPS data.
* '''Direct IntegrationSuunto Spartan'''. The [[Suunto Spartan Ultra]] has explicit support for the Stryd, which is nice, but you can't use the Stryd for both power and distance/pace at the same time (except for "power in cadence".) However, the good news is that you get pace & distance from Stryd while also recording the GPS track. This is effectively the same as the "Footpod with GPS" mode.Here's another way of looking at the options. I've ranked them in the order I'd use them, which is accurate pace & distance is the most important thing, then having GPS tracks for navigation, then having the power estimate, and lastly having the extra Stryd data. {{:Stryd-Modes-table}}
==Watch Support==
Here's a mapping of the modes above to specific watches. {{:Stryd-Watches-table}}Here's my notes on the testing I've done so far, and I'm actively testing and expanding this section. I've had occasional issues with devices connecting to Stryd at the beginning of a run. I've not found any pattern to this, and it seems to impact both Bluetooth and Ant+ devices, so make sure you have a connection before starting your run. * [[Garmin Fenix 3]], [[Garmin Fenix 5X]], [[Garmin Epix]]** These watches have the best Stryd support, but note that Garmin has abandoned the Epix, so there's no firmware updates. ** Connect IQ gives power display, and it records all the other Stryd data like Ground Contact time.** You can set the speed and distance to always come from the footpod so you still get GPS. This section will follow soonis obviously important for navigation and the mapping features of the 5X and Epix are key reasons for buying those watches.** These watches support Stryd for cycling power, but I wouldn't use that unless you want alerts for power being out of range. ** I found some smoothing and rounding of the pace data, but not much.* [[Polar M400]]** You can set the M400 to give distance and pace from footpod, while recording GPS tracks. ** There's no smoothing of pace in the M400 so it's nicely responsive. ** You have to choose between cadence and power display, and as this is Bluetooth, you get 210 watts displayed as a cadence of 21. ** There's no cycling power support.* [[Garmin 920XT]], [[Garmin Vivoactive]], [[Garmin Vivoactive HR]]** Connect IQ gives power display, and it records all the other Stryd data like Ground Contact time.** You can't get distance from Stryd with GPS active, which means you have to run in indoor/treadmill mode. (The 920XT can have pace from Stryd with GPS, but not distance).* [[Suunto Ambit3]]** You can't get pace/distance information with GPS enabled, so you have to run in indoor/treadmill mode. ** You have to choose between cadence and power display, and as this is Bluetooth, you get 210 watts displayed as a cadence of 21.** The Ambit3 does quite a bit of smoothing of pace information, so it's not quite as quick to respond as other some other watches. * [[Suunto Spartan Ultra]]** Pairing is tricky; you have to pair as a footpod, then pair as a power pod. ** You can't get pace/distance information with GPS enabled, so you have to run in indoor/treadmill mode. ** If you have a sports mode which uses both footpod and power pod, then the Spartan only sees the footpod. Therefore, you have to choose between cadence and power display, and as this is Bluetooth, you get 210 watts displayed as a cadence of 21. * [[Polar V800]]. Stryd only pairs as a bike power pod, not a footpod, so you can't get it to work in running modes. You can get power from Stryd, but only in cycling modes. Even in indoor cycling mode there's no pace data from Stryd. * [[Leikr]]. I could not get the Stryd to work with the Leikr.
==Bluetooth or Ant+==
Stryd supports both Bluetooth and Ant+, and both work well. Bluetooth has the limitation that you can only have one receiver talking to Stryd at a time, so you can't have it linked to two different watches simultaneously, or to a watch and your smart phone at the same time. (I have had occasions where the Stryd has stayed linked to my smart phone, so I've had to turn off Bluetooth on my phone to allow Stryd to link to a watch.) With Ant+ you can have as many watches linked simultaneously, and it's possible to have Stryd linked to both one Bluetooth watch and several Ant+ watches at the same time. If you're using Garmin [[Connect IQ]], you can have Stryd work as both a standard Footpod and connected via the Connect IQ data field.
|[[File:StrydAnalysis4.jpg|none|thumb|400px|The comparison view is rather uninspiring, just allowing you to see your estimated power for two separate runs.]]
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=Connect IQ Data Field=
The Connect IQ Data Field for Stryd will show power on a Connect IQ compatible Garmin watch. This doesn't interfere with using Stryd as the footpod at the same time, which is important. The Data Field will record not only power, but the other metrics like Ground Contact Time and the display is configurable to show power averaged over various time periods, lap average, or overall power for the run. Of course, you can only have one field configured, so you can't see both current power and lap average for instance. You also don't get alerts based on power value. If you put power into the cadence field you can do far more, adding current, lap average, alerts, etc.
[[File:Stryd ConnectIQ.png|center|thumb|300px|The configuration of the Stryd data field from within the Mobile App (you can configure it via the PC Garmin Connect app as well.]]
=Data Analysis=
Because Stryd is compatible with so many watches, it's fairly easy to get most of the data into an app for analysis.
* During longer exercise, [[Heart Rate Drift]] occurs that generally causes a higher heart rate for a given intensity. The reasons for this drift are complex, and include dehydration, fatigue, carbohydrate depletion. Using Stryd's power estimate ignores this drift, though it's unclear to me when to use heart rate and when to use the power estimate. In some situations, it seems likely that the drifted heart rate is a better estimate of intensity than an unmodified power estimate.
* There is a widespread myth that [[Maximum Heart Rate]] can be calculated, leading to some erroneous assumptions of how a given heart rate relates to the percentage of exercise capacity. In practice, both Heart Rate and maximum estimated power require a practical test.
* A common use of heart rate data is to allow an athlete to train at their [[Lactate Threshold]], often referred to as [[Tempo Runs]]. The belief is that this training intensity is especially beneficial, though the available science indicates the opposite. If Tempo Runs made sense, then Stryd's power estimate would be quite valuable for hitting that pace accurately. I'm sure that many runners will use Stryd this way, even though the science indicates it is ineffective.=Stryd For Ultrarunning?=The claimed battery life for Stryd is only 20 hours, which is not long enough for many ultramarathons. Obviously, if you could have two Stryd pods, but that would be expensive. One option would be to use a Garmin watch that supports UltraTrac to extend the battery life along with the Stryd for accurate distance and pace. This would last for around 20 hours, and when the Stryd battery is dead, things would fall back to GPS. You may even be able to switch to normal GPS mode mid-run. I found that this worked nicely on a short run when I tested it out with the [[Garmin Fenix 3]]. I started off with the watch in UltraTrac mode and the Stryd connected. I then took the Stryd pod off to simulate the battery running out, and swapped to normal GPS mode.[[:File:Stryd And Ultratrac.jpg|center|thumb|200px|Here's the GPS track, and hopefully you can see the straight lines that you get when the watch is in UltraTrac mode and only checking GPS infrequently. On the way back I had normal GPS mode.]]
