Did you know, hiking is sometimes faster and more efficient than running? You can save energy and run faster on your next mountain run when you pace with Stryd.

Today, we introduce Power Hiking. Power Hiking is a new feature that tracks your hiking efforts while trail and mountain running. You now get power output during those steep uphill sections. You get a complete overview of your run and learn when hiking can be advantageous to running.

Power Hiking takes Stryd to the next level in trail and mountain running. This new feature is the culmination of worldwide testing, ranging from testers in the Canadian Rockies to the Swiss Alps. You now capture your entire run with Stryd: ranging from your local trail race, to epic mountain adventures.

Without Power Hiking

With Power Hiking

How did this come to be?

Last year, Joseph Gray, the 5-time world champion trail and mountain runner, contacted us with a problem. As a daily user of Stryd, Joe relied on power for pacing, even in races with extremely variable terrain. "Power is the perfect pacing mechanism," Joe told us, "except for when it's so steep that hiking is faster than running. I need my watts then more than ever." Joe had discovered a problem. We built Stryd for road runners and triathletes and did not take into account the fact that hiking is a much used tool in the world of trail running. Stryd did not measure hiking. We treated hiking like walking rather than running! We knew we had to change this.

We immediately began testing different modifications of Stryd with Joe. It turns out that it was harder than we thought to maintain Stryd's legendary accuracy during running/hiking transitions. Time was of the essence. The Pike's Peak Ascent, a major part of Joe's season, was just two weeks away. The day before the race, we gave Joe a Stryd-prototype we developed. The next day, Joe Gray won the race in the fastest time since 1995. "I was able to follow my power throughout the whole race, even during the brief sections where I had to hike," Joe said, "This was a total game-changer."

In the months after our first conversation with Joe, other members of the Stryd Community reached out to us. "Is there any way I can see my power, while hiking without any drop outs?" We saw that the technology that Joe Gray helped us develop could also help the Stryd Community. We put our heads down and have continually refined the feature over the last year.

Power Hiking is now a reality. Today, the technology that propelled Joseph Gray to go undefeated in trail/mountain racing in 2017, is available to everyone. Use it running up steep inclines or when you need to slow down through an aid station in a race. You now have a unified Stryd experience from when you start your run until you finish.