Is there a running equivalent of watts?

I think it would be watts

How do you measure it for runners?

On a treadmill maybe

Simple physics.

Find your weight in Newtons, then multiply it by distance and convert it to time.

Say you mass 150 pounds or 675 Newtons and run 1600 meters.

Work = 675N x 1600M = 1,080,000J of work over the course of a mile.

Say you run the mile in 7 minutes or 420 seconds.

Since Power = Joules/Seconds we can say:

1,080,000J/420 seconds = 2571 watts over a mile.

There are other factors that make you do more work and thus more power, but this is a rough estimate.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Stuck in Omaha wrote:

I think it would be watts

Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:

What would the running equivalent of watts?

Smoots

Hook up a device to one of those free floating treadmills.

Watts can be changed using special power devices (transformers). Being amped-up is what's more important.

Although not technically Watts, Compton Community College does have a nice all-weather track.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

snot rockets

Yes. It is measured the same way true watts are calculated in cycling. It's called final time.

Watts were originally calculated by cyclists who were fat and never won any races as a way of making themselves still feel like winners.

" Hey, I lost by 20 minutes but I generated more watts!"

Yes. Watts is the equivalent of those age-graded calculators.

GPS graded pace plus your body weight.

Find one of those calculators online that estimates energy burned per mile for your bodymass. Power = energy/time, which means to find your wattage for each mile divide the (estimated) energy required to run that mile by the time (in seconds) it took you to run it.

The results will be very approximate but it's about all you can do until someone invents a gauge that you can slap onto your legs to measure running wattage. Mind you, someone is probably working on it.

Regards

Limey UK Runner

(Chartered Physicist)

Just realised that units might mess you up. An online calculator will probably give you a result in kcal. You need to multiply this by 4200 to get the answer into Joules.

Example:

I'm 140lbs. One formula I have found says that energy burned per mile is equal to 0.63 x bodymass (in lbs). NB: this is net energy burned rather than gross (gross includes basal metabolic energy).

Calories = 140*0.63 = 88 kcal (per mile)

Multiply by 4200 to get answer in Joules

88*4200 = 369600 J

Power = energy/time, so for a 5 minute (300 second) mile:

Power = 369600/300 = 1232 Watts

chewbacca wrote:

Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:

What would the running equivalent of watts?

Smoots

FTW

Limey UK runner wrote:

Just realised that units might mess you up. An online calculator will probably give you a result in kcal. You need to multiply this by 4200 to get the answer into Joules.

Example:

I'm 140lbs. One formula I have found says that energy burned per mile is equal to 0.63 x bodymass (in lbs). NB: this is net energy burned rather than gross (gross includes basal metabolic energy).

Calories = 140*0.63 = 88 kcal (per mile)

Multiply by 4200 to get answer in Joules

88*4200 = 369600 J

Power = energy/time, so for a 5 minute (300 second) mile:

Power = 369600/300 = 1232 Watts

1200 watts? Lance Armstrong doesn't even hit that on a bike. Are you sure that's correct?

Yeah dude, this isn't accurate. The 2 pieces of equipment at my gym i use that measure Watts are the elliptical and stepmill. I weigh 83 kg and working out at 220 watts for an hour on these pieces gives me about 800 calories. Here is the way to figure out what your watts are:Work equals weight in kg x distance in meters. For me to run a 10k in an hour, work equals 83000kgmIf you go to http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_converter/energy.html, and type in 83000kgm the conversion to joules is 813952.This is joules per hour. Divide 813952 by 3600 (seconds in an hour) because watts=joules per second. You get 220 watts per second average.You are welcome everyone :-)

Limey UK runner wrote:

Just realised that units might mess you up. An online calculator will probably give you a result in kcal. You need to multiply this by 4200 to get the answer into Joules.

Example:

I'm 140lbs. One formula I have found says that energy burned per mile is equal to 0.63 x bodymass (in lbs). NB: this is net energy burned rather than gross (gross includes basal metabolic energy).

Calories = 140*0.63 = 88 kcal (per mile)

Multiply by 4200 to get answer in Joules

88*4200 = 369600 J

Power = energy/time, so for a 5 minute (300 second) mile:

Power = 369600/300 = 1232 Watts

Oh hell, scratch the above post. 83 x 10000 is 830000 not 83000 so the formula doesn't work though i think its correct.