What is strava to you?

I just started strava after getting my first Garmin watch this year. I'm 38! Honestly I use it for workout ideas from top athletes. I like to follow pro teams and see what they're doing and mix up my training. I also go for the crowns at times. I live in a decent running area so they can be tough and that makes it fun! Nothing like top areas (boulder, CO) so I can get away with it. Sometimes I'm into it and sometimes I don't care and don't track my runs at all. Really depends on the time of year and training I'm doing.

Anyone every got a date off Strava?

Not yet, but I'm trying really hard

Yes it's in the top left hand corner of your uploaded run.

Strava is full of men having a mid life crisis. Some of them dedicate massive amounts of time to running and are borderline obsessed. It's a race that never ends.

Ain't that the truth

very telling that the word "friends" barely showed up in this thread

I think I know what you’re getting at but would love to hear elaboration

I used it to find some good routes , trails , and dirt road locations based off where other people run.

it’s like mapmyrun except better (gps connectivity) rather than manually uploading data.

Sounds like a typical peloton user.

I first downloaded it in 2020 and it was pretty fun to go and get crowns in lockdown when no races were on, but it got tiresome quick.

Now if I ever post my training on Strava, the Strava warriors are asking what I’m training for, what my aims are, commenting on my sessions etc.

I failed to hit 2:19 on my last marathon which I put out there, and I got people who run 20 min 5ks and 20km a week telling me better luck next time. Which is the most infuriating thing if you have experienced this..

I get ‘mutual’ people adding me who I’ve never spoken too in my life, just because they want to stalk my training and feels like judgement. Idk, I think it’s way too toxic imo I just want to focus on myself. It adds so much extra pressure, I use it but keep all of my runs private by default now because I do like all the data that Strava provides.

I think social Strava is designed for those who run maybe 2 or 3 times a week just for fun, when you take is seriously and try to hit competitive times it just sucks all the motivation away. You find yourself comparing absolutely everything to everyone else also, but you only compare negative things..it sucks

That's a good point...I used to care about kudos but someone told me this awhile back--it really doesn't matter about kudos unless it's helping you feed your family.

Exactly. Why spend time outside running when you can troll here on letsrun

Just a training log, if it wasn't for Strava I'd just use a notebook but it's more convenient for your runs to automatically upload and you can look back and view them. I might even just make my Strava private at eventually

It's a running log. Imagine being narcissistic enough that you say people are "stalking" you and you have to perform for them. Exhausting.

I got bored of strava. On the face of it, it's good because it can keep me accountable, but I do that myself anyway. I think I simply don't enjoy social media.

A place I cannot add my 800 pr no matter how much I complain

I use Strava to track my training and Sh!tpost. I used to follow everyone who followed me when I first got on the app. As the years have gone by I noticed that I would get frustrated seeing people run like idiots or just post cringe stuff. So I just started posting whatever I felt like and made it just random, sometimes unhinged stuff. Started unfollowing people that made me have negative reactions as well, don't need any of that stuff.

Trying to really cut it down to people who post stuff that make me laugh, my good friends, and people I coach. Other than that, I don't really care about who follows me. I need to start unfollowing the dumpster fire accounts that I can't seem to help look away at.

I don't really get unsolicited feedback or strange comments thankfully. Maybe it's that I've run fairly okay in recent years or that I'm kind of a jerk sometimes. Either way, strava ain't as bad for me as it is to others.

Exactly my experience. I was passed by two groups of clowns this morning taking up the whole path who were running at 7 pace and I know they do a parkrun in 20-22 minutes. Meanwhile I was jogging 9:30 pace.

I denied heart rate permissions on strava. I turned off fly by, local legends, made my account private, made the privacy zone as big as it can get and start my runs a mile away from my house. I also have no avatar. I jog every run around 10 minute miles. But I keep winning my local parkrun in 16 minutes. I wonder if they can sell any of this data.