Are elite runners nuts for sharing their workouts on Strava?

My city's paths have all of the obvious segments made already: this bridge to that bridge, around this loop, etc.

I try to make looong segments, like 10, 15, 20 mile straights and loops. There are only so many sane ways to do a 15-miler where I am, so pretty soon all of the more serious local distance guys and ladies using Strava show up in the leaderboard.

Garmin is in such a funny position, because Garmin Connect has been trampled by Strava, yet you still generally need to use Garmin software (Express) to sync Garmin activities to Strava.

Garmin seem to have accepted defeat. Their latest cycling computer is specifically designed to be used with Strava.

Zlatan wrote:

Garmin seem to have accepted defeat. Their latest cycling computer is specifically designed to be used with Strava.

How is that defeat? Unless Strava decide to make their own devices, Garmin will only benefit from increases strava use.

I'm also of the opinion that strava is crap. I go out and run mile repeats on a stretch of road I know is one mile, then strava tells me that it was .85 miles and I ran it 55 seconds slower than I did. The data on my garmin is spot on, and therefore actually useful to me. I used strava for a couple months then gave up and closed my account.

I'm not an elite, but i consider myself national class in the marathon (still have yet to run an OT for 2016 though).

I use Strava everyday as a daily training log and something where I can track routes and see how much mileage/climbing I've done (the vertical profile of a run is important in the trail/ultra/mountain stuff each week). I've found the maps of routes to be very useful in trying to find new trails or plot a course.

When using a Garmin 910/920 and/or a 620 I've found it to be pretty accurate with the mileage/vertical and splits.

Some segments can get a bit silly (esp. in places like Boulder) and there are many days that I find myself flagging people that did routes on bikes at 2min/mile pace.

Also in the MUT running world FKTs (fastest known times) where people run certain trail routes for course records in training are somewhat popular. Strava is a way to prove you set a best on a personal mountain climb (i.e. Green Mountain in Boulder, CO) for example. " It's not real unless it's on Strava" etc.

This is why I love Strava, check out this effort,

https://www.strava.com/activities/365249042

If you understand GAP, you understand this monstrous effort... and in pretty sh!tty conditions.

i chose d2 wrote:

Zlatan wrote:

Garmin seem to have accepted defeat. Their latest cycling computer is specifically designed to be used with Strava.

How is that defeat? Unless Strava decide to make their own devices, Garmin will only benefit from increases strava use.

Yes it is good for Garmin but they should have realized this a couple of years ago before they spent all that time and resources updating Garmin Connect to try and rival Strava.

I actually like posting my workouts on Strava and KOM hunting. My only complaint is that it doesn't provide weather-adjusted effort levels. I ran in the rain once and that was the only reason I didn't get the KOM on one of the local hills.

A few Canadians and others wrote:

Rob Watson

Dylan Wykes

Reid Coolsaet

Andrew Lemoncello

Nick Arciniaga

Alicia Shay

Max King

there's more but i'm too lazy. tons of ultra joggers like Rob Krar etc.

Ifj wrote:

Which elite runners are sharing their workouts on Strava?

Ok which ones on that list are elite? I don't see any. I see a bunch of b-c listers.

Long hair don't care wrote:

I'm also of the opinion that strava is crap. I go out and run mile repeats on a stretch of road I know is one mile, then strava tells me that it was .85 miles and I ran it 55 seconds slower than I did. The data on my garmin is spot on, and therefore actually useful to me. I used strava for a couple months then gave up and closed my account.

Strava is software. It's only as accurate as the hardware you are running it on.

Strava isn't crap. Your opinion is crap.

Re: Segments and KOMS/CRs:

I think these are awesome and fun. Sure, there are some ridiculous segments out there (a quarter mile stretch in the middle of a side street no one runs), but a good amount of segments measure things like:

-Popular hills (who can get to the top fastest?)

-Landmark to landmark (not all that different from a lot of road races)

-Loops of ponds and trails

What I like about these types of segments is that anyone can go for records at any time. You could set a course record at 2:00 in the afternoon and it could be gone by 8:00 that night, forcing you to go back and reclaim your CR status.

There are some people who don't care about Strava segments, and that's fine. There are also a lot of people who line up at road races with no intention of winning or placing in the top 10. But there are a lot of people out there who enjoy competing, and Strava segments provide a fun way to compete just about anywhere people run. It's also cool that you can set your own courses through segments, meaning you don't have to rely on someone else to make a race course for you.

has to be said buddy wrote:

A few Canadians and others wrote:

Rob Watson

Dylan Wykes

Reid Coolsaet

Andrew Lemoncello

Nick Arciniaga

Alicia Shay

Max King

there's more but i'm too lazy. tons of ultra joggers like Rob Krar etc.

Ok which ones on that list are elite? I don't see any. I see a bunch of b-c listers.

Kara G and Lauren F are on there as well. Not sure if they were mentioned earlier.

adesso wrote:

has to be said buddy wrote:

Ok which ones on that list are elite? I don't see any. I see a bunch of b-c listers.

Kara G and Lauren F are on there as well. Not sure if they were mentioned earlier.

Ok. So a bunch of b-c listers and two has been a who are attention starved. Again, still haven't seen any elites yet.

jesus... didn't see that pop up on my feed. it connects to joe grey's as well, those splits are crazy.

Leirbag wrote:

This is why I love Strava, check out this effort,

https://www.strava.com/activities/365249042

If you understand GAP, you understand this monstrous effort... and in pretty sh!tty conditions.

b and c listers don't end up top 10 in boston, jackass. i'm sure you're a bunch faster than they are, but regardless, white guys who run 2:10-11 aren't second-tier.

Uninformed wrote:

Long hair don't care wrote:

I'm also of the opinion that strava is crap. I go out and run mile repeats on a stretch of road I know is one mile, then strava tells me that it was .85 miles and I ran it 55 seconds slower than I did. The data on my garmin is spot on, and therefore actually useful to me. I used strava for a couple months then gave up and closed my account.

Strava is software. It's only as accurate as the hardware you are running it on.

Strava isn't crap. Your opinion is crap.

First of all, strava is internet based so the hardware I'm running it on has nothing to do with its performance. Here is some more info, so that maybe you can understand: I have a one mile stretch of road measured out (using a wheel I borrowed from the local high school coach). When I run this stretch, my garmin watch consistently measures it to be .98-1.03mi, which I would say is pretty accurate considering it uses satellites orbiting in space. After my workouts I uploaded this data to strava, and he software butchers the data and consistently decided I ran .8-.93mi, which is a significant error. My opinion isn't crap, but your education and reading ability seem to be.

This has absolutely never happened to me. Strava has been nothing but solid for my use.

I'm not very curious as to why some would experience such massive inaccuracy and others like me none at all compared to the readings on the Garmin

Uninformed wrote:

Long hair don't care wrote:

I'm also of the opinion that strava is crap. I go out and run mile repeats on a stretch of road I know is one mile, then strava tells me that it was .85 miles and I ran it 55 seconds slower than I did. The data on my garmin is spot on, and therefore actually useful to me. I used strava for a couple months then gave up and closed my account.

Strava is software. It's only as accurate as the hardware you are running it on.

Strava isn't crap. Your opinion is crap.

Do much GIS programming lately? Did I see your screenname submit a patch at postgis?

Long hair illustrates the problem nicely. That's only one mile.

beck256 wrote:

I agree with "strava is a log".

If anything, elites should WANT to post on Strava because that garners more brand recognition to themselves and their sponsors.

So sponsors look at Strava data? Or sponsors use Strava to know their athletes are working?