stravauser wrote:
Strava is a tool, and you can use it for whatever you want. For some it's an ego stroke, for others it keeps track of your training and makes it fun and easy to keep track of other people's training.
I agree with that 100%. But I don't think the OP was complaining about Strava generally. Rather I think he was complaining about people who use it in an assholish way, by trying to show off by running faster than they would otherwise. And I think we can probably all agree that this is annoying behavior. Nobody likes a showoff.
The thing is, I think most people who run faster because of what their strava buddies might think, probably actually benefit from this. As the OP notes, these people are mostly amateurs. They probably don't run enough miles, or run fast enough. Having their training visible to their friends on strava encourages them to run more and run faster, which is exactly what they need. Sure, an ideal world where they trained perfectly might be even better, but I don't think that's the world we would move towards if strava went away.
Now for me personally, it would be bad if I reacted to strava by hammering my easy days, or whatever, because I'm already pushing the envelope of what my body can handle. But I think most people who are in that boat with me - like a lot of people on this thread, I imagine - are probably too mature and experienced with running to have the amateur 'hammer all easy days' reaction.
So, I agree with the OP that a lot of strava users probably run more and run faster than they would otherwise, but I think this is probably a good thing for most of the people it applies to.