Any one else wish they never joined Strava?

balsam2 wrote:

+1 - It's pretty stressful and I've questioned why I used it at times.

If you are part of clubs or challenges, there are always people trying to beat you on the leaderboards.

you're average pace for the week is displayed-- do an easy run and it goes up.

if you decide to do a loop you commonly do at an easy pace it gives you a sad graph showing you're going slower than average

If you do a race and it doesn't go well, everyone gets to see it.

Going private is a great idea. you can invite a couple of running buddies who you know well and keep the rest out. Or you can get rid of it entirely.

Clearly you're very insecure about the pace on your easy runs and are not treating them as such. Strava is a useful way to collect and display running data, but that doesn't mean you always have to read into the data. When I first got my garmin, I did find myself constantly evaluating pace on easy runs and forcing myself to speed up, but as time went on, after strava-ing every run, I began to not worry about pace, realizing that the majority of runs in any good block of training are going to be unglamorous and unimpressive when viewed in the context of mile splits and average pace. There are always different circumstances surrounding runs (coming off a hard effort, sick, etc.) and it's important not to constantly evaluate yourself based on individual efforts with no context. I no longer feel self-conscious about running 8-minute pace for a recovery run if it came the day after a long run or a hard effort. If you hold yourself to posting every run on strava, I think you'll find, as I have, that it desensitizes you to the embarrassment of slower efforts or average paces. Everyone has ups and downs, as I've definitely seen from following several pros on strava. No one knocks it out of the park every day.

One of the best things I've ever read about Strava:

See what you achieve when your mental toughness is tested more than your legs. Taste the gut-wrenching knowledge that you’re failing because, on that day, in those conditions, someone else actually is better than you, and you can’t come back tomorrow and prove them wrong. It seems to me that Strava is popular because it allows us to be competitive without forcing us to take that incredibly nerve-wracking step to the start line. It opens up the possibility of winning without ever facing the ignominy of losing.

I got my first GPS and Strava at the same time, got injured a week later. I did a 20 mile long run on the Sunday which put me first of the leader board. I was battered and had a long hot bath. 5 minutes later I got a comment from a guy who said he's not having it and went back out for another run to beat me by 2 miles. I thought we'll see about that and went out and ran an extra 10 miles. My legs suprisingly felt good after a mile so I made my new mpw an extra 10 miles. I was hyped and had all my training paces under 5:00/km.

Then the fatigue hit, couldn't even open my eyes in the mornings and kept sleeping in. Couldn't sleep at night. Got a pain in my right foot, couldn't even walk one day but still did a 10 miler as I didn't wanna drop in the leader board. Form changed got hip pain so went to the grass to run 400m loops on all my mileage on my injured foot and hip until I got a stress fracture and still went out and ran on it trying to heel strike every landing to keep off my foot. Had to take 2 months off and when I came back I could hardly run a mile without stopping at 8 mile pace and to think I was in sub17 5K shape. Totally ruined my summer when I could of been out there enjoying the great weather everyday running.

Go private if you worry too much about what other people are thinking about your runs. Or change your user name.

If you are really that concerned about what people think of your runs, do not ever run in a public place where others can see you. Or only run fast when in public and/or wearing your watch. Or wear a mask when you run slow. Or only run on remote trails or at night when running slow

Seriously: one thing everyone needs to learn in life is to be confident enough to be who you are, live your own life and be in your own skin.

Do not base all your self worth on how you stack up compared to others. You only get to win races/be KOM/set FKTs if you are young, have good genes, and train hard. And if the really fast people (like Kenny B., Kiprop, etc) do not show up/participate.

Even if you "beat" others, its temporary. Eventually you will get old, injured and slow, and younger faster people will come along.

Its an unsustainable recipe for disaster to constantly be worried about what others think and be racing/competing against others all the time.

oO0uUxvVNnqQw wrote: Strava's just hype, BS and marketing.

This comment makes no sense at all as applied to Strava. It's the kind of thing you'd say about some new training method that overpromises and underdeliveres, or some shoes that are supposed to prevent injuries. But with Strava, there's no question what the platform does--it's just a public running log. The only question is whether people like it. Some do, and some don't. But that doesn't make it "just hype, BS and marketing."

balsam2 wrote:

+1 - It's pretty stressful and I've questioned why I used it at times.

If you are part of clubs or challenges, there are always people trying to beat you on the leaderboards.

you're average pace for the week is displayed-- do an easy run and it goes up.

if you decide to do a loop you commonly do at an easy pace it gives you a sad graph showing you're going slower than average

If you do a race and it doesn't go well, everyone gets to see it.

Going private is a great idea. you can invite a couple of running buddies who you know well and keep the rest out. Or you can get rid of it entirely.

It encourages idiotic training. You compete in races. Don't be a workout warrior like I was

Strava remorse wrote:

Starting to get burnt out with it, and thinking of either setting to private or disconnecting altogether. Anyone else feels this way?

I'm on my second strava account, having nuked the original one when I got injured and burned out in May.

I've been coming back very slowly since September and everything is set to private. I don't the challenges and I don't follow anyone. I like the analytics better than Garmin's, but the latter is my go-to for hardware.

For me, it's just a hitech (i see was i did there) training log.

I use Garmin Connect for the initial data upload (and even that is all private).

Pen & Paper as backup, because I like the few moments of self-reflection from writing it down.

Zev wrote:

Strava remorse wrote:

Starting to get burnt out with it, and thinking of either setting to private or disconnecting altogether. Anyone else feels this way?

I'm on my second strava account, having nuked the original one when I got injured and burned out in May.

I've been coming back very slowly since September and everything is set to private. I don't the challenges and I don't follow anyone. I like the analytics better than Garmin's, but the latter is my go-to for hardware.

For me, it's just a hitech (i see was i did there) training log.

I use Garmin Connect for the initial data upload (and even that is all private).

Pen & Paper as backup, because I like the few moments of self-reflection from writing it down.

Yeah, i think I'm going to go off the grid with strava. I know it'll be less stress on my runs knowing i wont have a dozen coaches critiquing my every run when i log on or giving an inside view of my training to local friendly competition.

I don't use Strava myself but love to go there to find info on hilly trail races that course info is hard to find. I look up people that ran the race and see if they have it on strata.

I disabled my facebook post-Trump -- specifically, I was annoyed at how dumb and repetitive people's commentary on him was -- so I thnk I get where you're coming from, OP. But maybe just check it once a day or less, when you actually log your runs, and don't look at segments or flybys?

Persoanlly I find this pretty easy because in central park, where I log most of my runs, most of the CRs are obviously held by bikers (unless a bunch of people I've never heard of are routinely running at 16-18 mph around the loop when I"m not looking), so it's like, whatever, none of it means anything.

khow wrote:

Strava is no different than an old-school training log.

In high school/college/post-collegiate before college, I would run the same workouts, courses, etc., and be able to compare to previous fitness, etc., to help me determine where I'm at. Same with Strava. I keep my account Private. At one point had over 3300 followers, but realized my competition was learning my training, so shut that feature off and unplugged everyone so it's pretty much just a hi-tech digital training log, which is really cool. Plus, it's basically my Instagram, as I upload all my pics that I feel relevant and want to keep that pertain to the runs.

Your competition was learning from your training? Unless you're a woman running 14:30 or a man running 13:10 nobody will learn anything from your training. Also, you might be running in a foot of snow wearing heavy clothes at what looks like an exceedingly slow pace for heart rate on your easy run. Who cares?

This comment makes no sense whatsoever as applied to Strava. Your irregular reasoning is highly illogical! Strava's the platform about which there is absolutely no question concerning what it does or it's purpose--it's merely a public running log. The only, foremost, and most pressing question is whether earthlings like it. Some men and women do prefer Strava while other humans, some of whom are men and a subset of whom are women, DO NOT like it one bit. But that doesn't make it "just hype, BS and marketing." Not by a country mile, old sport. I hope you've learned your lesson and I won't be required to unlease my ruthless, unrelenting, and merciless message board blitzkrieg on you a second time.

You win Socrates! I surrender!

Glissa wrote:

One of the best things I've ever read about Strava:

See what you achieve when your mental toughness is tested more than your legs. Taste the gut-wrenching knowledge that you’re failing because, on that day, in those conditions, someone else actually is better than you, and you can’t come back tomorrow and prove them wrong. It seems to me that Strava is popular because it allows us to be competitive without forcing us to take that incredibly nerve-wracking step to the start line. It opens up the possibility of winning without ever facing the ignominy of losing.

this is the completely wrong attitude for a competitive runner. The guy who trains hardest doesn't win the race, the guy who trains best does. If you're constantly chasing cr's you either live in an area with weak competition or you're overtraining, possibly both.

Glissa wrote:

One of the best things I've ever read about Strava:

Posted the Strava Online Marketing Coordinator.

It's myspace for athletic types. What they really need is a dating app that uses your gps tracks to match users. Hobby joggers can hook up with hobby joggers.

Not using Strava allowed me to fake run across America until Asher Delmott busted me.

kvothe wrote:

this is the completely wrong attitude for a competitive runner. The guy who trains hardest doesn't win the race, the guy who trains best does. If you're constantly chasing cr's you either live in an area with weak competition or you're overtraining, possibly both.

My original post was a negative rebuttal towards Strava for the reasons you list. The last two sentences hammer that point home.

It opens up the possibility of winning without ever facing the ignominy of losing.

You can win without ever being a loser. That's why it's so popular.

It's not Strava - it's you.

Strava made me more competitive than I already was. I got too caught up in the virtual running world and lost myself in it. I am going back to basics and toning it back down, and have felt a great relief since going off the grid with it. I know that now; in addition, it's great not having a dozen coaches trying to critique me or give inner info to local competition anymore. I feel pretty good again, and that's all that matters to me.

Strava remorse wrote:

Strava made me more competitive than I already was. I got too caught up in the virtual running world and lost myself in it. I am going back to basics and toning it back down, and have felt a great relief since going off the grid with it. I know that now; in addition, it's great not having a dozen coaches trying to critique me or give inner info to local competition anymore. I feel pretty good again, and that's all that matters to me.

That's perfectly fine, and I'm glad you feel good. You couldn't handle Strava because you GAF about trying to impress others on it. Many of us don't, and let the race results speak.