The data is in - Strava is wrecking the sport

OP -- I think you're right. There's this one guy in my city who runs 6:00 pace every single day and then races 10k @ 5:45 pace. I've got another guy who runs a 19 minute 5k but his only training is going out 2-4 times/week, hammering a segment, and crawling home. It's up to folks to train however they want but clearly they could both run a lot faster.

I also think age matters to some extent. My easy pace was :30ish faster a decade ago. Now I'm content running 7:30+ on my easy days. Idc if people on strava see those runs. They see workouts and races too. It all balances out.

There seem s to be an increasing trend of posting pictures along the route of every run, and a selfie at the end. Others copy the strava link to facebook, so you see the same run multiple times.

race on RACE day wrote:

Most don't have the discipline to run easy and post it on Strava. It's like all the runners now feel insecure about their fitness so they have to go prove it every run.

I have my strava autolinked to my garmin as a relic of a long time ago when I was checking out strava. I run mostly heavily wooded trails on easy days so the gps is wildly inaccurate (like it will indicate 12 min+ miles). I fix the runs in garmin so I have an accurate mileage log for myself, but I almost never log into Strava, and when I do I never fix the mileages. Somebody looking at my account would wonder how I hit the PRs I have, but I could care less if you think I run a 12 min mile 4 days a week. Come race day, if you're stalking me on strava, you're going to be surprised.

My biggest complaint about strava is the segment records. There are a handful around me where people were clearly on bikes. At least one appears to have been set in a car (even a bike would have a really tough time hitting the pace indicated - like even doped up Lance Armstrong).

Flag them. Very easy to do and immediately removes them from the record board.

I remember this kid in high school who used to want to hammer all of our runs. He was desperate to keep up right at the front, which made everyone go half a step faster to get away from him, and half a step faster, and so on. A lot of those runs were a lot quicker then they should have been.

Must have been because of that early-90s dial-up periodical searching technology the 80-year old librarian showed us on the one computer in the back room. The internet was making us run dumb, we just didn't know it at the time.

I use strava as a training log. I prefer it to an excel file or notebook because it automatically transfers the data from my Garmin, and I find it easier to navigate and enjoy how it looks, and also how I can easily add descriptions to the run (temp, perceived effort, any small niggle I was/have been feeling). I also like the GAP data when running a tempo on an undulating course as it gives me some indication how I was doing on the uphills and downhills.

I use it a bit for the social aspect, but prefer it as a training log for those reasons. I like it and will likely keep using it.

Ever run by somebody who is out for a jog and taking a selfie for the gram? Man do they look sheepish and embarrassed when they see you see them doing it.

why I use strava wrote:

I use strava as a training log. I prefer it to an excel file or notebook because it automatically transfers the data from my Garmin, and I find it easier to navigate and enjoy how it looks, and also how I can easily add descriptions to the run (temp, perceived effort, any small niggle I was/have been feeling). I also like the GAP data when running a tempo on an undulating course as it gives me some indication how I was doing on the uphills and downhills.

I use it a bit for the social aspect, but prefer it as a training log for those reasons. I like it and will likely keep using it.

One day Strava will remove that and make you pay to access it. Just as they did with numerous other features. Keep your training log in excel or some place that you have full control of...

It is good for keeping track of the mileage on your shoes.

Uh, they already did. GAP and the training log have been paid features for over a week.

Here’s my question: why do you care so much about what other people are doing? There’s literally an unfollow button. As someone else stated, it’s not a strava problem, it’s an idiot problem. And more importantly, it’s not your problem. I could care less what strava thinks my PRs are because I actually know what they are. You’re on here making weird, insecure sounding generalizations about people you probably don’t even know. Maybe strava just isn’t for you!

Alfie wrote:

It is good for keeping track of the mileage on your shoes.

Yes. Been looking for alternatives for this and can't find anything as good.

Garmin lets you add shoes but not re-baseline them to something other than zero miles. MapMyRun does let you add shoes but only select from a set list which they can link to retail sellers (so you need to just pick one and nickname it correctly if your shoes don't show up).

I don't think runkeeper had it at all

I don't understand publicly posting on Strava anyway. I use it to just track runs in a place outside Garmin. All my runs are set to only me and I don't follow anyone, not even my friends I follow in other social media.

Strava is really just a free running log.

caring about other people's easy run paces is a lot weirder than stopping on your run to take a selfie.

"The data is in"

*Fails to have any data other than anecdotal evidence"

Welp... wrote:

"The data is in"

*Fails to have any data other than anecdotal evidence"

I am terrified of how people's brains work. People think they are objective and reasonable, when they're really just emotionally-driven idiots

Facts are worthless wrote:

ultra thon bro wrote:

people been training like idiots like that since before strava, now it is just more obvious/public.

This. Strava isn't the problem. There are plenty of people on Strava that are capable of training smart. There might be a handful that do that garbage training you speak of. I would suggest unfollowing them so they don't get the Strava "glory" that they seek.

EOT.

SUPERlOR COACH JS wrote:

Welp... wrote:

"The data is in"

*Fails to have any data other than anecdotal evidence"

I am terrified of how people's brains work. People think they are objective and reasonable, when they're really just emotionally-driven idiots

I thought you changed your username?!?!?! WTF Jan!

I haven't read through the whole thread in detail, so I don't know if this has been touched on.

So, Arthur Lydiard had no anaerobic interval training during the aerobic conditioning phase for his athletes. This phase could be as short as eight weeks and could be much longer. Some people go up to 24 weeks. When you see diminishing returns, you move on to the hill phase.

One problem Arthur recognized (well before technology) was the human ego. He knew that athletes naturally couldn't help race their own times or training partner's time or their own recent workouts to markers et al. They would go anaerobic and potentially spoil their big aerobic base or its process of building it when doing so-called "quality sessions".

I have had beginners, long-term runners and even very elite athletes say to me, "but you have to stay in touch with your speed."

Sure. Once per week, by feel fartlek training takes care of that. As will doing 8-10 or perhaps more eight second or so relaxed strides once per week on a football/soccer pitch or track or smooth trail. No straining.

So, if Arthur was alive today, he would bristle at Strava as he knew that people can't help themselves. So the ego must be removed before the shoes go on and the runner should consider WHY each run is being run. If he/she doesn't know, he/she needs a coach to explain this. And as Arthur said, "If your coach can't explain to you why you are doing any of your workouts, you need to get a new coach."

People look at Strava and see "so-and-so" ran more kms than I this week and so-and-so has run faster than I or is catching me or is pulling away from me - all ego.

I have a weekly out-and-back run where we warm-up for 3K and warm-down for 3K. In between, we run 30-minutes out as hard as possible without straining and with the expectation of having a minor negative split and return on same path. No pacing, no racing, no looking at the watch, except to see when 30-minutes is up.

It seems so very simple, but even with long-term veteran runners it is almost a brand new concept that they have never heard of and there is actually some real fascination with. It's like reinventing the wheel. With new runners it is a lot easier.

But the ego is powerful....most people have little control.....