Why did STRAVA become the runners choice?

Hardloper wrote:

Jedsdead wrote:

Ran a 21 k training run with a friend. He stopped for a bathroom break on the way, so I paused my watch, then restarted for the run. Strava did not account for the pause.

Strava will not count the pause towards your time unless you marked the activity as a race

Correct. It will count the pause toward your segment time if you were actively completing a segment.

I sense a troll with the above post but maybe there are some people who care enough about a training run that they'll spend time on the phone attempting to correct a miscalculated pace.

Honestly, I just use a MS Word doc.

glaukos wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Former cyclist here, this is NOT true at all. Almost no one cares about the segments.

...

People use Strava mainly for the following things:

...

4) To watch their progress over time in segments. Some cyclists go to the same training camps every year, and if they can do the big climb faster than last year they got their mission accomplished.

You contradict yourself.

LateRunnerPhil is the king of speaking with authority on something he doesn't fully understand and thinking he's made a great point

Robert678 wrote:

Honestly, I just use a MS Word doc.

I use a Google Spreadsheet (easier to just add formulas to get weekly/monthly/yearly totals) with tabs for different years (data all the way back to when I first started running in 2008).

Can't figure out how to post my mid-run selfies there yet ?

Just wear a 10 dollar chronograph watch so you’re not late for work. Run by feel ya all.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Almost no one cares about the segments. Elites/pros just complete their training session, and most recreational riders have no chance to get a segment. There is a small group of segment hunters, usually people slightly-above average up to sub-elite, who get a thrill of hunting segments and showing their followers. But overall, this is less than 1% of the user base.

Think you're WAY underestimating the amount of people who at least occasionally use the segments. Lots of people use segments as motivation for training (esp. if they're not racing). Heck, Phil Gaimon has made an entire second career out of Strava segments. I think runners use the segment/CR feature a lot less than cyclists.

As for the OP, How many of these threads do you need to start? And yes strava does do swimming I have friends that have their swims entered all the time from their Garmins (watch can tell how many laps you did).

aoxomoxoa wrote:

I use a Google Spreadsheet (easier to just add formulas to get weekly/monthly/yearly totals) with tabs for different years (data all the way back to when I first started running in 2008).

Can't figure out how to post my mid-run selfies there yet ?

It takes me all of four button presses on my watch to give me every stat I could ever want plus a GPS map of my run in both Garmin Connect and Strava.

I have never taken a mid-run selfie.

Jedsdead wrote:

Strava did not account for the pause. Just recorded the higher time. I contacted customer support to get them to adjust the time. They told me they wouldn't change it, because if it was a race then the higher time would have counted....complete BS. If it was a race I obviously would not be stopping to wait for a friend..

Strava does account for the pause, but not on the main page of the activity. click on the "Laps" tab at the left side and it will give you the miles times without adding in the time you were stopped/paused. This feature is to prevent people from stopping and resting in the middle of a segment or CR and then restarting like they didn't rest. The race analogy is pretty accurate. You're going to get the gun time. Surprised that was the thing that sent you over the edge on strava?

I run with a phone.

Same here. I love segments, especially for cycling. I'm a poor cyclist and will never get a QOM on the bike, but I really like seeing my progress.

On the bike in particular, I also like the feature where you can see all the people you passed or were passed by during a ride.

The FB-like ability to see others' workouts is also nice. My siblings and parents are all on Strava, and we live in different parts of the country but all workout daily or near daily, and it's a weird but cool way to keep up with each other.

Strava is social media. It's the worst. No kudos for anyone.

aoxomoxoa wrote:

Robert678 wrote:

Honestly, I just use a MS Word doc.

I use a Google Spreadsheet (easier to just add formulas to get weekly/monthly/yearly totals) with tabs for different years (data all the way back to when I first started running in 2008).

Can't figure out how to post my mid-run selfies there yet ?

Under the Insert menu, you can insert a photo into Google spreadsheet, either in a cell or as an object over the spreadsheet. So now you know!

triathletes often use strava. A lot definitely stems from the bike segments and not the desire to be on the top but it provides a good way to track fitness over time. Like you can see yourself dropping time on that CAT 3 climb you can gauge fitness from that cause speed alone is pretty hard to judge fitness from because the route has such a big impact when in running the route usually doesn't make too big of an impact relatively. (i.e. you may go from 10-40 mph range on a bike ride with hills but your running pace will fluctuate only from like 6:30/mile - 8:00/mile on the same route)

If you go on the web app and use the multi sport view you can also nicely see your training volume in time over the weeks which is a big thing for triathletes. Swimming and running also just conveniently upload for you that it makes it nice. Plus seeing what your friends do (especially friends form HS/college) who you don't have contact with as much is pretty nice

Imagine the number of employees that Strava would need to adjust people's times every time that they slowed down because a car or a cute little bunny crossed their path. Although, the public shame of a less than optimal training run is indeed a terrible thing.

I love it when idiots give me kudos for a 5 mile 9min/mile jog. Knock it off assholes.

kudosmyass wrote:

I love it when idiots give me kudos for a 5 mile 9min/mile jog. Knock it off assholes.

At my age, that workout would not only deserve kudos, but a couple of days of bed rest. It's all relative.

kudosmyass wrote:

I love it when idiots give me kudos for a 5 mile 9min/mile jog. Knock it off assholes.

KUDOS! Most excellent post! Keep up the good work!

Well those slow 5 miles jogs are important too, worthy of an occasional Kudos/thumbs up now and again I say.

I think Strava hit CM due to it being fairly simple and easy to use, and also having a nice simple catchy name. And clever marketing.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

glaukos wrote:

I believe the way Strava reached critical mass ahead of many other competitors is through the popularity of their segments feature in the cycling community. Their competitors have all added segments now, but it's too late. Strava segments are the only ones that matter because they have the user base. Many cyclists are also triathletes. Triathletes are also runners. So Strava's dominance of the cycling demographic probably bled over to runners via triathletes.

Former cyclist here, this is NOT true at all. Almost no one cares about the segments. Elites/pros just complete their training session, and most recreational riders have no chance to get a segment. There is a small group of segment hunters, usually people slightly-above average up to sub-elite, who get a thrill of hunting segments and showing their followers. But overall, this is less than 1% of the user base.

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Maybe you weren't doing much cycling when Strava became big. Everybody I knew would try to do this. Sure, some pro would go out and set all the records on the big climbs, but there were smaller ones you could get, especially if you rode in a group. My friend and I did a 4 hour ride with one of the top women in the area and she picked the route so we could pace her to a QOM. Guys in our group would get them fairly often. A lot of my friends had some. I went on a ride where two pro riders (one was a US champion and the other was on a UCI WorldTeam) competed on the long descent (I could not keep up). It was fun.