I'm writing an article with a philosopher on use of technology and what it means to people.
I'm really curious as to people's reasons for sharing their activities on Strava. I use it myself, along with Garmin and TrainingPeaks, but I'd like to get a few other perspectives too.
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2. See what mates are doing. In particular I find it's a good way to stay in touch with people overseas.
3. See how good runners train and get ideas for new sessions and training plan.
I know there are better sites for tracking training but I tend to just use Strava.
There do appear to be some fail safes on Strava as on one occasion I accidentally uploaded a bike ride as a run, and the system wouldn't let me as the bike ride pace was too quick.
It also lets me know my pace and compare that; it isn't uncommon for me to feel that I didn't run fast - then look at the speeds and see I was quicker than on previous runs. Or the converse, I've felt I was really pushing myself and actually was slower than previous times (it turned out I was really ill). Perceptions of running speed while running can be deceptive, but the measurements don't lie.
> 1. Track my training.
> 2. See what mates are doing. In particular I find it's a good way to stay in touch with people overseas.
> 3. See how good runners train and get ideas for new sessions and training plan.
>
> I know there are better sites for tracking training but I tend to just use Strava.
I agree with this. It's just a fun, not so serious social app. I don't care about segments or whether someone has 'cheated' because I only care about the points that HA77 has mentioned above.
To add a slight twist to HA77s point about observing training of others, this mostly makes me do the monkey covering eyes emoji as it’s quite mental what people put themselves through.
One thing I don’t do is subscribe to all of these challenges like Climb Mt Fuji In January! Or 10,000 miles In A Month ! I don’t get that. If there was a challenge like ‘Run as Much as Possible In Between Working and Family But Sometimes Opt For Core Work (On the Sofa)’ I think I’d sign up for that.
That said, I have to transfer my runs from my S3 gear to S Health and then import to Strava, which I don't like. That's a Samsung issue though.
It seems alright, a bit clunky, and doesn't like treadmills (that might be user error though)
As it happens I prefer the interface in Strava for viewing my runs than the Garmin tools.
Only reason I ever open the Garmin app is to see what my VO2 max is.
More recently, Strava has become dominant in terms of numbers of users, so is now the best place to see what other people, e.g. from my running club, have been running.
1. Keeps track of all my training and data.
2. A small amount of social activity with people i follow, and followers.
3. Helps looking for new routes.