Greg recently found out about a cool website called Strava. It’s a website that allows you to upload your running (or cycling) data from Garmin, Suunto, Timex, Tomtom or Soleus, and see where you stack up against other runners in your area.
Runners create “segments” from their uploaded data, such as a certain 3 mile loop or a specific hill climb. Strava automatically looks for all the people who have completed that segment as part of a run, and displays the amount of time it took that person to complete it. It crowns the top female and male as Queen or King of the Mountain for that particular segment, displays a leaderboard, and lets you know how many attempts have been made by what number of people.
Now that I’ve connected it to my Garmin Connect account, my runs will automatically be uploaded into Strava with no additional work from me, and any segments I happen to cross will have my time added to the list. I can specifically seek out segments near me and try to move up on the leader-board, or just compete against my own previous times.
This morning, I tested it out with my first run. I decided to create a segment of a road in my neighborhood “Summit Rd”, so I can REALLY be Queen of the Mountain, and then I ran it as fast as humanly possible.
I was in luck – although three other people have crossed that segment on their runs, none of them was booking it at an all-out-war pace. (I know this for a fact, because #2 is my husband, and #3 is one of our neighbors, and they’re both a lot faster than I am.) Therefore, I am currently not just Queen of the Mountain, I’m #1 on the leaderboard also, with a 6:49 average pace for the .3 mile run. (What’s up now. Yes, that decimal is placed correctly.)
You can follow people, comment or give them kudos on their run, and compare your mileage to theirs. What a great tool for keeping track of mileage with a running partner! With the number of ways you can upload, it’s nice that you can check out someone’s progress even if they have a different GPS device than you do. I could encourage a friend with similar goals to hit a specific goal, and we could check on each other with Strava and give encouragement.
I’ll tell you this – I would not have been running sub seven minute pace down Summit Rd. this morning in the rain if I hadn’t known I was going to upload it to Strava and create a segment. I wanted the crown! Thanks for the speed workout, Strava.
I think Strava could be a great tool for connecting to other runners and staying motivated. I don’t think I’ll be claiming too much territory any time soon (creating your own segment that no one else really runs doesn’t exactly count in my book) but I love the idea of trying to get on the board and move up in a couple places. If I’m targeting a segment rather than just crossing it as part of a longer run, I could “compete” against stronger runners than myself. It’s a great way to motivate myself to get out there and see how fast I can run that hilly road nearby.
It might even be a way to meet other runners in my area. Like that Greg Caiazzo guy… he looks pretty cool.