Not being on Strava...that's weird, right??
I've been "off" Strava for over two months now. It feels weird but oh so right! But wait, is it weird to be a runner and not drinking the Strava juice heading into this training cycle??
I’ve been a Strava addict for nearly forever and…
{DISCLAIMER! This article is not a diss on Strava, just a claimer. Opinions and experiences expressed are merely the inner workings of a person working through her thoughts. If you are enjoying your Strava experience, then please delete this incredibly well-written POV.}
…I’ve been off the wagon of obsessively checking Strava for the entire summer. I’ll admit, this has been somewhat harder than climbing mountains or running fast.
I’ve taken breaks from Strava in the past. In fact, last year I had a funeral for Strava. I wore a black dress and ran up Pike’s Peak vowing that this would be the “death” of Strava in my life. (Very true story).
But then I felt “cured”, convincing myself that I could manage Strava on a low dose, but the next thing I knew I was sucked back into uploading every single activity, then checking my stats immediately after, then rechecking them in case they changed, then seeing how much progress I made since the last time I ran that segment and how many crowns and trophies I got and then feeling like a pieceofshit if I didn’t make progressthen feeling likeanutterfailure then obsesssingabouthowImeasuredupandcomparedtoeveryoneelseandhowtheirtrainingwasgoingthenquestioningifI’mevenagoodrunner!!!!!! (Welcome to the inside of my brain).
When I really got into using Strava was in 2020 after the Olympic Trials and after the pandemic was in full force. I stepped into my native-Coloradoan-mountain-hippie self and started running trails since road races were shut down. I had zero context for how good or even if I was good at running trails. Getting Strava crowns and trophies helped affirm this, and it was fun chasing new achievements especially since races were on hold. My confidence boosted, and there were real benefits to using tracking apps!
Over the years as my elite racing career has continued, I’ve come to rely on Strava to affirm that I’m a great runner instead of just trusting myself. Have you ever found yourself on runs thinking any of these things too?
I better make sure I stop my watch at every single stoplight, any chat with a friend, penny pick up, stop on a trail, pee break, and shoe tie so my average pace looks legit.
Get the crown, get the segment, crown, segment, trophy, crown, segment, you’re slow, crown, segment, beat them, you’re slow, trophy crown segment.
If anyone asks, I’ll just say, “No no, my average pace was supposed to be slower because it also included my warm-up and cooldown, but you wouldn’t know that unless you went into my workout details at which point you can see that I am indeed fast and do actually deserve to be a professional athlete despite what my average pace says.”
I’m beat. {watch says 7.73 miles} Ughhh…must. keep. running.
What a great week of training! {total mileage says 58 miles} SHIT! I have to hit 60 miles, but I’m not actually sure why.
I can’t stop thinking about [enter any runner’s name] and how I’m not as good as they are.
God dammit, Stanley! Don’t stop to chat with me! I’m chasing an arbitrary segment, and now it’s RUINED!!!!
If the activity isn’t on Strava, it doesn’t count. Period.
No? Just me? Cool, guess I’ll just wrap this up. But…for the sake of rambling, let’s say you can relate to these thoughts. For me, they are constant. I’m an Enneagram 3, the Achiever, and I love outside validation, so Strava stats are my perfect drug.
After my DNF at the World Trail Championships in Austria this June and my 4,000 Euro helicopter ride off of the mountain billed to one “Brittany CHARBONEY” (not kidding), I decided to just take the summer off of training and just run however far and wherever I wanted that brought me joy. I realized that I had spiraled hard mentally during World’s, especially because I knew people were following me back home.
I use my Garmin watch that automatically uploads my activities to Strava, but I’ve refrained from opening the app entirely this summer. “Shockingly”, I found myself enjoying my runs more, worrying less about what people would think about each run, not doing more because I knew people would be looking at my stats, and generally just listening to my body and my joy. I freaking love running, especially when nothing is on the line, real or imagined.
During the past three weeks in Spain collaborating with Mercuria Running and Blue Sky Trekking (shameless plugs), we were on the trails for super long days. I let my watch run the entire time with zero stops. My average mile splits were about 30:00 per mile. And I survived. And I’m still great at running. And I made rad art about rat tails and cow pies. And no one texted me asking what happened or where my abilities went.
Don’t get me wrong, my Enneagram 3-self loves chasing and achieving goals. I get satisfaction from seeing improvement, being the fastest person on a hard route, and sharing my experiences with others. But, I think that I’ve found better ways to do that for myself…including making super weird art created simply because I was paying more attention on the run versus what I was going to explain about the run afterwards on Strava.
I’ve just started this new training cycle gearing up for the World 50k Road Championships in India (freaking stooooooked), and I’m actually pumped to go through this training cycle Strava-free and split-free. My goals are to set intentions for each run based on how I want to feel and what I want to work on; lean into effort, especially because it’s going to be hotter than a toasted cheeser in India; keep finding more authentic ways to share my fun from my runs, like weird art and this incredibly riveting ramble platform; and most importantly, to keep reaffirming internally that I am a great runner, that I do do (ha ha, doo doo…I’m a child) hard things, and that I can improve my self-talk. I just want to show up in India knowing I’ve given my best effort, I’ve played, and I’ve done the mental work to actually trust myself.
The real challenge is: Can I actually go a full training cycle being off Strava?
{DISCLAIMER: I have not fully cut off my addiction because I’m scared to pull the plug entirely. Yes, my runs are still being automatically uploaded, but I promise I’ve stayed off the app for my sanity. And who knows, I might get back on at some point. I get to choose!}
Let’s forreal wrap this up. Here are some helpful tips for you and your Strava addiction:
I promise that no one actually cares about your stats as much as you do.
You’re allowed to break up with, throw a funeral for, come back to, or reevaluate your relationship with Strava whenever you want without having to even announce it.
Your Strava splits, average paces, and weekly mileage do not define you as a runner.
I’ll go ahead an Pete and Repeat that also for myself: Your Strava splits, average paces, and weekly mileage do not define you as a runner.
There is no metric on Strava that tracks your joy. Don’t underestimate how important of a “stat” that actually is in your training.
If the activity’s not on Strava, it does count. You’ve done the work.
If you need a challenge or someone to tell you it’s ok to not be obsessive about your training, consider this it!
Sending big ‘ol woo-woo vibes of presence to you on your runs this training cycle!
Welcome to my weird art. I make digital collage art, basically Frankensteining together the visions in my head.
Great post! I’ll link to it in my Wednesday newsletter. I deliberately avoided Strava during its entire existence, for all the reasons you stated. But also, I got all the training/coaching functionality & data I needed from Training Peaks (a better platform in my view, although it does not function like social media). I did not want Strava to affect how I trained or how I felt about myself. But all that changed January 1, when I decided to get on Strava at New Year’s for the first time. It happened because I had to research an athlete for a story on him, and I loved his goofy Strava posts and silly photos. It made me realize that Strava can be fun and not overly serious, depending on how you use it. So I try to use only for fun social media (I use TrainingPeaks for my serious training log) and try not to give a rat’s ass about how my runs appear on it. The embarrassing thing that mildly bothers me is Strava only has my stats from this year, so it thinks my “PRs” are my fastest times from this year. But they are so incredibly slow compared to my true PR‘s from when I was much younger and faster. Oh well, my ego can deal (sorta!).