Strava Guide: Your Activity Page 101

So you've finished your run and tracked it on Strava (yay!) Now it's time to look back on what you did and get an understanding of the information on the screen. In the latest installment of the Strava Guide, our 'coach' takes you through what to look at and how to understand the data on your activity page.

I have to admit that for a long time, I was something of a data luddite. I still believe that running is a fundamentally simple sport. To take Michael Pollan’s famous advice on diet, 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.' I am of the belief that one should, “Run consistently. Sometimes hard. Mostly easy.” 

But while there is, and maybe always will be, a romantic allure to runners simply heading out the door and letting their legs decide the day’s assignment, the reality is that most of us aren’t attuned enough to our effort levels to rely on vibes alone. And I’m happy to report that, once I allowed myself to be swept into the world of data, I realized that there’s a lot to be gained from paying attention to your data, as long as you can learn to let go of any emotional attachment to times and paces. 

So for today’s article, I will guide you through the activity details page, and what data you should be paying attention to. Let’s get right to it. 

RELATED: Strava Guide: How to Get Started on Strava

The Building Blocks

Imagine you’ve just finished a run. You’re basking in the glory of being done and pull up your activity on Strava to take a look at your stats. You’ll be greeted with a map and an activity summary – where you’ll get a quick overview of your distance, duration, pace, elevation and cadence. These are what I’m calling the foundational building blocks – where you ran, how far you ran and how fast you ran. We’re going to take a look at each component in more detail.  

The Strava Map

The map is likely the first thing you’ll notice, especially if you’re new to Strava. But it’s more than just a pretty map. If you tap on it, Strava will open an interactive version where you can see the segments you crossed and your time on those segments. If you set one of your top-three times on a segment, you’ll notice a corresponding bronze, silver or gold medal. If you’re consistently setting new personal bests on segments, without increasing your effort, it’s a good indicator that your fitness is increasing.

RELATED: Strava Guide: Features to Take Your Training to The Next Level

Just above the segments, you’ll see the option to “Save Route”. This is useful if you ran a new route that you don’t want to forget, or want to share your route with a friend. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll also have the option to overlay additional data fields. For example, you could overlay Strava’s Global Heatmap if you want to see where other runners typically go, or the heart rate map. As a subscriber, you’ll also see an orange play button. Tap this and you’ll be taken on a 3D visualization of your run where you can see how the pace and elevation varied throughout your activity. 

It’s All in the Detail

Now you’ve taken a look at the map, undoubtedly, your eyes will be drawn to the activity summary. This is really where you can truly start to utilize the stats to improve your performance. 

Go the Distance

Let’s start with distance – the fundamental metric for most runners. There’s not much to say here other than, it’s worth paying attention to. Make sure you’re not going too far, too fast, as that puts you at high risk for injury. If you’re used to running 5 km, a few days a week, try bumping that up to 6 km on one or two of those days. If that feels good, you can continue to increase your distance in small steps. If you’re coming back from injury, and have run higher mileage in the past, you might be able to increase your distance more quickly under the guidance of a coach or medical professional. 

Take Your Time

Just below distance is moving time, this is the time that you were actually moving for. If you stopped to cross a road, tie your shoes or dodge a dog, that won’t count toward this time. But if you tap “View Analysis” and scroll down to a block called “Pace”, you’ll also see your “Elapsed Time”. This is the total time that passed between starting the activity and ending it. It’s a topic of debate whether it matters if you’re taking a few stops mid-run on your easy days, and surprisingly, there’s very little research on it. 

RELATED: Strava Guide: Four Features to Help Level Up Your Training

My advice would be that, on an easy run, it’s always better to walk than stop if you can. By keeping stops to a minimum, you can develop mental resilience for racing and training. And if you feel the need to stop on an easy run, you probably need to slow down. 

On your workout days, depending on your workout, expect to see a significant difference between elapsed time and moving time – this is a good thing when it’s intentional! A 2013 meta analysis found that the largest increases in Vo2 Max were produced by including both interval and continuous training, so make sure to vary the intensity of your running for maximum fitness gains. 

Pick up the Pace

Also under the “Pace” section, you’ll see some other fun data. Your Average Pace is the pace you averaged during your Moving Time. The Average Elapsed Pace, averages out your pace, including stops. 

How much attention should you be paying to your average pace? On a workout, likely not that much. The average pace is often irrelevant, as you’ll either be totally stopping or jogging slowly, for chunks of time. But on easy runs, depending on your experience level, the average pace can be helpful. 

WANT TO SET A TARGET TIME? Check out the Running Pace Calculator

New runners often find that their easy paces get faster almost weekly, as their fitness rapidly increases, but this progression can’t continue indefinitely. If you’re a more advanced athlete, running too fast on easy days will likely harm your progression as it prevents you from recovering properly between hard workouts.

Listen to your body. If you’re an experienced runner, let your average pace be merely a guide and don’t stress if you’re slower than normal. If you’re new to running, enjoy seeing that pace drop as you make progress but it’s totally okay to have some slower runs – progress is rarely linear. 

Quick Splits

So what about interval workouts? That’s when splits are more useful than average pace. A split is simply a defined chunk of either time or distance. For most people, you’ll either see your run broken into kilometers or miles. 

RELATED: 3 Mistakes You’re Probably Making in Your Interval Workouts

If you’re running a workout, say 4 x 1 km hard with a 1 km easy jog between efforts, you’ll want to aim to keep the splits for each of your hard efforts consistent. Darker bars on Strava mean you’re going faster, with lighter bars indicating you’re going at a more relaxed pace. Going out too hard is always tempting, so I’d suggest aiming to slightly speed up on every repetition so you’re finishing with your fastest effort. Although, that can definitely be complicated by the next piece of data we’re going to look at: Elevation. 

Chasing Vert

Scroll right to the bottom of the activity details page and you’ll see an Elevation chart. This will show you your elevation gain, along with the maximum elevation you reached. Anything above 100 ft/mile is considered hilly. If you’re training for a mountain race, uphill training is obviously important, but getting your legs used to the downhill pounding is likely what will allow you to actually utilize your aerobic fitness. If your muscles are done, it doesn’t matter how fit you are! 

Running in Rhythm

Lastly, let’s take a look at cadence. This is simply a measure of the number of steps you take per minute. For something so simple, cadence has been a hotly debated topic. For decades, 180 steps/minute has been considered the magic number, but recently, individual variation has started to be recognized. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that speed and the height of a runner can explain a significant portion of individual variance in cadence.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to your cadence though, just that it’s only relative to you. If you’re prone to overstriding, increasing your cadence, and taking shorter lighter strides, might help reduce injury and effort. 

Athlete Intelligence: an easy-to-read summary

Strava has recently added a pretty cool piece of AI to the Activity Page: Athlete Intelligence. This will help to interpret some of the numbers from your activity and give you an easy-to-read summary, helping you make sense of what you just accomplished – and what it means in the context of your fitness and other goals. Just scroll through the activity page on the mobile app and see what Athlete Intelligence says about your latest activity.