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5 people runners hate seeing on Strava

Try your hardest to not be that person on Strava

Runner stretching on track Photo by: Unsplash/Alora Griffiths

Strava is a great place to follow and support other runners, and it’s always nice getting kudos from your friends and followers, but it can sometimes be annoying. Anyone who uses Strava regularly has someone they follow that just gets on their nerves. You know who we’re talking about. And if you don’t know this person, then we’re sorry to say, but you may be the annoying Strava user in your area. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you figure out exactly what not to do on Strava with this list of the most annoying runners you’ll find on the app. 

The unnecessary poster 

Have you ever seen someone you follow post their walk to the bus stop? Or maybe they’ve shared the 10 minutes that they played tennis and covered approximately 160 metres. We don’t know who needs to hear this, but just because Strava has “Walk” or “Tennis” or whatever else as a tracking option, it doesn’t mean you have to record everything you do. No one cares that you walked for five minutes to the bus stop, and 10 minutes of tennis is barely enough time to finish a couple of games. Of course, if you go on a long walk, that’s fine to post, and if you and a friend play an hour of tennis, no one will complain if you share your match data. Just make sure the workouts you post are, well, actual workouts. 

The watch stopper

You do realize that Strava shows two different times, right? There’s moving time, which is however long your timer was actually running during your workout, and then elapsed time, which is the entire time Strava was open. This includes any seconds (or minutes) you spent with your workout paused. Don’t be that guy (or gal) who runs hard for a kilometre or two, then pauses the run to catch their breath, then goes hard for another bout, all so your pace time on Strava will look fast. Anyone who wants to see your actual results can find your elapsed time and pace. Just tell the truth and run an honest time.

The excuse maker  

Have you ever noticed that some people make excuses for what they consider to be bad workouts? They might title the run something like “Way Too Windy,” or they’ll write a description like, “I would’ve run a PB if not for [insert lame excuse here].” No one is judging you for a slow run on Strava. The only reason anyone will notice that you had a bad run will be if you point it out with an excuse-filled title or description, so skip the excuse-making and move on to the next run. 

The bike runner

Every now and then, you’ll see someone record a bike ride as a run on Strava. It’s an honest mistake and almost always an accident, but it’s incredibly frustrating for anyone who loses a crown to a “runner” who averaged 25 kilometres per hour over 50K. If you realize that you’ve made this mistake, be sure to edit the post so that it is listed as a bike ride. If you leave it as a run, you may get some angry runners commenting on your posts.  

The crown stealer 

There’s nothing wrong with stealing someone’s crown on Strava, but there’s no denying that it’s annoying to open the app and see that your hard-earned record has been bested. It’s the name of the game, we know, so you can’t get too mad about this one. All you can really do in this case is lace up, head out for a hard run and try to steal the crown right back. 

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