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Strava launches AI-powered guidance feature for athletes

A running coach just fell to his knees in a Tim Hortons parking lot

strava Photo by: Strava

The world’s most popular fitness-tracking app, Strava, has made a major digital update to its run community. This week, they announced the launch of Athlete Intelligence, the platform’s AI-powered feature that provides personalized insights based on an athlete’s activity data.  Only available to Strava subscribers, this update will make it easier to understand performance metrics from a mobile device so subscribers can get more out of each activity.

If you’re a running coach, there’s no need for concern just yet. Strava’s new feature doesn’t coach athletes directly—at least not for now. Instead, it analyzes and interprets workout data, transforming complex metrics into simple insights to help you assess whether you’re on the right track. This tool will be available in 14 languages for paid Strava subscribers, and integrated seamlessly into your activity details. The company says this feature is designed for all of Strava’s 100 million-plus users, catering to athletes at every level, from beginners to advanced.

Matt Salazar, Strava’s chief product officer, says this is a huge step for the company: “With more than 10 billion activity uploads on Strava, the data illustrates a unique picture for each user and represents their authentic effort. By distilling it to be conversational, this feature aims to help users better understand their performance.”

Should you start selling your runs on Strava?

If you’re curious about how it works, the Athlete Intelligence feature immediately summarizes your workout data into digestible insights after uploading an activity. It will provide insights into pace, heart rate, elevation, power and relative effort, Strava’s proprietary metric for gauging intensity. Additionally, it will detect milestones and highlight achievements like your fastest pace, longest distance, or pump your tires for that crazy segment CR you just set.

Strava AI
Photo: Strava

Paid subscribers can access these insights with a single tap. But if you’re old-school like me and don’t care what a computer has to say about your training, you can opt out of the Athlete Intelligence feature at any time. Strava notes that Athlete Intelligence is still in public beta, with plans to introduce more insights and training-oriented features in future updates.

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