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Why now might be the time to get off Strava for a while

There's a lot of shade being thrown at runners these days, so it might be best to just get off the grid for a bit

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As we continue to struggle with the coronavirus outbreak, more and more restrictions are being put in place regarding social distancing and where we can and can’t run. These are important rules, and we’re all for them, but some people are taking them to the extreme and shaming anyone who goes out for runs, especially on Strava, where there’s proof of every workout you do. If you want to avoid this public shaming, it might be time to take a break from the app.

Too much judgment

We’re pretty lucky in Canada to still be able to go for long runs, but that’s not the case in many other countries. In the U.K., citizens are only allowed out for one form of exercise each day, and there have been people reporting runners for doing double-run days. There have even been people calling for runners who break the social distancing rules to be ticketed based on their Strava logs. Ironman triathlon champion Joe Skipper, who lives in the U.K., has also gotten in trouble recently because of his Strava activity.

RELATED: Citizens are reporting runners who ‘double run’ in the UK

Skipper went out for his one form of daily exercise one day in late March, but it was a 325K bike ride that took him over nine hours. That’s quite excessive, and although he didn’t technically break the daily exercise allotment, he probably shouldn’t have gone out for that long. Skipper got a lot of heat from the British Strava community for that one.

You don’t want to get in trouble like Skipper did. We’re not saying you should delete Strava and break the rules, but even if you do, there’s still a chance that you might take some heat from Strava followers. If you want to have judgment-free runs, taking a Strava break might be a good call.

RELATED: A guide to socially responsible running during COVID-19

You can still track your runs

You don’t have to completely delete Strava, but maybe it’s best to keep your training log to yourself during these weird times. Strava gives you the option to make your workouts public or private, so if you want to have a consistent tab of your training history, you can make your workouts for your eyes only.

It might be nice

Who knows, you might like the lack of data. Instead of tracking everything—your pace, your heart rate, your distance run—you can just take a classic stopwatch and run for a set amount of time. It can also be nice just to focus on your own training without having to see what everyone else is doing. This can be liberating, and it might be a nice break from your normal data-driven life.

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