Strava

I have been logging training mileage for a really, really long time. Over the years I have used various technologies to log mileage:

1.  Jim Fixx Daily Running Log – In the 1980s before this guy famously died of heart attack while running 
2. Pencil and back of an envelope- From mid-80s this was entirely adequate (if I bothered to track mileage at all) 
3. Excel Spreadsheet - 2005-2010 When I was training for Ironman this was the most flexible application 
4. Running Ahead – I used this for several years in order to produced the simple, useful graphs you can see in my blog below 
5. Triathlog – During 2013 and 2014 I faithfully used this simple, free site in order to share workout with a couple teammates 

My holy grail has been to find an application that was a blend of mileage log, athlete-only social networking, race reporting, integration with this blog, and a platform that all the endurance athletes I know would coalesce around. I still have not found this optimal solution.


 But since start of 2015 I have been logging all my workouts on Strava, and after initial disdain it has been growing on me.


Strava is first and foremost a social networking site where users utilize their GPS tracking device to capture various time, distance, elevation and route metrics and compete for ranking on various segments of their runs and rides. The company’s stated mission is to “unite athletes and put workouts and races into context”. It has been described as "real-life fantasy football for data-obsessed cyclists" and blamed for turning fun, friendly workout into cutthroat, virtual competitions.

So naturally Strava's mileage log functionality seems a bit of an afterthought.  "Ride" is always the default workout.  And Strava only classifies runs as Race, Long Run, Run or Workout. What? "Workout"? I was annoyed at first, I thought this categorization was absurdly limiting, but now I like the ability to gain sense if I am overtraining in one glance at color-coded, 4-week chart-->

I had used Strava for several years as a way to map my workout with GPS, but generally ignored the whole Leaderboard/social connection aspect of it.  But just over the past few months more and more people I know have started posting on Strava and the networking effect seems to be building.  The company closed on an $18 million venture financing round in November so perhaps the functionality will improve further.

 As far as turning all my workouts into cutthroat, virtual competitions...  I will follow-up on that...

Kanagawa 2015

I ran a strong 10k at Kanagawa yesterday clocking 36:51. 

The only problem was that I was running a half-marathon.

So the last 11.1k were a bit of an ordeal.  I managed to finish in 1:20:50, and felt happy to have hung on as well as I did after the unfortunately fast start.  

Right before the race I had advised teammate Sam to start slowly - slower than goal pace if possible.  Then I positioned myself too close to the front and was swept out --  almost getting knocked down as the fast field exploded out along the narrow opening stretch.  At 500 meters an extremely elderly runner went by and I foolishly kept pace with him continuing my suicidal pace even though I absolutely knew I was going too fast.  Other runners in the fast, deep field kept pouring past me as I tried to slow down, still I hit the 5k mark in 18:05 and felt sense of impending doom even as I tried to convince myself I was feeling strong. 

The whole experience was the opposite of most of my recent races where I have started slower than overall race pace and realized a confidence boost from overtaking other runners.