running

“Disclaimer: I received a Strava Summit subscription and Strava Gear to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!” 

What is

Strava is a social fitness network, that is primarily used to track cycling and running but also have other fitness activities you can log and keep track of. It provides an awesome community and you can see all the features its provides in the FREE version. Additional features are included in the Summit version, but I will be covering the FREE version for you all. 

I started using my Apple Watch and Strava for my runs, but then found as I increased my training, I wanted to switch to my Garmin for running and the workouts. What was great is that either watch uploaded my run straight to Strava. In fact, the Apple Watch even has the Strava app compatibility. For a list of compatible devices click here.

Here is a breakdown of what your run dashboard would look like and the features. You can add in your gear into your profile and each run you are able to select which shoe you ran in for example. 

This was a race that I ran for a training run and I pointed out some key things to look at. You can see Strava users that were running the same route at the same time you were and also can see your personal times for the route. So if you plan to run it again, Strava will let you know how you compared to the last time.

It also will show you how you compare to yourself in effort. Another item that is fun is segments. 

Segments bring the interactive portion to life. It’s like a secret challenge, or not so secret challenge, of everyone on Strava who has ran the same segment you have. For example, this race I did, there were two segments that someone created. This is something you can do too. Say for example there is an awful hill mid run and you are curious who gets up it the quickest, create a segment. Then it shows where you placed in that segment on the leader board.

All the

As runners, most of us love data. Strava is great for this and if you upgrade to the Summit version, you can get even more. But this is the free version and you can see what all you can do with the data.

There are

There are a lot of challenges offered each month and some have cool prizes you can win. Last month if you hit a certain number of miles, you got a $25 giftcard for socks. Just for doing what you love! 

There are so many different clubs on Strava that you can join and some offer challenges of their own. Keep reading to see Bibrave’s May Streak Challenge.

Strava just launched an initiative called The Last Mile that rewards finishing a race strong and celebrates the grit of digging deep and leaving it all out on the course. When runners join the challenge and make the last mile split of their race the fastest, they’ll unlock a $10 donation from Strava to Girls on the Run, an organization that inspires girls to take charge of their lives and define the future on their terms. Learn more about the charity here: https://www.girlsontherun.org

Only 1% to 3% of runners on Strava complete their last mile as their fastest in half and full marathon-distance activities, but it’s something that is within reach for every runner. To help them do it, Strava is giving every athlete who signs up at thelastmile.strava.com 30 days of Summit for free!

We are going

To join the Bibrave Run Club and participate in the May Run Streak, click here.

As you can see, there is a lot you can do with Strava and it is so much fun to use!  Don’t wait long as the Bibrave streak started today! You don’t have to run each day, because we value rest days, so you can even just walk a mile to keep the streak alive!

Q: Do you use Strava?

Q: What are your favorite features?

Q: Are you joining the May Running Streak?