Strava issues

Thelonious Monk

Hi all. Is anyone having issues with Strava lately? I just thought I broke my 5km record but when I finished and looked at my phone, it turns out I had been out at sea and all over the place and my pace was up there with Usain Bolt.
It has been all over the place lately, cutting my routes short and doing weird stuff. I've done everything I can to remedy it as outlined by Strava troubleshooting.
It's just frustrating as I don't know how quickly I've done the route today or last couple of times.

Does anyone use more reliable methods? I was thinking just figuring out the distance of a route on map my run, and then timing it the old fashioned way with a watch or the clock on my phone.

TFBubendorfer

That's nothing to do with Strava as such, the problem is with the GPS on your phone. Strava can only work with the data it receives.

Check if the GPS accuracy is set to high. Alternatively, you could invest in a running watch with GPS.

Thelonious Monk

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

That's nothing to do with Strava as such, the problem is with the GPS on your phone. Strava can only work with the data it receives.

Check if the GPS accuracy is set to high. Alternatively, you could invest in a running watch with GPS.

Yeah I did all that stuff. So it's the phone, I wonder why it used to work so well.
I'll look into the running watches, thanks.

Dudda

Nobody takes a photo with the Facebook app but they upload photos taken elsewhere to Facebook. This is kinda how Strava works with most people using another device to record the run which is then uploaded to Strava. An example would be a run recorded on a Garmin watch which then syncs with Strava.

When starting I used a very cheap secondhand Garmin forerunner watch. Much easier than carrying a phone around too. You could check DoneDeal, Adverts, etc.

If you want to stick with the phone it could be a number of issues. GPS problems on the phone, permission issues, etc.

rovers_runner

Dudda wrote: »

Nobody takes a photo with the Facebook app but they upload photos taken elsewhere to Facebook. This is kinda how Strava works with most people using another device to record the run which is then uploaded to Strava. An example would be a run recorded on a Garmin watch which then syncs with Strava.

When starting I used a very cheap secondhand Garmin forerunner watch. Much easier than carrying a phone around too. You could check DoneDeal, Adverts, etc.

If you want to stick with the phone it could be a number of issues. GPS problems on the phone, permission issues, etc.

+1 Strava is just for analysis, the Garmin does the hard work for the GPS and is dedicated to your run alone.
Think of all the possible reasons the phone could be thrown off when trying to record accurate GPS while all other updates/notifications/check-ins etc. are getting equal attention on the phone.

event

Strava is such a scam really. It does nothing but presents back the data you have given to it. Its useless without us. But I still pay for it

funnights74

Down again today, it seems to be a weekly Sunday thing, surely they should expect extra activity on weekends especially on sundays, since they upped the cost for certain features it seems to be less reliable, a decent geek would set up a rival, some competition might help them get their house in order.

lulublue22

funnights74 wrote: »

Down again today, it seems to be a weekly Sunday thing, surely they should expect extra activity on weekends especially on sundays, since they upped the cost for certain features it seems to be less reliable, a decent geek would set up a rival, some competition might help them get their house in order.

used it there and no problems

ewc78

funnights74 wrote: »

Down again today, it seems to be a weekly Sunday thing, surely they should expect extra activity on weekends especially on sundays, since they upped the cost for certain features it seems to be less reliable, a decent geek would set up a rival, some competition might help them get their house in order.

Worked fine for me today.

Swashbuckler

ewc78 wrote: »

Worked fine for me today.

Same here. No issues.

Dudda

Ditto, no issues and was on it a few times today.

Annie get your Run

funnights74 wrote: »

Down again today, it seems to be a weekly Sunday thing, surely they should expect extra activity on weekends especially on sundays, since they upped the cost for certain features it seems to be less reliable, a decent geek would set up a rival, some competition might help them get their house in order.

Garmin connect is much better for data analysis but obviously only useful to those with a Garmin, I only use Strava for the social aspect and have the free version.

funnights74

It was up again a bit later maybe in the last few weeks I've been unlucky. I'll not delve into the Garmin post, best to say I switched to Wahoo out of sheer frustration.

rovers_runner

People logging their walks as runs on Strava to pad out their mileage.
Is this a new thing? Some people would do anything for attention, does it not defeat the purpose of paying a service so you can get detailed feedback on your running, messing it up by lumping in your 2 mile x 20 minute mile saunter with the dog?

Swashbuckler

rovers_runner wrote: »

People logging their walks as runs on Strava to pad out their mileage.
Is this a new thing? Some people would do anything for attention, does it not defeat the purpose of paying a service so you can get detailed feedback on your running, messing it up by lumping in your 2 mile x 20 minute mile saunter with the dog?

In fairness its a big assumption that people only use Strava to log and track their running stats. Strava is for more than just us runners you know!

rovers_runner

Swashbuckler wrote: »

In fairness its a big assumption that people only use Strava to log and track their running stats. Strava is for more than just us runners you know!

Yes but if you log a walk as a walk it doesn't impact your running metrics. It just shows as an activity.

If you log a walk as a run it messes up your metrics for overall pace, improvements and recovery etc.
The only benefit would be to make it look like you are running higher mileage, I'm wondering had people noticed it much?

Pherekydes

rovers_runner wrote: »

Yes but if you log a walk as a walk it doesn't impact your running metrics. It just shows as an activity.

If you log a walk as a run it messes up your metrics for overall pace, improvements and recovery etc.
The only benefit would be to make it look like you are running higher mileage, I'm wondering had people noticed it much?

Yes. Group I'm in one couple in particular record their dog walks as runs. Means they get to top the leader board every week.

event

I'd say a lot of people dont even realise it makes a difference.

Strava, serious business

lulublue22

event wrote: »

I'd say a lot of people dont even realise it makes a difference.

Strava, serious business

I’m injured at the moment so went for a walk with the dog - wearing my shiny new watch - it uploaded to strava under a walk. I presume that won’t affect metrics ?

rovers_runner

lulublue22 wrote: »

I’m injured at the moment so went for a walk with the dog - wearing my shiny new watch - it uploaded to strava under a walk. I presume that won’t affect metrics ?

Exactly, it won't. Some people are using the run function for walks, which pads their stats in a way for social reasons but defeats the purpose of having a analytical service like Strava.

lulublue22

rovers_runner wrote: »

Exactly, it won't. Some people are using the run function for walks, which pads their stats in a way for social reasons but defeats the purpose of having a analytical service like Strava.

Gotcha - wasn’t sure was it that ( mainly because I don’t understand why you would want to) or was it strava thinking everything was a run. tks

wersal gummage

Slightly off topic in relation to recent posts, but a "strava issue" that annoys me is the leader boards for segments around me are routinely topped by people who have world record smashing times, how can Strava not have some kind of quality control that is suspicious when a person runs a KM in a minute etc.... I wouldn't mind the odd bit, but it's littered with it. I'm not competing for these glittering prizes myself, but still seems silly to allow such junk in your website

Kaizer Sosa

wersal gummage wrote: »

Slightly off topic in relation to recent posts, but a "strava issue" that annoys me is the leader boards for segments around me are routinely topped by people who have world record smashing times, how can Strava not have some kind of quality control that is suspicious when a person runs a KM in a minute etc.... I wouldn't mind the odd bit, but it's littered with it. I'm not competing for these glittering prizes myself, but still seems silly to allow such junk in your website

I've noticed this too. Are people doing them on bikes or are they sprinting sections, pausing the run until they recover and going again?

py

Segments are based on elapsed time so even if they stop/pause, it won't help them on that segment. It's likely they're either in a motorised vehicle and have forgotten to turn off their watch. Or they're on a bike and have misclassified their activity. You can flag such activities on the desktop site, unsure if it can be done on mobile. Generally don't pay attention to the running segments but it's quite an issue on the cycling side of Strava.

ED E

wersal gummage wrote: »

Slightly off topic in relation to recent posts, but a "strava issue" that annoys me is the leader boards for segments around me are routinely topped by people who have world record smashing times, how can Strava not have some kind of quality control that is suspicious when a person runs a KM in a minute etc.... I wouldn't mind the odd bit, but it's littered with it. I'm not competing for these glittering prizes myself, but still seems silly to allow such junk in your website

Theyve been asked for this since day one, but strava developers are paid to do nothing.

Trampas

People who pause their watch on rest period during speed work so they avg pace looks great. Or they say easy run while having a heart rate of 160.

People’s ego when it comes to stats is always top.

nullObjects

Trampas wrote: »

People who pause their watch on rest period during speed work so they avg pace looks great. Or they say easy run while having a heart rate of 160.

People’s ego when it comes to stats is always top.

I believe Strava brought in a subtle change to the UI so you could see the difference between someone pausing it and doing a run without pausing

There were a bunch of sports people caught gaming it:
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/all-in-the-game-ross-barkley-is-caught-rapid-with-suspicious-5km-time-1.4238293
(Ross Barkley from Chelsea / Villa)

OOnegative

Trampas wrote: »

Or they say easy run while having a heart rate of 160.

Some of the HR built into Garmins are absolutely useless, this issue happens to me regularly. And I am running easy pace for me. My 5k PB’s HR was lower on my watch than some of my easy runs!!!

healy1835

OOnegative wrote: »

Some of the HR built into Garmins are absolutely useless, this issue happens to me regularly. And I am running easy pace for me. My 5k PB’s HR was lower on my watch than some of my easy runs!!!

Hit a new Max HR of 192 myself on Sunday's long run... During the warm up

Trampas

OOnegative wrote: »

Some of the HR built into Garmins are absolutely useless, this issue happens to me regularly. And I am running easy pace for me. My 5k PB’s HR was lower on my watch than some of my easy runs!!!

These would be chest strap people and steady hr line. It’s know the hr on watch isn’t reliable.

Reg'stoy

healy1835 wrote: »

Hit a new Max HR of 192 myself on Sunday's long run... During the warm up

I had noticed that my heart rate would spike during the start of a run, settle down and then as my pace increased over the run my heart rate would increase accordingly. This also happened while I wore a chest strap, so I just googled the 'problem' and it can be caused by not warming up properly, as the heart pumps blood to muscles that have suddenly been asked to do a lot more, makes sense (to me) as I would not warm up properly more often than not; I am trying to change that. One bit of advice was to warm up inside the house and then rather than step outside the door and press start, was to walk for a bit and just increase pace till running and then press start. I always do a much slower 1st K anyway.

You however are saying it happened during warm up, so I'd check that the watch is on tight enough and the back of the watch is clean. I do remember reading that you shouldn't be able to see the light when it's on your arm, seemingly tattoos and a hairy wrist can effect readings too.

TFBubendorfer

Spikes in HR graphs during the first mile are signs of the HRM not picking up the signal properly. Once you build up a sweat, which gives better contact to the sensor the spikes disappear.

They're not real readings. Just ignore them