“Strava sniping” isn’t a new concept, but I only recently discovered it. It involves going for a run with the sole purpose of knocking down PBs that other exercisers near you share on the popular fitness app.
This is a level of competitiveness (read: pettiness) I can get behind, so I fired up the app and looked at some nearby segment records. Local legends, I’m coming for you!
What is Strava?
For the uninitiated, Strava is one of the best fitness appswhich allows users to plan and track routes and then share their stats with followers.
Segments are assigned sections of roads, routes, or trails, and when the app sees that you’ve completed one, your time is added to a community-wide leaderboard (unless you block this in your privacy settings). The Local Legend achievement is awarded to the Strava member who has completed a given segment the most times in the last 90 days.
My experience with Strava sniping
I’m not a strong runner by any means, but I still had my sights set on some segment records. Most people don’t plan to target segments, but instead encounter them on longer rides, perhaps completing the same route again with an eye to becoming the fastest person in that segment. It’s a bit like conquering a gym in Pokemon Go: your name and icon stay on the leaderboard until someone knocks you off. I figured if I could concentrate all my efforts on these shorter sections, I’d have a shot at topping a leaderboard or two.
I only had 30 minutes to snipe with Strava during my lunch break, so I narrowed my segment search down to segments of 600 meters or less and discovered a few possible options near me; “Hill Sprints”, “Home Straight” and the intriguingly named “Fish Dash”
I warmed up with a light jog to the Fish Dash starting line; a fairly flat stretch of 210 meters on a cycle path. Strava flashed a banner across my phone screen letting me know I was approaching the segment, so I stopped for a moment to compose myself before taking off at full speed.
I haven’t run such a short distance in a while – I’m currently trying to save time on my 5K PB, so most of my runs are long and slow or faster intervals over 400 meters. It reminded me of how much I loved sprinting, and the inexplicable euphoria that comes with it.
I came to a stop when I was sure I had completed the Fish Dash segment, bending over with my hands on my knees. Panting, I slowly looked up and noticed that I was standing in front of a huge statue of a fish – which explains the name.
Strava informed me that I had achieved a fairly respectable time of 35 seconds. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to get me into the top 10 runners who completed the segment (31 seconds was the cutoff here), and it was nowhere near the top mark of 13 seconds.
Usain Bolt currently holds the world record for the 200 meters at 19.19 seconds, and I couldn’t help but feel that it was highly unlikely that this had been toppled by seven seconds on a slab of concrete behind a supermarket in Bristol, England. Perhaps the record holder had, accidentally or not, recorded a bike ride as a run?
Plausibility seemed to be less of an issue with longer segments that I could see on my map, so I went for the 550-meter “Home Straight” next. The times to beat were 1min 26sec for the win and 1min 36sec for the top 10.
Buoyed by the prospect of engraving my name in a niche corner of Strava history, I set out. Too hot, as it turned out. Strava informed me that I had managed to complete the first 400 meters in 1 minute 10 seconds, but my pace dropped after this and I eventually crossed the finish line in 1 minute 44 seconds – good enough for a tie for 59th place on the segment ranking. Then my lunch break was over and it was time to go home, with no podiums.
My takeaways from Strava sniping
My dabble in Strava sniping was a lot of fun, unsuccessful as it was. But I won’t be returning to this unorthodox pastime anytime soon.
I am an incredibly competitive person and the race-like environment motivated me to increase my effort level in pursuit of faster times. Brands like Ergatta and Peloton are working to gamify workouts using racing formats and fitness technology like rowing machines, with great success – Peloton is now a streaming and data company as well as a hardware company. Strava sniping offers something of a budget alternative, offering a way to get those gamified fitness kicks without having to skimp on bulky connected gym equipment.
It also represents a departure from the regular ‘run x distance in x amount of time’ approach to running. This has been a plus for me, as I find that the excitement of trying something new can resist the temptation to give up planned exercises in favor of a cozy couch.
But Strava sniping certainly has its drawbacks. TechRadar’s fitness, wellness and wearables editor joined Strava and regretted it because it was running each running into a race, and Strava sniping only adds to this effect. Constantly comparing yourself to other (in my case, much faster) runners can dampen your mood while distracting from the fact that you’re improving on your own previous times – the metrics that matter most for personal progress.
Strava sniping can also disrupt your best running plans, if you let it. Runs called “base runs,” which cover moderate distances at a natural pace, help increase your weekly mileage and improve your aerobic capacity – how well you can take in and use oxygen to fuel your body. You can view the results by using the VO2 max value on your smartwatch. Personally, I also enjoy slow runs, often combining them with a podcast for a relaxing weekend workout.
But I found that the nagging knowledge that others could see my results on each segment added pressure to pick up the pace. If I’m completing a base run as part of a wider running plan, indiscriminate throttle will cause me to miss the stimulus of my session, and therefore miss many of the intended benefits.
That’s why I usually leave my phone in my pocket while running. Everything I need to know is displayed on the screen best fitness trackers. And all segments I Doing from now on the cover will be completely coincidental.