A strange thing has started happening in our household lately.
When I come home from a run, or when I talk to Nate after I get done running, I now only get one question.
“How was your run?” umm, no.
“How was the wind, was it really windy?” umm, no, not that one either.
“Did you have fun?” Nope… not even close.
“See anything cool?” I used to get this one, but not anymore.
The one question I get now?
“Did you Strava?”
That’s the one. It seems that I have been introduced to a new phenomenon in which I am now required to wear my Garmin Forerunner GPS unit on every run and bike ride I go on.
Why?
Because if you don’t Strava, it doesn’t count.
No this isn't a segment, Jules. It's your whole route. Sheesh, don't you know anything?
Oh really? So those 8 miles I ran the other day don’t actually exist. How nice. I’ll be sure to let my legs and my shoes know that.
So what is Strava?
I really don’t know.
I know it struck up a conversation in our house that went something like this:
Nate: Come here, I’ll show you how to Strava so I don’t have to do it for you.
Me: I don’t want to Strava. I’m doing laundry right now.
Nate: But you need to learn how to do it so you can do it when I’m not here.
Me: Come here, I’ll show you how to do laundry so I don’t have to do it for you and you can do it when I’m not here.
Nate: I’ll Strava for you.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
I also know that it means I am now tied to an electronic device like a criminal on house arrest with a bracelet on her leg. I know that it involves a computer which basically means right now I have no idea and no interest on how it works or what it does. Because it involves a computer Nate is (of course) all over it, and all over me to get me to use it.
House arrest tools (and another on the way!)
Why does he want me to use it you ask? Good question…
It would seem that I have acquired not only a cycling coach, but now I have a running coach as well. And it doesn’t cost me a penny! All I have to do is hook myself up to something that tracks my every move like Big Brother so he can download my data. Isn’t that neat! Can I get a woot woot? Yeah, me neither.
Strava, short for Silly Tools Riding Aggressively Via Accessories, is a computer program in which you download data from your ride. You can replace Riding with Running if you prefer. Either way. It really means “let me show off my training to everyone on this website so I can show you that I’m riding more/faster/longer than you”. And “I’m on Strava so I’m going to kick your arse on this ride even though it’s supposed to be a friendly tool-about.”
This was not a Strava segment (we rode that earlier in the ride)
If you have some type of GPS device it will keep track of your route, your pace or speed, your average speed, elevation, a breakdown mile by mile by time or speed/pace, total mileage and time, compare you to other riders on that ride, tell you when you took a drink from your water bottle, make your lunch for you, answer you email, and even change your tires. It could probably even tell you when you have to take a “natural break” if you wanted it to.
Okay, not really on the last few, but the way the boys talk about it, one would think it is the greatest invention since the flush toilet.
“The boys?”
Yes, the majority of the boys that I ride with all use Strava and are infatuated with it. So much so that I now call our rides “Playing Strava”. As in “Are we going to play Strava today?” or when they take off and leave me behind, I simply say “oh, the boys are playing Strava again, I’m just gonna let them play.”
Because when they take off, they are doing what is called a “Strava segment”.
What the heck is a Strava segment?
Again, I really don’t know. I think it means that you are supposed to ride like a bat out of hell to try and beat the living tar out of your best friends to beat them up the hill. It’s some type of test of testosterone levels I guess. What I do know is…
I am the Queen of one.
Oh yeah boy! I am the Queen of my very own Strava segment!
And what does that mean?
It basically means that in a given chunk of pavement that someone deemed worthy of keeping track of how fast one rides or runs it, I am the fastest girl that has ridden it so far. Let’s just forget for a moment that no other girl has ridden that particular section of road yet this year – I mean, really, it is only February. But… at least I am the Queen of something!
So the other part about Strava is that you can “follow” other people and they can “follow” you. So now after we get done riding together, instead of just sitting around rehashing the ride and talking about it for an hour, the boys sit on their phones or computer and download their data into the site… in separate rooms. Because why on Earth would you sit together over a nice little chocolate milk recovery drink and talk about it when you can communicate using a computer or smart phone? Then they compare their rides electronically. That way they can find out who was the King of the Strava segments and they can look at the maps of where we rode and who find out who had what average speed and the like. Because, again, if it isn’t on Strava, it didn’t exist.
My Strava seems to be magic somehow as I am following a bunch of people that I didn’t know I was even following. Not that I know how to follow them or where to even look it up on the computer.
And Whoa! I’m kind of a big deal because I have people following me that I didn’t know were even following me. On occasion I get even get a “kudos” from some of the people following me that apparently liked the fact that I ran or rode my bike. If I can figure out how to do it, I will give you kudos, too.
It does have some good and some bad points. The awesome part is that what using Strava and wearing my GPS consistently is actually making me do is run a little faster because I really hate to see my average pace over a certain time. The problem with that is that it is making me run a little faster because I hate to see my average pace over a certain time.
Newsflash: I am a competitive person. Shocked aren’t you?
So when I look at it when I run, I try and make sure it doesn’t hit that magical number. It turns into a game in which I have to win. Which means that on my easy days if I wear the Garmin, I run too fast. So I think I just need to leave the sucker home on those days. I usually wear it for long runs and tempo runs to make sure I’m going long or fast enough, but now with my little Honey Badger on my case, I wear it most of the time.
So for now I will try to wear my Garmin like a house arrest anklet as often as I can remember to make the lil racer guy happy. I will let him play Strava with his buddies and I will try to keep up. I will let him do my Strava-ing for me because at this point, being like a step away from being Amish when it comes to computers, I really have no interest. But like Facepage, maybe I will embrace it… and even “like” it. Stranger things have happened.
I am also going to try and find a way to hook the Garmin up to the vacuum and try and convince him that the living room is a Strava segment and he could be King. Maybe then I’ll get him to use it once in awhile.
Til next time… I’m out…
