Searching for the truth...

[Lizcanrun]

... About the apps.

Had a couple of issues with Strava recently. Told me I ran 5.98 km this week, which I found suspicious! So this morning I used MapMyRun for the first time and repeated the run using both apps. Actually, I ran a tiny bit further because I was going to run out of route before the 30 mins was up. Anyway, Strava told me I'd run slightly Less distance (5.89) and MMR said I'd done 5.6, which begs the question, who can I trust?!! Any thoughts?

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

Rather than reply on a phone app for measuring distance, I'd suggest to measure out your route post-run on Google Maps - it's my gold standard for such things (as well as my Garmin running watch).

Why Google Maps? Well, if you navigate to an athletics track and measure out it's 400m running track, then Google Maps tends to get it very very close to 400m. Try running around a track and using a phone app. You may be surprised at how inaccurate they are. It's do with how GPS works and the quality of your phone GPS.

[Lizcanrun Graduate in reply to John_W]

Thanks John, I'm thinking of splashing out on a Garmin, is that likely to be more accurate?

[John_W Graduate Ambassador in reply to Lizcanrun]

Than phone apps? Yes, definitely.