Bloomin Strava!!

[WillsMum68]

Sorry in advance for the little rant....just wondering if anyone else has had issues with Strava and incorrect times/distances?

Yesterday I decided I was going to be a mad woman and attempt a 10K.....and I did it! I was over the moon, the people in the car park must have thought I was insane, attempting to jump around with joy whilst simultaneously coughing and wheezing 😁

But! When we got home and uploaded our Stravas, my husband’s time and distance was completely different. He set his off earlier than me (I don’t include the warm-up walks so I can get a true picture of my actual runs), he just stuck his in the bag as soon as we set off. But then his data said that he ran less distance and for a shorter time than me!! I clocked 10.1 and he came in at 9.2.

I was gutted, have I not done the 10 after all?! And does this mean that all of my previous times and distances have been wrong too?!

Has anyone else had this issue? I’ve downloaded another run tracker app to use alongside Strava just for comparison.

Sorry for the long post, and I know I should be pleased with 9.2 regardless, but the high of doing the 10 certainly came to an abrupt halt and I’m still stewing! 🤣

[Magellan Graduate]

If you know exactly the route you took you might be able to use a mapping site online to work out the length. My gut feeling is that the longer figure is likely to be right though. If a device registers a location every few seconds then it’ll be nearly perfect for a straight line, but if you turned around or turned any corners it will just calculate a straight line between two location spots regardless of whether you ran in a straight line or a (longer) curve. It’s more likely that your husband’s device cut corners than that yours invented distance you hadn’t travelled.

Well done either way. 10k is fabulous and so is 9k!

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Magellan]

Thank you! Unfortunately we can’t track the route because we went by distance! 2k up one track then turned around and then up as far as 7.5 on a second one before turning. Normally we’d stick to an easily-trackable route but the forest was absolutely heaving yesterday so we decided to go off-road.

But you’re right, I should be pleased with 9. I’m just not 🤣🤣🤣

[Magellan Graduate in reply to WillsMum68]

There you are: you turned around. If husband's device had reported a location a few hundred yards before turning around and then again a few hundred yards after, it might have lost a whole chunk of that bit of the track. I’m sure it’s the 10 and not the 9 you should believe.

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Magellan]

Thank you, we’ll take all the advice on board and see what happens next time! I wonder if we stopped at the turnaround point and allowed the phones to ‘catch up’ it may make a difference 🤔 (I’m not technically-minded, can you tell 😁)

[Hidden]

Strava messes up with me quite often, it sometimes shows my route as a large triangle on the screen.

😊

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Oh dear, I’ve not had that yet! 🥴

[Hidden in reply to WillsMum68]

I got it yesterday in the mountains..

You will do your run again I take it?

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Yes absolutely, using both Strava and Run Tracker!

[Hidden in reply to WillsMum68]

Well good luck this time, let us all know how it goes 👍

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Will do! Thank you 😊

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Well it’s still up the swanny! I installed another run tracker to my phone - I was pleased to see that it recorded the same distance (so maybe I did get the 10k on Sunday??) but my Strava times are all over the shop! Apparently I ran the first two kms in less than 5 minutes!!! The map was all wrong as well; today we did a straight route and back yet the map has me in a village about ten miles away. I’ll keep running with the other tracker for comparison, my times were obviously correct on that one (slow! An awful run 😫). I hope that my Strava can iron out its issues as I like using it, a good way to keep in touch with pals and support each other.

[Hidden in reply to WillsMum68]

Can you report it to Strava?

It must be frustrating, I'm prob for the mountains again on Friday, weather permitting, ill see how mine goes again 🙄

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I’ve reported it via the app but a quick Google suggests that it may be futile. Also had a good read and it’s possible that the fault may be with the phone as well, so I’m going to do some resetting and see what happens. Enjoy the mountains 🏔😊

[Hidden in reply to WillsMum68]

Let me know if you manage to solve this mystery 🧐

I'll enjoy them if I get there.

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

🤞

[Hidden in reply to WillsMum68]

👍

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to Hidden]

It also shows some runners running ON water.

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

Yes I’ve seen that! Although one runner did admit that it was because he was on a ferry........ 🤣

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to WillsMum68]

My regular runs from 5K to 10K are around a Scottish Loch near to where I live, most times I run the Mapmyrun map shows my route around the loch as it should be, but occasionally it has shown me running over the water as if I was taking a shortcut or gone for a swim, it always makes me laugh when I see that, however, it doesn't happen often.

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

🤣🤣🤣

[Speedy60 Graduate]

I'm not a techie, but when I've had problems (only twice), I was told it wasn't the app, but the gps on my phone that caused it. Apparently, using battery saving and/having wifi on can cause problems. 🤷‍♀️

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Speedy60]

Ooh that’s interesting, I do have the battery saver and WiFi switched on at all times! I’ll turn them off next time and see if that makes a difference, thank you.

[Issywhizz Graduate]

I think mine messed up yesterday. It said I was running at a pace of 8.39/mi when I was practically walking half of the run cos I couldn’t breathe 😂 Also even though it said I ran at a faster pace, it stated I completed the same 2.5 miles run that I did earlier in the week, when I was going at an even slower pace. So surely if I was running faster, I would have run further, or not? Confused

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Issywhizz]

Ha ha whaaaaatt?! That IS confusing! 🤪🤣

[Issywhizz Graduate in reply to WillsMum68]

Ha. I know. It also said I ran for 22 minutes when I had the C25K app on and ran for 25! Maybe I wasn’t meant to run yesterday 😂

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Issywhizz]

Onwards and upwards! 😁

[John_W Graduate]

I assume you're using Strava on your phone? In which case, this is down the GPS on your phone and not Strava (although Strava can be known to 'correct' distances).

Your best best is try a running-specific watch, like a Garmin or TomTom or Polar. Look for a decent 2nd one if budget is limited.

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to John_W]

Yes the budget is limited 🤣 But good advice thank you, I’ll have a look about.

[Vonb]

I run with my daughter in law and we both use strava, we count one, 2, 3 go, both press start at exactly same time, run side by side and hers always shouts the distance earlier than mine, when we compare at the end I’ve ran 5.2k to her 5k and the speed difference just makes me look like a slow old woman! Annoying x

[WillsMum68 Graduate in reply to Vonb]

Which phones do you have? I’ve since read that some Android phones don’t always record accurately 🥴

[Vonb in reply to WillsMum68]

iPhone although not sure but think daughter in laws is a Samsung,

[Hidden]

Hi. I’ve experienced exactly the same. My husband and I both run the exact same route together and his distance is always longer. I have to run a bit extra to achieve 5k which is very frustrating!!