Is anything wrong with the podcast timing?

[Tzushka]

Hello all, I’ve just come back from my first run in week 8 and a nagging doubt is gnawing at me. In one of the runs in week 7, I also ran the Strava app when I started running, because I wanted to see the distance I covered. To my surprise, instead of the 25 minutes of running, Strava only recorded 19. Today I set a timer for 28.15 minutes just as Laura told me to run. To my bitter surprise, again, when she said “well done, you’ve run for a full 28 minutes”, I still had more than 9 minutes to go. As I kept running through the end of the podcast and the alleged 5 minutes’ brisk walk, I still had over 1 minute of the initial 28, and the podcast went on to Week 9. There, the first 5 minutes were actually 2, and when Laura said “you’re well past 10 minutes”, only 6 had actually passed on my phone.

I acknowledge the podcast has helped me build stamina by running gradually, no matter for how long; still, I can’t help feeling a bit… cheated, and a cheat.

Has anyone else noticed that, or maybe it doesn’t happen with the app (to which I don’t have access)?

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Believe Laura, she is never wrong, I think there must be a bit of a problem with your podcast, uninstall it and then reinstall it, perhaps it may work properly after you do that.

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks for your answer, @AlMorr! I’m listening to the podcast in the native Apple podcast app… it’s a mystery!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

It has been mentioned by others over the years, but every time I have checked it out the timing appeared accurate.

It might be an issue with your Strava app. Why not try a stopwatch on your phone, rather than a separate app, to clarify the situation?

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks, IannodaTruffe ! I did use the stopwatch - well, the timer on my phone, actually, set to alert me after 28 minutes, precisely because I didn’t trust Strava

[nowster Graduate]

Are you using the podcast or the app?

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to nowster]

I’m using the podcast, unfortunately the app is unavailable in my geography.

[nowster Graduate in reply to Tzushka]

If you're having trouble with the podcast, you might like to try a different audio player app. My guess is that it's playing it at the wrong speed.

If you have a computer, download the podcast to it and compare how it sounds when it plays it on your PC/laptop against playing it on your phone.

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to nowster]

Thanks, I’ll try. And I’ll use a stopwatch, to be on the safe side!

[Cmoi Graduate]

That must be really frustrating Tzushka . I used the podcasts and didn't have any problems with timing. I think I'd try uninstalling and reinstalling, as suggested by AlMorr .

I do appreciate that you want to know distance too, but it might be worth avoiding Strava until you've completed the programme, in case that's causing the problem. Hope you can get it sorted!

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to Cmoi]

Thank you, Cmoi , I’m not focused on the distance right now, but I was curious. I mean to consolidate my 30 minutes’ running before even taking distance into consideration. (Although in today’s podcast Laura said “at the end of the day, what matters is distance, not speed”.) From what I can tell, I run faaaaar slower than I walk, so I’ll need to work on the distance, eventually. But it’s not the end of the day yet. 😁

[Hickeypa Graduate]

Hiya - it’s possible your playback speed in the podcasts app is set to 1.5. See photo. If so, if you tap the 1 1/2x text three more times it should go back to 1x.

Screen shot of podcasts app with playback speed highlighted

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to Hickeypa]

Hickeypa , you’re a genius! I checked the playback speed and it was 1.5 indeed! Thank you so much, I’m so glad to go back to Laura! 😀

[TomatoRun Graduate]

At what speed are you playing the podcast? It maybe playing a little fast. But we’ll done anyway!

[MrBassmanjazz Graduate]

Hi. I'm running several different Apps, (Not all at the same time). None of them agrees with each other. I worked off the C25K App (NHS). I trusted Laura implicitly.(I did find one of the runs surprisingly short. Can't remember which week).

[Tzushka Graduate in reply to MrBassmanjazz]

Thanks, MrBassmanjazz , in my case it turns out the culprit was the playback speed, as these brilliant people kindly pointed out above.

[Hickeypa Graduate]

Your welcome Tzushka :-).