Love it or hate it, runners have strong feelings about Strava! With more than 100 million users, Strava combines the utility of fitness tracking apps with the connection of social media, and is almost ubiquitous in the running community.
My colleague and friend Charlie Potts and I and our students Emma Nelson, Ellen Becken, and Lucie Henrich wanted to know more about how Strava impacts runners. So over the course of the last four years we have conducted three separate research studies on the psychosocial impacts of Strava use in runners.
In our research, we have found that runners identified both positive and negative aspects of using Strava. Most notably, runners find Strava motivating yet they also felt pressure to present themselves a certain way and they often compared themselves to others. If you’re a Strava user, perhaps you relate.
In terms of motivation, runners in each of our studies indicated that Strava made them feel motivated to run. They noted that they found other runners’ performances inspiring and felt accountable to their Strava followers, which helped them be motivated to run even on days they didn’t want to. Runners also liked the data they could see on Strava, especially their own progress and improvement over time.
Yet sometimes runners felt pressure to present themselves positively (e.g., “fit,” “fast,” committed to running) or control how they are viewed by others when posting on Strava. Some runners noted that they were embarrassed if they had a slow run or hadn’t run in a few days.
Interestingly, not all runners felt this way, however, others reported feeling like Strava was their most authentic form of social media. They felt they were open and honest about their ups and downs as runners on Strava in ways they weren’t on other forms of social media.
The third common topic runners talked about in our studies was comparing themselves to others on Strava which they thought impacted them in both positive and negative ways. Some runners felt motivated by the social comparisons, while others felt bad about the comparisons. Some runners indicated that when they compared themselves to other runners they felt like they were not good enough.
So what does this all mean for runners using Strava? Strava, like all social media, has the potential for good and bad outcomes. If you are a Strava user, reflect about how using Strava makes you feel. If you find it motivating, encouraging, and fun by all means keep using it! If you are finding it making you feel badly about yourself and your runner, maybe take a Strava break!
This article originally appeared in the The Connection, TCM's weekly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.
Hayley also addressed the subject, here, in a recent Star Tribune story,
Hayley Russell, PhD, is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, runner, and professor of health and exercise psychology at Gustavus Adolphus College. She is one of the team of Motion Experts TCM has gathered to help its subscribers and participants get the most out of their running. Have a question for Hayley: [email protected] or visit psychologyofrunning.com.