Strava's famous for segments and kudos. But there's more to it for training-focused runners.

Training Log Features

Activity Dashboard

What you can see:

• All runs with maps, splits, and effort data
• Weekly and monthly volume summaries
• Year-over-year comparisons
• Personal records at any distance

How to use it:

• Review weekly volume against your plan
• Spot trends over months
• Identify when you've been consistent vs. inconsistent

Relative Effort (Premium)

What it is: A training load score based on heart rate data

How it helps:

• Compares effort across different runs
• Shows weekly training load trends
• Identifies when you're building vs. recovering

Limitation: Less sophisticated than TrainingPeaks TSS, but easier to use

Training Log View

Weekly overview shows:

• Total time and distance
• Activity count
• Relative Effort total
• Comparison to previous weeks

Monthly and yearly views:

• Long-term volume patterns
• Seasonal trends
• Year-over-year progress

Analytics Tools

Pace Analysis

Per-run analysis shows:

• Average pace
• Best efforts at various distances
• Split breakdowns
• Grade-adjusted pace (helpful for hills)

Heart Rate Zones

If you have HR data:

• Time in each zone
• Average and max HR
• Zone distribution over time

Power Analysis

For runners with power meters:

• Average and normalized power
• Power zones
• Running efficiency metrics

Route Planning

Strava Heatmap

One of Strava's best features:

• See where runners run in any location
• Discover popular routes
• Find safe running paths in new cities

How to access: Routes → Explore → View Heatmap

Route Builder

Create routes by:

• Drawing on a map
• Following popular segments
• Using suggested routes

Features:

• Distance calculation
• Elevation profile
• Surface type estimates
• Export to GPS device

Saved Routes

Benefits:

• Access your favorite routes anywhere
• Share routes with friends
• Track which routes you've completed

Segments

Using Segments for Training

Segments as benchmarks:

• Track fitness changes over time
• See effort comparisons across attempts
• Natural interval or tempo markers

Creating useful segments:

• Mark hills you regularly train on
• Create segments for tempo portions of routes
• Track seasonal changes at same segment

Segment Warnings

Don't let segments ruin training:

• Skip segment hunting on easy days
• Ignore segments when they'd compromise workout goals
• Use segments intentionally, not compulsively

Social Features for Motivation

Following and Feed

Use it for:

• Accountability (others see your consistency)
• Inspiration (see what training partners do)
• Community connection

Avoid:

• Comparison that leads to overtraining
• Feeling pressure to post every run
• Judging yourself by others' numbers

Clubs

Join clubs for:

• Local running community
• Virtual group challenges
• Training partner finding

Challenges

Monthly and featured challenges:

• External motivation
• Fun goals beyond PRs
• Community participation

Free vs. Premium

What's Free

• Activity logging
• Basic analytics
• Segments and leaderboards
• Social features (feed, clubs, kudos)
• Basic route planning
• Monthly challenges

Premium Adds ($80/year)

• Relative Effort and fitness tracking
• Advanced route planning
• Segment analysis and local legends
• Beacon safety feature
• Training plans (limited)
• Goals and progress tracking

Who Should Upgrade

Premium makes sense if:

• You want training load tracking
• You use route planning frequently
• You care about segment analysis
• You want Beacon for safety

Free is fine if:

• You mainly use it for social
• Your watch provides training metrics
• You don't use advanced features

Making Strava Work for Training

Best Practices

1. Connect your devices: Auto-sync from watch for seamless logging
2. Use descriptions: Note workout type, how you felt, conditions
3. Check weekly summaries: Quick review of volume and trends
4. Leverage heatmaps: For route discovery and travel running
5. Ignore social pressure: Run your training, not others'

Integration Strategy

Most effective approach:

• Watch app (Garmin, Coros, etc.) for detailed training data
• Strava for social and route discovery
• Sync between them automatically

Strava is one piece of your training toolkit. Sync your data to your dashboard for personalized insights, and use our Pace Zone Calculator to set proper training zones.