Strava is almost certainly the most commonly used activity tracking tool available, it’s the daddy of tracking apps and comes with a desktop too making even better use of the data fed into it.
I like Strava and have used it for years as a cyclist. So when I started to SUP a few years ago it was only a matter of time before I started to track paddles. Initially with the Garmin Edge I use on the bike stashed in a dry bag tied to the board. I then got hold of an old Garmin Forerunner and swapped the dry bag for a custom mount on my race board and then more recently with a Garmin VivoActve HR on my wrist. I also have the Strava app installed on my iPhone 6 and while while I’d never claim to be a Strava expert I would consider myself to be an enthusiastic and experienced user.
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| Strava Dashboard |
I like Strava and have used it for years as a cyclist. So when I started to SUP a few years ago it was only a matter of time before I started to track paddles. Initially with the Garmin Edge I use on the bike stashed in a dry bag tied to the board. I then got hold of an old Garmin Forerunner and swapped the dry bag for a custom mount on my race board and then more recently with a Garmin VivoActve HR on my wrist. I also have the Strava app installed on my iPhone 6 and while while I’d never claim to be a Strava expert I would consider myself to be an enthusiastic and experienced user.
To track or not to track
Like many good things you can have too much of them and it’s the same with Strava. It’s easy to get obsessed with metrics from any sport and that can really take the edge off going for a paddle with your mates. Use appropriately!
Getting started
Strava is available as a free mobile phone App (for iOS or Android) and as a Web App (here). It covers more sports than I want to count and it integrates with dozens of other GPS trackers from Garmin, Suunto, Fitbit, Polar, Microsoft Band, TomTom etc. As long as your device generates .tcx, .fit or .gpx formats then you’re able to upload them through the website. Not only have the Strava team covered the most common file formats but they’ve also made it as easy as possible to import data from other sources; mapmyfitness, runkeeper, Endomondo and runtastic are all supported.
Download the app or connect the software you use for your GPS tracker and off you go. With the app you’ll need to register and set it up then press the red button and go. Press it again when you’re done and then edit as required. It’s one failing is that the app defaults to run or cycle, it makes no real difference which you use as it’s just collecting data on where you’ve been. Once completed it takes seconds to change your ‘run’ to Stand Up Paddle.
Strava will give each activity a default name, Morning / Lunch / Evening Activity. That’s good enough for most but if you’ve got a lot of activities and want to review them later you might want to find specific locations or board or something else. It just makes it easier to find stuff later. The app will let you add photos, a description and once saved the app will synch letting your Strava followers know what you’ve been up to and how well you did it. Strava has a social media covered too and integrates with Facebook, Twitter and others seamlessly.
The Garmin devices I use all synch with Strava through Garmin Connect automatically. Once done I get a notification on my VivoActive for both the Garmin Connect synch and the Strava synch. And I can then use the Strava app to edit the activity as if I’d used the app in the first place. It rarely goes wrong and is very, very easy.
Security
A little point about security, Strava lets you set up privacy zones. If you're worried about revealing an important location, then set up a zone or zones and no one will see it.
Security
A little point about security, Strava lets you set up privacy zones. If you're worried about revealing an important location, then set up a zone or zones and no one will see it.
The desktop
All the app based tracking tools have similar functionality, track an activity, add photos share it. Strava beats them by having a powerful desktop which is where some more clever bits are tucked away.
You can crop activities in Strava, click on the spanner icon on the left of the desktop screen and that gives a list of options including Crop. Very handy if you forget to end an activity and your GPS trace shows you went to the pub post paddle! You can also make activities private so that no one else can see what you've done, you can delete them and export them. Other functions there do not (yet) work for SUP.
There are dozens of useful screens available including training calendars and activity history, all of these have search functions and can be sorted by date, title, duration, distance and elevation.
The most useful function within Strava is the segment, since imitated by Garmin on some of their top end devices.
You can crop activities in Strava, click on the spanner icon on the left of the desktop screen and that gives a list of options including Crop. Very handy if you forget to end an activity and your GPS trace shows you went to the pub post paddle! You can also make activities private so that no one else can see what you've done, you can delete them and export them. Other functions there do not (yet) work for SUP.
There are dozens of useful screens available including training calendars and activity history, all of these have search functions and can be sorted by date, title, duration, distance and elevation.
The most useful function within Strava is the segment, since imitated by Garmin on some of their top end devices.
Segments
Once you’ve logged an activity and looked at your data you might want to compare it with the last time you did the same route or part of it, of course you could do this by eye or downloading the data as a CSV and using a spreadsheet. Or you could set up a segment and let Strava do the hard work for you. A segment is a track between 2 points on an activity, it’s direction sensitive one-way only, can be any distance from 100m up to hundreds of km. And once created it will be applied retrospectively to any other activity that matches the segment data.
Setting one up is easy, from the desktop open the activity and find create a new segment;
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| GPS tracks on water often get the elevation wrong. |
Use the sliders to adjust the start and end of the segment, Strava will have taken a guess a the one you want but you’ve bound to want to change that. There’s also 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons for either end to fine tune without the sliders. when you’re happy click OK and give it a name, decide if you want it to be ‘private’ and you’re done. A private segment is one that you and only you can see, you can make a private segment public but you cannot make a public one private.
A segment is only useful if you can hit the start and end consistently. Segments were created for Strava’s main user base, cyclists and runners and on a road getting a start and end is easy but on the water more care needs to be taken when creating one. Use a permanent landmark for the start and end so that you’ll have something to aim for, if you can hit those marks then you’ll log data.
If you are a Strava Pro user then you’ll be able to set goals and maybe more, I only use the free version so do not have access to those features.
If you are a Strava Pro user then you’ll be able to set goals and maybe more, I only use the free version so do not have access to those features.
Segments then give you a detailed summary of all of your paddles. You’ll see the date, distance and time taken. You an drill down to see HR data and VAM, best talk to an athlete about that one.
And drill down further to get to each individual activity. There is no allowance to display a summary containing weather fluctuations, different kit you may use or if you were just out for a paddle with the children so you’ll still need to do some work to make the most of the data presented. But it’s still a great tool to have if you want to use it.
And drill down further to get to each individual activity. There is no allowance to display a summary containing weather fluctuations, different kit you may use or if you were just out for a paddle with the children so you’ll still need to do some work to make the most of the data presented. But it’s still a great tool to have if you want to use it.
FlyBy
A flyby is just as the name suggests, a top down view of what you’ve done.
The nice thing here it that is shows all the other activities logged by Strava users in the area at around the same time an at the same speed. Click on the link and a new tab opens with your activity and a list of the others who were around. This is not sport specific so if you’re at a beach surfing near a popular running or cycling route you can see the runners and riders too.
The nice thing here it that is shows all the other activities logged by Strava users in the area at around the same time an at the same speed. Click on the link and a new tab opens with your activity and a list of the others who were around. This is not sport specific so if you’re at a beach surfing near a popular running or cycling route you can see the runners and riders too.
You can see the flyby for that paddle here. It’s really good to see where you are slower than someone else or took a different line. Fitter paddlers than me will see where they were faster!
There are more applications associated with Strava using their API, that allows developers to build tools to take your data and analyse or present it in many ways. Currently not many include SUP but if you want to get more from your data from other sports check out Veloviewer, Relive and more that you can find on the Strava website here.
Clubs
A Strava club is a place where club mates who use Strava can see what everyone else has been up to. Strava builds weekly leaderboards but where the Club feed shows all activity the leaderboards are only for run, cycle or swim. Slightly limited for SUP at the moment but I’ve asked nicely and Strava have a track record of listening, if more paddlers do the same then it might happen sooner.
Get tracking!
Getting started with Strava is easy, it’s an incredibly powerful tool that gives an paddler as much or as little as they want. As SUP is still a relatively small sport support is still limited when compared with running or cycling. However when I started to track my SUP activities there wasn’t an activity type of SUP in Strava, just a generic ‘water sport’. Now SUP is listed and as more SUPpers use it I am sure that more functionality all arrive making Strava even more powerful.