Strava

Introduction

This app adds a wonderful social element for runners who want an effective way of measuring their progress, enabling you to track your runs, join challenges, and see in real time how your efforts stack up against those of your friends.

This app works as well as you could ever hope for; there is an absolute ton of useful features that will keep you occupied for a very long time, even without subscribing as a premium user.

Keep Your Motor Runnin’

With this app, you can see extensive details of your runs, including information such as the distance you have run, your average pace, the number of calories you’ve burned, and your elevation gained.

All of your runs can be mapped out so you can see a bird’s eye view of your progress and how much further you have left to run, plus you can upload your runs to boast to your friends about your latest and greatest achievements.

If you’re motivation has been dwindling lately, this is definitely the app for you because you can join challenges every month and see how you rank on the global leader boards, giving you even more to brag about!

The social element of Strava Run goes even further, with the ability to follow your friends and view their runs, join clubs, and even leave comments to spur your friends on and ask for advice if you need it. Strava Run also works in a similar vein to social networking sites with a handy notification system to let you know when you receive comments or when a new person is following you.

Subscription to the premium version of this app is available via in-app purchase in the following formats:

• Monthly               $5.99
   
• Yearly                    $59.99

This will enable you to access even more features including:

• Filtered leader boards to see how your results stack up against similar individuals;
   
• Heart rate analysis;
   
• Pace zone analysis;
   
• Suffer score to see exactly how hard you’re working versus how hard you think you’re working; and

Advanced segment effort comparison to see how your efforts compare against your friends and how much progress you’re making over a period of time.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Map your runs and measure your progress over time
• Connect with other runners to exchange feedback and advice
• Join monthly challenges
• See where you rank on the global leader boards to boost your motivation

Cons

• There is nothing negative to say about this app

Final Words

This app has motivated me to ditch the treadmill for a while and get back out onto the roads; the weather is good at the moment so I’ve got no excuse now!

Although I run, I don’t really enjoy it all that much, but I’m loving the challenges and social elements of Strava Run, especially exchanging feedback with a few other users and getting some tips for improving my running technique.

Mapping runs is especially fun because you can periodically glance at your iPhone to see where you are; this is great for keeping up your pace and staying motivated, especially towards the end of your runs when fatigue begins to set in.

I’ll spare myself the embarrassment of revealing where I stack up against my friends but I’m pretty confident that I’ll see some major improvements over the coming weeks and months if I can be consistent and keep this app as my running companion.