Strava

Something you will see a lot of runners do just before they set off is clicking watches and phones to start tracking their activity. I had experimented with the Walk Jog Run app, but had seen a number of my running mates using other timekeepers - Garmin watches and apps like Runkeeper and Endomondo.

Halfway through last year I decided to switch to Strava. It seems a very popular application and I've enjoyed using it. Some of the things it allows me to do:

• obviously record the time I run for - I have set it to auto-pause so it doesn't record my rests and that then tells me the pace I'm actually running at
• record the shoes I wear for each run - useful for gauging when to replace them i.e. at around 500 miles
• show me a map of where I've just run - let's others know what routes I've been on
• track the height I'm running at so I can see all the ups and downs - elevation gain is something I look for to gauge how tough a race will be
• share that information with fellow strava users - and be able to encourage each other with our achievements
• share that information with social media - although I don't do that very much at the moment
• join challenges with other runners in the Strava community, which helps with motivation - for example, two challenges I've joined this month are 'Strava Races: 10k' (complete a 10km run) and 'January Run Climbing Challenge' (run up 1,000 metres this month)
• lastly, a cool feature on the website is that if you're running with other Strava users you can overlay a few sets of run data and see how you all did on a single map - seeing 3 or 4 dots navigating the map is amusing to watch

I also wear an Apple Watch and use it's Activity app to record the same run. I can look at this easily while I'm running (the Strava app is on my phone, which is strapped to my arm) and see my time and distance at a glance. I tried the Strava watch app, but it doesn't stay on screen - hopefully that will change sometime in the future. Also, I use my watch to record the full run time (as opposed to Strava, which I set to exclude my rests).

Strava made a personalised end of year video that shows some of the key stats for the year (or half year for me), here's mine: http://2015.strava.com/video/vqAGhQh

I look forward to the 2016 summary showing a much better set of information!

Coming up next week: Race 2, the Lyme Park Nightrun