Running and Social Media

If it's not on Strava did it even happen?

Do you run with tech? A watch? An app?
Are you part of a facebook running group? Do you participate in Garmin or Strava challenges?

Social media is quickly replacing the old way of tracking your performance. Apps can now do it all with the touch of a button. Tracking your pace, mileage, heart rate and GPS location for every training run. This information can then be uploaded to your social media platform of choice, creating a virtual running diary for all of your followers to see.

There are so many ways to share your running with others, and from what we are hearing, its having a positive effect. For many, running can feel like a solitary sport. Before social media and interactive running apps, runners who trained outside of a group were fairly on their own. Now, even if you prefer to run lone wolf, you can still enjoy the support of other runners through an online platform.

Studies have shown that runners who share their performances on social media tend to run faster and longer than runners who don't share. This may be due to the motivation and accountability social media provides. Not to mention the competition aspect. Many Strava users find the challenges, and weekly mileage tracker, as a fun way to compete with their friends.

Though your non-runner friends may find your running posts to be annoying, if you are seeing the positives in documenting your journey, keep it up! Virtual running clubs are abundant on platforms like Facebook. Strava is built for athletes of all levels who want to share their workouts with others. Instagram uses hashtags like #runnersofinstagram to make finding running accounts easy.

So if this sounds like your kind of thing, find your social media tribe and get to sharing!

-See you on the road!