275. Running Communities: Are They Helping or Harming You?

Strava can be a great source of motivation as it gamification of the sport of running, but can there be some downsides to the app? While it can be fun to scroll through and see what friends are doing for runs, does it promote constant comparison? In Jan 2023 I started to feel like people were ‘watching’ my training as I geared up for Boston 3 months postpartum from baby number 3.. Were people actually watching? I don’t know, but the fact that I was feeling ‘pressure’ to ‘perform’ or show up on strava was real. I decided to go ghost on strava for 3 months, and it was an interesting experience.  Self talk while running Thinking that people will be analyzing your splits Wanting the average pace to be XYZ Coming up with excuses for how the run went and what you would write Getting back to the basics.  Running for yourself Taking out all the chatter Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation Why do you run? Did you enjoy running more when people didn’t see your stats? How can you find balance with technology and running Boundaries Having a reset Sitting in the discomfort