One of the things I love about Strava is the “Segments” feature. Segments a time trials of various lengths built into the places we run, ride and recreate every day. They have their own leaderboards which makes it very fun to track your progress against your rivals. The is a way I like to use segments that has nothing to do with other people. I love using it to gage my current bike/run fitness level against my former self. This is a story about Current Ralph versus History Ralph.
Let me give you an example I am actually quite proud of. There is a segment here in Pleasanton California called the Marilyn Kane trail. It is a 1.5 mile, L shaped paved path that is pretty flat. I have been running this trail for many years and I have now done it 99 times. My personal fastest time on this segment was set back in 2011, I was 48 years old. As my fitness has improved this year and I could see my mile splits getting faster, it was looking like if I really busted my butt I had a realistic chance of beating my former self.
Last week I decided to go after it. The trail start is about 3 miles from the house so I used that as my warm up to get my heart rate up a few times before I hit the start. Here we go 1.5 miles of pain, lets see if I can do it.
Yes! I did it, I was able to beat a PR on a segment I ran 13 years ago. I think we assume, that as we age, we are just automatically going to be slower and that is just not the case. If I didn’t have this history and all the data that goes with it I would have not had any idea this was possible. I find it very empowering and motivating to have this information. This has nothing to do with anyone else, this is just Today Ralph versus History Ralph. My goal is to stay as close to History Ralph as long as I possibly can.
Remember, everyday you workout you are laying down new history for future you and giving yourself a better chance at a powerful and strong life. So, Strava Segments are not just about being competitive with other people, they can be so much more.
Here is my advice – Find a few segments in your general area that you can use as your fitness tester. I have several for running and cycling. Some are hilly and others flat. Make those your fitness gage and use all the great tools provided in Strava to measure and track your fitness level. Thank you Strava for creating such great tools. I am not compensated to pump up Strava, I actually gladly pay for an annual membership because I think it is so good. You can follow me on Strava @RalphRajs
Post Segment Video – I was pretty psyched.
RE-active 