Anyone who doesn’t pull a face at the thought of going for a run is probably already familiar with Strava. But did you know that Strava has developed its very own AI, falling under the banner of ‘Athlete Intelligence’? It’s been locked in a beta state since last October, but now it’s finally stable enough for mass consumption. Yup, even you.
You will, of course, need a subscription to Strava before you can take advantage of Strava’s AI, which “analyzes and summarizes key takeaways from subscribers.” If you did have access to the beta, you’ll notice that Strava is a little smarter than before, delivering “virtual run/ride data, power insights, and segment analysis,” the company said in a press release. The expanded feature set joins a couple of other nifty new updates for subscribers.
Less Strava strife in your life
Those include some big changes to leaderboard integrity, with Strava cracking down on any cheaters looking to farm Discovery Points, or simply beat their mates in a bet. Strava can now better detect unrealistic speeds, GPS errors, and “other anomalies that could skew leaderboard results.” The leaderboards are a sacred thing, and Strava intends to keep it that way “by removing outliers and potential rule violations.”
It achieves this with a machine learning model keeping an eye on everything you do. It analyses metrics like speed and acceleration, and flags any activity that it believes was recorded in a vehicle or even on a bicycle. If it detects anything of the sort, it’ll offer the option to crop the offending activity, or simply private it to hide your shame.
Next up is the ability to share those epic Flyover summaries to other apps after a run or cycle, like Instagram Stories. Strava will automatically default to Meta’s image-sharing platform, but if you’d like to bore your non-runner friends even more, you can copy the link and share it elsewhere. Head over to the Activity Details Page if that’s something you might be interested in.
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But it’s Athlete Intelligence that’s hogging all the attention, and rightfully so. If you’re a Strava subscriber, you’ll already have access to the new AI features, which analyse workouts on the fly. It can automatically detect whether you’re running on a treadmill or stationary exercise bike – and improves with more information you feed it.
Running the same route over and over, for instance? Athlete Intelligence offers a detailed analysis of your performance to see just how much you’ve improved, or regressed, since then. The same goes for other activities, like cycling, whereby it will break down your recent power data, and offer tips to help you find those peaks you hit a couple weeks back.
Finally, the update brought about some big changes to the Progress Summary Chart. “Subscribers can now compare past efforts side-by-side to track improvements and help gauge progress towards personal milestones and race goals,” it said.
