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| Me on Dailymile |
I'm still on Dailymile, although I'm not really very sociable there. I really just use Dailymile because it's very easy to use. You can save routes that you run often, and it takes just a second to add your run and attach your shoes to the run. I keep up with my cumulative mileage and my shoes on the site, and I like its simplicity.
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| Me on Strava |
Recently, I joined Strava for a test run, if you will. I can't say I am in love. I know Strava has gotten very popular, but while it does the same things Dailymile does, it is a little clunkier. I guess if you want more social interactions and enjoy the various challenges offered, it's much better, but as just a tracking tool, it seems like it's more time consuming, mostly because I feel obligated to go into an uploaded run and edit the name and details. Otherwise, entering manual runs is very similar to the Dailymile process.
One drawback to me is that Strava requires you to enter time for every run. Your GPS watch syncs with Strava, so you don't have to manually enter runs, but I rarely run with my Garmin. I'm trying to use it all week while I test Strava out, but I prefer to run watchless and be guided less by pace. I always feel like simply being aware of my pace makes me run too fast! Even if I don't wear my watch, I can't enter the run manually without adding a time. For someone who runs untimed at least 50% of the time, that's a pain.
Another negative is that when I entered my shoes into Strava, it didn't allow me to put existing miles on them. Plus, when I synced my Garmin, it uploaded a bunch of older runs, automatically applying those miles to my default shoes. So for now I'm using Dailymile and Strava to make sure I am keeping track of shoe mileage. I definitely like the option of being able to enter miles already on shoes when you add them - both for this situation, and the occasional situation in which I resurrect formerly retired shoes (it happens).
What's your favorite way to keep track? Do you value the social aspect, or are you mostly tracking for yourself?
I was a Daily Mile person, and I think that's where I found you, but I have since moved to Strava. I just like the social aspects more and have a lot more friends on there.
ReplyDeleteI was on DM but switched to Strava simply because the auto-sync feature was more convenient at the time, and because DM didn't used to have multi-sport options. I was also constantly having to reconnect DM to my Garmin, which was annoying. It was a pain to transfer all of the data over to Strava, and I don't love having to go back in it and edit everything after it's synced, and the social aspect is just a little weird for me, but it's fine for tracking (even for manual activities here and there). I also have a google training calendar I try to keep updated (which is more important when i'm training without a watch), but I'm bad about updating multiple channels.
ReplyDeleteI like the Strava auto sync. I don't always enter names for the runs - you can just not, & it gives it a default title (ie "Afternoon Run"). When I run without a watch I just enter a ballpark amount and call it good since I don't really care. I don't use it for shoes because I just find that easier to track on my own.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a weirdo and I use both consistently - I kind of think of strava as my 'serious' log and dailymile as my 'dear diary' log haha. More of my real life teammates are on strava and many of the people on DM who I followed more closely or got to know have also switched over, with a trend towards people who are training more seriously, and it's cool to see what my teammates both at my level and faster are doing in real life. But...I have also been on dailymile forever- since 2008, I think - and having that many years of logs in one spot keeps pulling me back! I definitely have a soft spot for it although it's a little less convenient.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a daily mile user but I've been on Strava for 5 years. I wouldn't bother with Strava if I wasn't using mapping data. To me that is the point of the app; to see different segments, where I run or have ridden. I do use the social stuff, but it is secondary to keeping track of my data.
ReplyDeleteI never used daily mile so I guess I can't make a fair comparison. Back in the day I would keep track of my miles on a paper calendar and I sometimes used Excel
ReplyDeleteIn 2013 after running for almost 20 years I finally purchased a Garmin. I can understand how it makes you automatically run faster. But, since I started working with a coach last year slowing down has been easier. I have the Forerunner 25 and it lets you start your watch and then you can change the screen to display the time of day only.
This is an amazing blog! Thanks for sharing this! :)
ReplyDeleteI used to be on Daily Mile but I stopped using it awhile ago as it was just another ap or website to keep up with. So I went with a very basic and non-technical way of tracking miles - I wrote them on a calendar. Obviously I do not get aggregated data about things like average page and such, but it works for me. Each month I add up my miles and put that at the top of the calendar page. I only run in one pair of shoes at a time so if I change shoes mid-month, I note it and have a separate sum at the top of the calendar for shoe mileage. That said, I haven't tracked mileages since 2015 when I ran the Twin Cities Marathon as I started having trouble w/ my hip that following January and it was depressing to see my low mileage. And now I'm not tracking since my mileage is pitifully low. But it should start to slowly increase when the weather warms up and I'm able to run outdoors!
ReplyDeleteI used to use daily mile and switched over to strava a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI started with DM and am now just on strava and another website that's geared more towards adventure racers. I always run and ride with my Garmin, so the autosync makes life easy, and I really appreciate the way that strava segments and route matching will help you compare your performance on identical places over time. Since most everyone I ride with is way faster than me, Strava gives me a good, objective way to see my progress (or lack thereof).
ReplyDeleteI'm on Strava mostly because it was painless - it auto-syncs with my Garmin. But I don't rely on it to serve as my training log - it's just a way to keep up with friends/ clubs. My actual training log lives in my diary! My records on Strava are spotty - I do all of my speedwork and some of my easy runs with my trusty little Timex, so it looks like I never do speedwork, haha. And I don't run high enough mileage to really track my shoes - I just rotate two or three pairs at a time and replace them maybe twice a year. I never did use DM, though, so I can't speak to the differences between the two.
ReplyDeleteI jumped over to Strava this year. My only compliant is that each sport isn't really broken down, like a spreadsheet. So snowshoeing, walking the Boy Dog, and running is all lumped into miles and hours. But i sure do love the tracking on the satellite maps.
ReplyDeleteCheers
P.S. just sent you a request to follow