The downside of strava: How Leaderboards trigger Perfectionism
Strava, the social networking giant of the endurance world, is an impressive app. With its newest release featuring AI (Athlete Intelligence), Strava has truly set the bar for innovation in athletic circles.
Yet, when a friend first recommended Strava to me three years ago, I was a bit sceptical for reasons that seem a little vague upon reflection. Back then, my idea of a smartwatch was the latest Fitbit, and while it had its pros, my model had limited functionality, minimal third-party integrations, and no GPS — making Strava’s activity tracking feel confusing and overwhelming at the time. So, I opted for RunKeeper instead, using that and my Fitbit as my go-to tools for another few months.
After my Fitbit decided to die a quick and sudden death in mid-2022, it was time for an upgrade to Garmin. With that, I felt compelled to revisit Strava, too.
Fast-forward two years, and I now have enough accumulated data tracking and experience on Strava to write a book about it, sharing what I think new athletes should consider before joining the community and everything I’ve learned in between.
The Early Days of Strava
Let’s face it: Strava, at its core, is a social platform.
In 2009, when former rowing teammates and co-founders Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey built Strava, their initial concept for the platform was to create a “virtual locker room” — a space where athletes could hold each other accountable, build motivation, and view each other’s progress.
Initially, Strava targeted cyclists, a niche community of sportsmen who were rapidly adopting GPS technology through devices like Garmin. But, with Strava’s early features like route-tracking and segment-based leaderboards, the platform quickly gained popularity. It created an online community where athletes could participate in micro-competitions on hill climbs and stretches of road.
When Strava expanded its features to runners between 2012 and 2016, the platform grew even more rapidly, with millions of users joining to log, share, and compete in their activities. This expansion paved the way for additional social features such as clubs, challenges, and events, further establishing its role as a community-driven fitness platform.
Undeniably, at the heart of Strava, these are all fantastic features that make it easy and fun for athletes to monitor their personal progress while engaging socially, cheering each other on, and boosting motivation.
However, after using it consistently to track my own progress, it’s become evident that Strava’s social and competitive nature has managed to weave its way into my life not only positively but also negatively.
Perfectionism in a social world
A couple of years ago, my life took a few unexpected twists and turns that led me to see a therapist.
Without recalling any of the events or explaining why I needed my psyche evaluated back then, let’s just say that what the counsellor observed about me wasn’t very well received. According to her, any individual activity I engaged in — including my dance career and my brief tenure as a Zumba instructor — was aggravating my perfectionistic tendencies and competitive nature.
She argued that in individual sports, an athlete’s performance is solely their own, which can amplify the self-criticism perfectionists often feel. She suggested that I should consider an activity that is more social or group-oriented, where successes and failures aren’t as prominently celebrated but are more evenly shared among teammates.
[Ps. Try telling a friend she can’t do something she’s deeply passionate about in the midst of chaos and see what happens. By that same token, I should also mention that it’s not as simple as telling a perfectionist that “there’s no such thing” or “just be a little less perfectionistic.” Uhm… Well, duh.]
Needless to say, as the captain of my hockey team back in 2004 — even if it was only the C-team and for a brief stint — I couldn’t quite grasp how the downsides of individual sports connected to my therapy sessions. After all, I played team sports, too…
But as it turns out, it wasn’t until this weekend, during my last long run of this training block, that I finally understood what she meant.
As I approached a hill I hadn’t run before in the last few kilometres of my session, I instinctively wanted to stop. Instead of just slowing down — even if it meant walking — and tackling the hill in my own time, my thoughts were consumed by Strava splits, a slower pace, and a higher heart rate.
And suddenly, it hit me.
What started as a harmonious passion for running has, over the past year — even at a recreational level — become a relentless drive to improve and compete against myself and other athletes, creating a disproportionate focus on my speed, distance, and ranking.
With the continuous access to metrics, leaderboards, and social comparisons, Strava’s visibility and gamified structure have, over time, led me into a pool of inadequacy and guilt.
Luckily, an epiphany moment occurred: I decided to sit with the discomfort, hold on to my “why” for running, and forget about the data. Before I knew it, I was at the top of the hill, with Strava statistics only a distant memory.
Intrinsic Motivation and Social comparison
Fitness tracking apps are fantastic until they’re not.
I believe, just like alcohol, they should be used in moderation, and any athlete — competitive or not — would benefit from taking a break from them every once in a while to avoid falling into the trap of leaderboards and public rankings.
A 2022 study in The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology noted that individuals with high levels of perfectionism who also seek social comparison may feel increased performance pressure when using fitness apps, which could undermine the joy and mental health benefits of the activity itself.
Personally, my drive to constantly outperform my social network — which, by the way, totals a mere 27 Strava followers — has dramatically increased, shifting my motivation from intrinsic to extrinsic and heightening my sensitivity to perceived failures.
So, although Strava and similar fitness apps are incredible tools, it’s easy to get swept up in the metrics and forget the deeper reasons we run or engage in any other endurance sport.
If you, like me, have found yourself too focused on performance data or caught in a cycle of comparing yourself to others, it might be time to take a step back and re-evaluate. Here’s how I, and anyone feeling the same way, can approach this shift:
Dial down the comparison: We can try to view leaderboards less and focus on our own journey. Who and what are we really training for, anyway — right?
Run by feel, not by data: Going without tracking for a few runs lets us focus on how we feel rather than how we perform.
Reconnect with our ‘why’: With every self-help book under the sun yelling ‘Why?’ nowadays, it sounds so cliché to say it. But alas, reflecting on ‘Why’ I started running, helps me realign with what I love about it, not just how fast or far I go.
Take breaks from tracking: A short “data detox” every now and then might keep us from slipping into the numbers trap. That said, I’m looking forward to a social disconnect from Strava for a week or two after my marathon this upcoming week.
While I do believe Strava has many strengths, I think certain segments can overshadow initial motivation and that some competitive features may not always serve people well — especially those who, like myself, are naturally inclined toward high standards and intense self-evaluation.
In close, let’s keep our running journey personal from time to time, choosing to measure success by how we feel, and not by how we rank.
