STRAVA seem to have removed another feature for non-paying users as there is clearly a push towards getting more of us to financially support the (probably) loss-making STRAVA service. I’m not sure when this happened but here are the before and after examples from a recent run using two STRAVA accounts, one free and the other premium (thanks to InSyt for the spot!).
Those are from the web view of STRAVA. If I look at my smartphone then I can still see GAP on my free account. It’s possible this is a newly removed feature that hasn’t yet been rolled out to everyone’s app…by the end of the week we will know.
GAP stands for Grade Adjusted Pace and is the real pace you are running at ignoring slope. So if you are running uphill at 4:10/km then, depending on the grade/slope, you might really be running at 4:00/km. This can be a very useful metric but I suspect that few casual runners use it in reality.
A more ‘proper’ pace would be normalized pace which would take into account wind, temperature, humidity, surface conditions and other factors but this then effectively becomes something similar to STRYD‘s running power. Nevertheless, GAP does account for one of the more important determinants of your groundspeed.
I strongly suspect that STRAVA will be introducing support for STRYD’s running power after this leak a few weeks ago. Perhaps that is part of the rationale for removing GAP? Even more interesting we have seen the addition of a new Local Legend Feature which has just about all the features available for FREE users. Nice.
PS Don’t expect STRYD’s power support to come for free in STRAVA…it might, but don’t hold your breath.
new STRAVA Local Legends – Segments, Jim, but not as we know them
Opinion:
If you value these things then stump up the cash. If you don’t value them then it doesn’t really matter.
Hint: If you regularly read certain blogs then the authors appreciate some support too 😉
support here (support in caffeine or cash very welcome at that link)