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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by callisto@lemm.ee to c/running@lemmy.world

I was doing speed repeats and stopped my Garmin watch repeatedly when resting. My moving time was close to my 5K PB, but this wouldn’t have been possible on one continuous run and consequently my Strava activity looks deceiving as the elapsed time was a few minutes longer. Is this acceptable or should I delete the activity?

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[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 20 hours ago

Personally, if I'm doing intervals, I don't stop my watch in between. Mostly this is so my Garmin-recorded PB doesn't automatically update. I don't want it telling me I beat my 5k PB because I did 12×400 m in 90 sec, ignoring the 60 sec rest between each.

But it's also so the overall activity pace doesn't look deceptively fast to friends on Strava. And it's also so that I can use the "lap time" of my rest "lap" (I hit the lap button manually, when doing intervals, rather than using the automatic 1 km laps) to time how long my rest should be.

Delete the activity already recorded? No, I wouldn't. If you've broken any PBs, I'd go in and manually revert those, and maybe add a description to the activity explaining that it was intervals.

I do pause my watch, without shame, on my longer runs, when I'm stopping for water, or to cross the road at lights.

[-] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

If it is cheating, you're only cheating yourself

[-] SkaraBrae@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

It doesn't matter to me. If it bothers you, then delete it. The only person that really cares about your stats is you, so do whatever keeps your conscience clear.

[-] ada 3 points 2 days ago

As long as you're not trying for leaderboards, the only thing that matters is what it means for your own training

[-] dandelion 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

In many areas of my life I used to be very strict with these kinds of problems, but I have learned recently that it is a lot of expended worry and energy about what ultimately is an insignificant difference.

I try to tolerate minor margins of error like this now, because I think it makes me happier and more relaxed, and that is ultimately more important to me than having a slightly more accurate record.

[-] fivemmvegemite@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

you could use it as motivation. i got a similar 10k pb not long after i brgan running by pausing, resting and running again. realised a few years later it was probably not the most accurate and went out and smashed it.

[-] PlantJam@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Personally I wouldn't have paused the activity. Instead I would have used laps to mark the start and end of each interval.

Since you said it's close to your pb and not an actual new pb, I wouldn't bother deleting it. I just wouldn't want a 5k pb to be from anything other than actually running 5k straight.

this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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