Strava could also be the most well-liked health app on this planet, with 135 million customers and counting, 51 million logged actions per week, and 1 million communal golf equipment. However its new Athlete Intelligence exhibits Strava is not resting on its laurels, and it needs you to know that its AI is not “simply an LLM,” even in case you may assume that.
On Wednesday, I watched cheerful Strava workers rejoice the opening of their new San Francisco HQ after a short speech from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. He known as Strava the “tip of the spear” to persuade those who “San Francisco is open for enterprise” and “the best metropolis on this planet.”
Strava’s multi-floor workplace focuses extra on celebrating the world of health if something. I toured the workplace with CEO Mike Martin and Chief of Employees Shelby Rhodes, who confirmed me assembly rooms named after internationally beloved segments like Central Park or Alpe d’Huez. I additionally noticed a reside Strava Picture Map that highlights pictures that their AI labels as “lovely” from all over the world, in addition to workers’ bibs from their favourite races.
However my favourite exhibit centered on SF: a reside, chronological map of the town that confirmed the reside flyover progress of native Strava customers’ exercise that day. It is an unbelievable impact, and I advised the Strava execs that they need to severely contemplate upgrading its weekly warmth maps to let customers see the day past’s exercise, at the very least within the large cities. They have no plans for it, however hopefully, I planted the seed for it to occur.
Add within the library of working books and wall artwork displaying individuals’s GPS-made artwork, and it was nerd heaven for a runner like me. However as a lot as I loved the tour, my predominant goal was to sit down down with CPO Matt Salazar and CTO Rob Terrell to dive into Athlete Intelligence — and work out the place Strava goes subsequent.
Unsurprisingly, they could not say an excessive amount of that is new about their “future roadmap,” however I nonetheless acquired a way of the place Strava Athlete Intelligence might go subsequent.
Athlete Intelligence has room to develop
Athlete Intelligence simply left beta, and Strava claims “80+% of customers say that Athlete Intelligence may be very useful” primarily based on in-app suggestions. I actually have seen a particular enchancment within the accuracy of the information, however I requested Salazar and Terrell what their imaginative and prescient of Athlete Intelligence is and the way it advantages customers.
Terrell defined that “it was essential to me that Strava do one thing that was far more important” than the “low-effort” LLMs on the market that spit out obscure solutions and might solely give generalized recommendation from Google.
Even when “from the skin, it seems to be prefer it’s simply an LLM,” their aim was to “actually synthesize the granular information that we’ve got concerning the customers’ exercise and do deeper evaluation with machine studying to grasp the context of that information.”
Salazar, in flip, famous that “not all individuals are on the identical expertise degree to interpret coronary heart price zones or their tempo.” Their AI makes this information “a lot easier and simpler to grasp” for novices who may not perceive the influence of anaerobic exercise or who do not need to test again at outdated actions to see how their tempo has modified.
Strava’s AI primarily focuses on runs, hikes, walks, and biking. I requested about their plans to increase to different actions, and Salazar defined that whilst they “be sure it covers all the pieces,” finally, they need to guarantee first that “once we put out one thing, it is a ample high quality,” and that different sports activities may want extra inside testing earlier than it is “absolutely baked.”
I then famous that Athlete Intelligence may be very responsive slightly than proactive: It tells you the way you probably did after the actual fact however would not essentially suggest a coaching plan or goal tempo for future runs as you get on Garmin watches. Will that change?
Salazar stated that they are not particularly in search of “the following AI factor we are able to do,” however slightly “how will we assist customers obtain their targets?” Up till now, that is been via incentives like problem badges, month-to-month aim targets, and kudos from mates. However AI is one “specific software that we’re taking a look at” that might come into play subsequent.
Terrell agreed that Strava “traditionally has been a backward-looking product” that largely leaves planning in customers’ arms and that whereas they’re “not saying any merchandise” on this entrance presently, they’re “thinking about…being forward-looking.”
Even with none specifics, a extra proactive type of Athlete Intelligence would make it extra helpful for novices and critical athletes, so contemplate me hopeful that this evolution comes subsequent.
Strava is aware of you are mad about race distances
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Probably the most passionate response I acquired from Terrell, Salazar, and even the CEO was after I jokingly talked about the time I did not get credit score for a half-marathon PR as a result of my watch did not measure the total 13.1 miles. Apparently, plenty of customers need Strava to “repair” this and are not in any respect amused about it.
I incessantly check the GPS accuracy of smartwatches and know the way fallible they are often. However loads of Strava customers do not understand that — as Terrell put it — the app is “restricted by the accuracy of gadgets that customers are utilizing” and that they need to be “as correct as doable” slightly than “fudge” the information.
Strava itself stated in its Yr in Overview 2024 that 72% of Strava actions come from customers’ telephones, which are not essentially as optimized as smartwatches with regards to GPS accuracy.
Customers can trim actions in the event that they neglect to pause earlier than driving house, however letting customers add distance to a run is a slippery slope. Sure, typically GPS inaccuracies provide the improper information, however typically, it is the course itself that is quick. Strava’s staff needs to be “reality tellers…when of us are attempting to match themselves in opposition to one another, particularly at a professional degree,” Salazar defined.
“Once we first joined, Matt and I have been like, ‘Let’s simply repair it. That is simple!’ After which we dug into it, and it is like, oh yeah, there’s nothing—,” Terrell stated, with Salazar leaping in with, “there’s plenty of steps, yeah.”
“We perceive the consumer ache right here, and we’re in search of methods to unravel it, however there’s not a straightforward reply,” Terrell concluded.
Strava might enable you to ‘rejoice’ your race triumphs higher
I additionally requested if Strava would ever think about using its phase leaderboards to create official race leaderboards on Strava. They themselves stated that greater than half of runners at main marathons like NYC, Boston, and London logged their races on Strava final 12 months, so what if runners might see how they ranked amongst Strava customers and evaluate their race occasions in opposition to earlier years?
Salazar answered very fastidiously that they “cannot communicate in direction of future roadmap, however…all I can say is that that use case is essential for us, and it’s extremely a lot current in our minds. So I am fascinated about how we will help customers rejoice that second; we all know it is a second they need to rejoice.”
Whereas this is not precisely a affirmation, it does make me optimistic that Strava could be engaged on race leaderboards that make it simpler to attach with fellow racers you met. Labeling races and grouping occasions may make it simpler for Athlete Intelligence to price your effort in comparison with others in your age group and gender, which might be enlightening!
The place Strava goes subsequent
Simply in 2024, Strava added Athlete Intelligence, weekly and night time heatmaps, a darkish mode, and nearer integrations with Oura and Apple Health Plus. To this point this 12 months, they’ve improved leaderboard integrity, made it simpler to share your exercise flyovers to brag on social media, and simply this week added 3D FATMAP terrain information designed for winter sports activities athletes to see gradients, features, and even the close by hazard areas for avalanches.
Strava did not have every other future information to share but, apart from telling me about FATMAP the day earlier than its reveal. However I did get Strava’s execs to trace at “future stuff that we should not discuss,” of their phrases.
Once I requested if Athlete Intelligence — which presently appears to focus in your final 30 days of actions for relative effort — would ever have a look at older information or take into consideration targets like “coaching for a marathon,” Terrell circled again to his preliminary level:
“We’re not simply stuffing a immediate into an LLM; we’re constructing customized fashions that can permit us to do completely different ranges of fascinating evaluation. And what we are able to feed into the LLM will likely be far more particular to the customers, form of their lifelong health journey. So the LLM goes to have the ability to communicate to a much wider array of features of your energetic life.”
Salazar jumped in to agree that they are at all times asking “how can we develop extra sophistication in what insights we can provide the customers,” and that Athlete Intelligence “isn’t completed by any means.” They’re going to proceed to develop and smarten up the function, making it extra helpful for a wider vary of athletes.
It will be fascinating to see how Strava’s AI efforts evaluate in opposition to a hypothetical Gemini Coach in Fitbit or the Samsung Well being Coach coming to Put on OS 6. In the meanwhile, Strava has a head begin on Android watches and would not intend to decelerate.