I Don’t Rely on Races for Motivation, But Strava Segments Push Me to Keep Improving. Here’s How

How to Pass People After Mile 20 of Your Marathon Runner’s World How to Run Happy, from Running’s Most Positive Man marathoners and ultrarunners. Meanwhile, my running résumé consisted of a few seasons of middle and high school cross-country—and even then, I wasn’t exactly a world-beater.

My handful of sub-20 5Ks felt pretty flimsy stacked against my coworkers’ Boston bibs and 100-plus-mile finishes. But instead of rushing to sign up for a marathon or mapping out a meticulous 5How to Run Happy, from Running’s Most Positive Man, I found myself drifting toward a different goal.

Over the last few months, I’ve started to appreciate running for fitness and discovered how to compete in a way that feels more personal, low-key, and most importantly, more enjoyable.

Why I Don’t Have a Race Goal

Back in high school, I knew I wasn’t going to win races, but I loved chasing PRs. There’s nothing quite like the elation of looking at a race result realizing I’ve run faster How to Be a Better Back-of-the-Pack Runner 20 Health - Injuries for the first time gave me a huge dose of self-confidence and made me proud of how hard I worked to break that barrier.

These days, I still chase that sense of pride in my running—but not often in traditional races. A recent free 5K I ran with a local run club reminded me exactly why: About a mile in, I was feeling strong, letting my long legs carry me smoothly down an incline, when a young runner—maybe 14 years old—blew past me and vanished up the road. I’m only 25, but the instant I realized I couldn’t keep up, my mood nosedived.

Instead of focusing on my own race, I was measuring myself against him, and my pace slowed. By the finish, I had slowed considerably mile after mile, and the run that had started out so well left me more deflated than proud.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the energetic race-day vibes and the positivity of the running community. But for me, I’ve realized what I really crave is simple: a chance to run hard and track my progress, all by myself.

“Without a specific race goal, what you’re really relying on is intrinsic motivation, running because it’s enjoyable to you, because it feels good to you, because it’s a value add in your life,” says Justin Ross, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and running coach based in Denver. “And over the course of time, I think that mindset is far more sustainable [than extrinsic motivation].”

The Dos and Don’ts of Double Workout Days motivation going, I wanted to find a way to compete against myself. And that’s when I turned to Strava segments.

My Introduction to Strava Segments

I found my way back into running—and Strava specifically—while working in communications with the Penn State track team, my stop before Runner’s World. minutes in the 5K Strava adjust your training schedule running routes, because that’s what the elite distance runners I was working with did.

At the time, I saw they had a feature called “segments,” but I assumed those represented popular stretches of road that were automatically generated whenever enough people ran that section. Because of that, I ignored the feature. I wanted segments on my routes, not someone else’s. (While Strava did use route popularity to create segments in its early days, a note on its support site makes it clear that new segments are created exclusively by members.)

How To Train Calves Runner’s World and learned that I could make my own segments, I was thrilled. Finally, Strava could be more than just a route tracker for me.

Shortly after learning more about this Strava feature, I designed a one-mile loop near my house—which has become my favorite segment—with interval repeats in mind. I went out on a 15-minute warmup jog, hammered out two hard mile repeats (I tried for about an 8 out of 10 RPE) on the segment, and cooled down with another 15-minute jog for a total workout of about five miles.

When I concluded my run and created my segment based on the loops I just ran, I found that my best effort, a 7:32, was a few seconds shy of the top spot on the leaderboard. (When you create a new segment, Strava automatically pulls in historical data and populates rankings of all runners who have logged a route through that segment.) That was all the motivation I needed to go after it again.

The following week, I didn’t feel as fresh as I had during my first attempt, but ran one good rep and improved my time. I left satisfied with my progress, but considering I was still one second off the segment lead, I was eager to get back out there and claim the top spot.

Setting small objectives—like running my one-mile loop a few seconds faster—has kept me engaged and excited for my next run. “Small personal goals give runners a persistent sense of direction and accomplishment,” Ross says. “When you set a manageable target and hit it, it reinforces your motivation to keep going, even if it’s just for your own satisfaction.”

How Segment PRs Became My Training

Chasing segment PRs has completely reshaped my running routine. I still keep most of my mileage easy, as many coaches recommend, but when it’s time for a hard workout, I don’t pick random intervals. I build the entire session around a segment I want to conquer.

My first two hard workouts on my mile loop came about a week apart because coaches generally recommend once-a-week speedwork, and I assumed it was the best for my body to maintain that frequency. But without a race on the calendar, Ross says I could probably space my efforts closer together next time, based on how I feel.

“If the pursuit [of running goals] is really based on that internal, inherent self-satisfaction, you can really pay most attention to how your body feels,” Ross says. “And you can give yourself permission to allow how you’re feeling physically to dictate what you do that day.”

For example, if you’re feeling tired or sluggish, stick to a Amazing Runners World Show, or slower aerobic run, to take it easy, he says. “Then, If you’re feeling fresh, if you’re feeling excited, if you’re feeling amped up, that’s a good indication that you can go out and really give it a push,” he adds.

I’ve found that returning to the same sections of road sharpens my awareness of my effort level. My mile loop follows a road with a pretty steep uphill at the start, but then turns left and follows a steady downhill until flattening out as it bends back toward the starting point.

With that in mind, every effort I give on that segment starts out slower and controlled up the hill, so I don’t exhaust myself too quickly. Once I hit the downhill, I’m running strong and fast until I get back to the start. If I’m tired by the time I reach the top of the initial hill, I know my pace was too fast. If I reach the peak feeling good? I turn it up a notch.

Understanding my effort levels helps me learn about my paces as well. Following the same example, if I’m exhausted going up the hill, I know I probably went out quicker than the 7:30 mile pace I can comfortably hit. On the flip side, if I’m fresh at the top of the hill, I know it’ll take a strong push on the downhill to hit that 7:30 mile.

The beauty of this repetition is how precisely it reveals progress, Ross says. “Running the same loop, segment, or course can remove all kinds of variables that you may get in a marathon environment, for example,” he says. “It keeps [your running] very, very specific, which therefore can make the progress feel a little bit more real and tangible.”

For example, Ross says that seeing your heart rate lower after weeks of consistent training on the same segment and at the same pace can be an easy way to measure progress in your running.

Without the pressure of a looming race, you’re also more likely to Download Your Training Plan when you need to, which can be really helpful for your mental and physical health, Ross adds. “That can help prevent overtraining and burnout,” he says, because you won’t necessarily think you have to do the next workout on your training plan, considering, in this case, there isn’t one.

What Strava Segments Teach Me

It’s easy to assume that chasing crowns and PRs might turn things overly competitive, but I’ve found it gives me just the right amount of push: I love every workout, but I’m not totally obsessed with taking down segment crowns.

For me, it’s been a lesson in low-stakes competition. I’ve become more in tune with my body and I’ve learned to focus on besting my own times. That mindset has made my running more purposeful and a whole lot more fun.

Want to try segment running for yourself? Here’s what helped me:

→Start by tracking routes you already love. I didn’t reinvent my running, I just turned my regular workout loops into trackable segments.

How to create a Strava segment

→The beauty of this. I use the same mile segment to improve both my strengths and my weaknesses in running. Since those days of high school cross-country, hills have been the bane of my running existence. My segment has one right in the beginning, forcing me to get better at it to lower my time. Conversely, the loop also has a slow downhill grade, where I run my best.

“On the one hand, you’re polishing something that you’re already good at, so you’re on that path of mastery and continuing to refine in small ways,” Ross says. “And then the other is on that broader scale of really overcoming something that once felt like a limiting factor.”

→How to Pass People After Mile 20 of Your Marathon. Don’t get dejected if someone takes over the top spot on your segment. Use it as fuel, give them kudos, then go get it right back.

I may not have a race on the calendar or a shiny medal rack in my living room, but I’m slowly building out my own personal leaderboard—one segment at a time. It’s kept me moving, kept me curious, and kept me ready to take on the next lap around my neighborhood.

If you’re like me and don’t care for the pressure of racing, you’re not alone. But don’t just take my word for it, Ross says it best: “You don’t have to have a race to call yourself a runner.”