Tag Archives: running

gadgets, running, tech

Strava sues Garmin for patent infringement, but says it is really about API access

Strava, a social network for runners, cyclists and other sports, has filed a lawsuit against Garmin, makers of sports watches and other devices, alleging that Garmin has infringed Strava patents on heatmaps and segments. However, Strava’s Chief Product Officer Matt Salazar said that the lawsuit is an attempt to put pressure on Garmin over new API brand guidelines which Strava does not wish to implement.

The lawsuit, filed on Sept 30th in the US District Court in Colarado, claims that Garmin infringes two US patents granted to Strava, 9297651 and 9778053. The first relates to heatmaps, which show the popularity of routes. The second relates to segments, usually partial routes defined by users, on which athletes can compare their own performance with past attempts and compete with others. Strava is asking that Garmin be prohibited from using allegedly infringing features in its products. Luis Mendoza has written in more detail about the legal aspect here.

Yesterday though, Salazar said on Reddit that the legal action relates to Garmin’s new API developer guidelines, published on July 1st. Strava has not complied and apparently now has a deadline of November 1st, following which Strava’s access to the Garmin API may be cut off.

The point of contention is Garmin’s logo requirement, which according to Salazar “required the Garmin logo to be present on every single activity post, screen, graph, image, sharing card etc.”

Salazar said that “we consider this blatant advertising. These new guidelines actively degrade your user experience on Strava (and the other 150M+ athletes). We already provide attribution for every data partner.”

He added that “we consider this to be your data … we believe you should be able to freely transfer or upload that data without requiring logos to be present.”

The background is that most Garmin users (who use Strava) set an integration with Strava such that each activity is automatically uploaded.

Reddit users were not much impressed with Salazar’s comments, considering that Strava introduced restrictions on how third parties access its own API last November, and that the terms of use for Strava grant the company full rights to the data “without compensation to you,” making Salazar’s claim that it is regarded as belonging to the user doubtful.

Users do not seem to mind the logo. “Runna already includes the Garmin logo on activities when used. It acknowledges the device and IMO it’s nice to know which device is used if you’re using multiple. It’s not offensive and doesn’t degrade the user experience at all,” said one.

Salazar does not actually explain why Strava is complaining about one thing but taking legal action about another; one presumes that the idea is for Garmin to negotiate for an end to the lawsuit in return for removing the logo requirement but these things create a lot of bad feeling and it may not work out as intended.

Strava is the company with more to lose. Garmin has an alternative to Strava called Garmin Connect, which has social media features, but most people use Strava as it is well established and has a better user interface. The existence of Garmin Connect though means that users have an exit route from Strava, but not so easily from Garmin unless they replace their expensive watch.

Garmin is also a much bigger company. Revenue of $6.3 billion in the 2024 financial year and operating income of over $1.5 billion, whereas Strava “expects to hit $500M in annual revenue soon” according to a recent report. Profitability is not known but Strava is planning to go public early next year.

From the point of view of runners like myself, there is no possible benefit from the lawsuit (other than the possibility of fewer small logos) and plenty of possible inconvenience if Garmin does block its API from Strava.

My own view of Strava has until now been favourable especially because it does not show advertising (other than for itself) to free users, apparently because it values the user experience, which in this case I think most would support. The company perhaps gives too good an experience for free, from a business point of view, and the added value of a subscription is not that great, especially as the “athlete intelligence” via AI is poor, doing little more than stating the obvious as far as I can tell.

Incidentally, I am one of the few Strava and Garmin users who does not use the integration, mainly because I do not want every single activity on the platform. One can instead download the .fit file from Garmin Connect and upload it manually to Strava. The annoyance here is that the Garmin Connect mobile app does not include the download feature, and the Strava mobile app does not include the upload feature. Both are possible though via the web browser, so that is what I use.

book reviews, books, running

Book review: Run like a Pro (Even if you’re slow) by Matt Fitzgerald and Ben Rosario

I found this book a refreshingly different (to me) take on how best to train in order to improve your running performance. Ben Rosario is an olympic coach, and Matt Fitzgerald a runner and author. The book comes after Fitzgerald spent three months training with the athletes Rosario was coaching at his club, Hoka NAZ Elite. Although not himself an elite athlete, Fitzgerald wanted to train as if he were and to learn from the experience.

There is an account of the experience itself in another book; this one is a training guide informed by what happened. I picked it up because I was interested in the theory behind what is sometimes called 80/20 running – the idea that 80% of runs should be low intensity – which Fitzgerald advocated in his 2015 book of that title.

This 2022 book continues to advocate 80/20 running though there is a lot more here than that. The central thought is that many recreational runners (meaning most of us) train badly and could improve by learning from how elite runners train. Although we are slower and have less time available, the same principles apply to elite and non-elite runners alike, the authors argue, so why not learn from the pros?

Run Like a Pro consists of 14 chapters, the last five of which are training plans and explanations. Each chapter is by Fitzgerald, but followed by a few pages of “Coach’s tip” by Rosario, at least that is how I think the dual authorship works. The tips are good, by the way, and its’s good to have these two distinct voices.

Chapter 4 particularly interested me, as this is where the 80/20 principle is explained. I was surprised by how precise it is. The authors describe the “first ventilatory threshold,” or VT, defined as “the lower of two distinct exercise intensities at which the rate of oxygen consumption abruptly spikes.” There are various ways to calculate this, such as a 4 out of 10 perceived effort, but an example given helps us to get a feel for it. Someone who runs a 45 minute 10K, the authors say, which is 7:15/mile or 4:30/km, would have a VT of 9:49/mile or 6:06/km. According to the book, 80% of such a person’s running should be at or below the VT, but typically is not, “and that’s a problem.”

Various pieces of research are quoted, such as a study of 30 club runners in which half stuck to 80/20, and half did a more common pattern of moderate intensity training. Both groups improved their 10K time, but the 80/20 group improved by 5% and the other by 3.5%. A small study, but the book claims that “other research has yielded similar results.”

Food for thought; but there is plenty more here even if you are unsure about 80/20. There are chapters on pacing, managing mileage, balancing intensities, running form, nutrition, and the mental aspect of running.

One thing that made an impression on me is in the pacing chapter, where the authors advocate a “fastest last mile rule.” The idea is that slowing down towards the end of a long run is a bad habit; in fact, “any running you do after you’ve started slowing down involuntarily offers no benefit,” they say. “Beyond that point you are no longer training, you are punishing yourself.”

A further consequence of running to exhaustion is that injury risk increases.

Is there really no benefit to running after fatigue has made you slow down? The question provoked a lively discussion on Reddit’s Advanced Running forum.

The chapter on running form includes a series of exercises, some of which involve weights or a stability ball. I intend to try some of these as I am fully convinced of the value of strength training for runners.

The training plans cover distances from 5K to ultramarathon, each with 3 levels, for beginner, intermediate and advanced. You have to do a bit of work to translate the plans into workouts. 11 levels of intensity are defined, from easy to very high intensity. Then I counted 18 different types of runs, along with drills, stride and plyometric workouts, and a general reference to cross-training. Following a plan therefore means figuring out exactly what is required, based on descriptions like “Run 15:00 easy, drills and strides 5 x (4:00 @CV/2:00 easy), 15:00 easy.”

This is a great book for runners, well-written and easy to ready, and I think anyone determined to train better will get something useful from it.

Run like a Pro (Even if you’re slow) by Matt Fitzgerald and Ben Rosario

running

Winchester Half Marathon: hilly, late starting, got my target time

3 Comments

The Winchester Half is personally significant for me; it was the first half marathon I registered and trained for and in some ways got me started as a long-distance runner. This was my third time; in 2023 I was pleased to be just sub 2 hours, last year I was excited to beat 1:45 – my time was 1:40:48 and I commented on Reddit that I might have been able to catch the 1:40 pacers but only with “a titanic effort.”

Fast forward 12 months and I think I am a bit faster; this time I want to be sub-1:40.

The course is beautiful and starts and finishes in the historic city of Winchester, adorned with a cathedral that is in parts over 900 years old. It is also hilly; the first 3K or so is all uphill, following which it is undulating but includes another steep climb in the village of Oliver’s Battery, the segment for which on Strava is named “Drained battery.”

I arrived at the race village around 1 hour before the 9:00am start time; there were people around but it was strangely quiet. There had been an incident on the motorway, which was therefore closed, and the race was delayed by at least 30 minutes, in part because of delayed runners but also because key traffic marshals were stuck in the traffic and without their presence the race could not go ahead. There were even whispers that the race might be cancelled; road closures are difficult to manage at the best of times, everything has to be pre-approved by the authorities and if the race missed its time window it might have to be abandoned.

The weather was perfect, everything was set up, and runners milled around feeling a bit glum. It is odd to prepare oneself for a race, have an early breakfast and warm-up run, and then … nothing. I began to feel hungry; the plan was to do the race and have a second breakfast afterwards, but I did not want to eat again before running.

After 45 minutes or so there was some good news. The race would go ahead, the start time would be sometime after 10:00am. I had a chat with the two 1:40 pacers; they said they would try to keep an even pace despite the hills. I would therefore fall behind initially but hoped to catch up and overtake them later.

Nutrition? I tend to take a half marathon in my stride as far as possible. Early breakfast. One gel before the start and then nothing, I did not stop at the water stations.

The race

At 10:15 the race began. I started just behind the 1:40 pacers and as predicted, they disappeared ahead as I laboured up the first hills. The 1:45 pacers passed me as well. Nevertheless I felt pretty good; one redeeming feature of this course is that the starting climb is the worst and there are some nice steady downhills to come. We reached the junction with Kilham Lane on the left and the famous Clarendon Way on the right, the road levels out, and I began to speed up. You need to average 7:38/mile pace for sub-1:40; mile 3 I did in 7:16, mile 4 in 7:00 and mile 5 in 6:40 (yes it is downhill!).

I thanked the 1:40 pacers as I passed them and they told me that all I needed to do was to stay in front. Well I knew that; but “drained battery” was still to come.

You reach a charming village called Hursley with is the far point of the race. Next comes a relatively gentle climb up a narrow country lane, back to Oliver’s Battery which is on the outskirts of Winchester. Grind up the last major hill, and then the last 4.5 miles are easy. My time on the dreaded segment was 5:22, beating last year’s 5:39, and I was pretty sure then that I would achieve sub-1:40.

The last 4 miles have a few twists. There is an underpass where you actually have to go down steps; I tend to be cautious here for fear of falling over! Then there is a steepish descent, too steep for an ideal pace, followed by a flattish three miles or so to the finish. I tried to keep up the pace, foolishly hoping that I might win my age category. Back into the city centre, under the historic Kingsgate arch, around a few corners, then the sprint to the finish, rudely overtaken in the last stretch by a runner perhaps half my age!

Post-race

1:37:17 and an improvement of over 3 minutes from last year, but also a bit of an anti-climax. I realised that the not-very-generous race organisers had 10 year age categories so I had no chance of winning (I was 4th out of 24), and also discovered that I had apparently failed to order a t-shirt.

On the plus side, Starbucks were offering a free coffee to all finishers and I wandered along to collect my tall Americano which turned out to be more tasty than expected, possibly improved by post-race thirst. It was now lunchtime and too late for a second breakfast so I wandered home instead, thanking the excellent marshals en route; a tough day for them since they had been out longer than expected and remained super cheerful and encouraging.

Postscript: there are two Strava segments for the Oliver’s Battery stretch, one is longer and is called Low battery and the other just covers from the start of the steep hill to the underpass and is called Drained battery. I like Drained battery better but it may be hidden by default in a Strava post, just one of those Strava mysteries.

running

Adidas Manchester Marathon 2025: second marathon and sub 3:30 achieved

This was my second marathon. The first was in October last year and went super well; I targeted 3:45, used the Pfitzinger/Douglas (Pfitz) 18/55 schedule (in the book Advanced Marathoning) for training, and while it was fatiguing I finished in 3:37 and (as I now know) in relatively good shape.

This time around I wanted to beat 3:30 and repeated Pfitz 18/55 but with faster pace. Training went well overall, no major injuries, and I mostly hit the workout paces though I find what he calls the V̇O2 Max sessions difficult to achieve; these are the most demanding sessions intended to improve one’s maximum rate of oxygen consumption during running.

Before the race

Got to Manchester Saturday afternoon, didn’t get to run at all though Pfitz schedules a 4 mile recovery run saying it is mainly there to keep you from fretting. Difficult to carb load when travelling but I did my best with a big bowl of cereal for breakfast followed by a bacon roll later, packed lunch with chunky cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit, then I consumed a mid-afternoon Ploughmans with a fruit smoothie and in the evening, a delicious goats cheese flatbread. I also drank loads of water, not sure exactly how much but several pints during the day. I think this did help as I was well hydrated before the race.

Set the alarm for 5:30am not that I needed to; didn’t sleep brilliantly. Cup of tea and sourdough roll early (Pfitz suggests eating 3-4 hours before running), more water. Then I headed for the start on the first tram from my hotel at about 6:25; no reason to be so early except that I didn’t have anything else to do! Always enjoy chatting with other runners and their supporters.

My first marathon had fewer than 1000 runners, this one claimed 36,000 though I am sure the actual number was a bit less. All a bit different though. Arrived Old Trafford tram stop, 10 minute walk to the start area. Dropped my bag at around 8:00am and was a little cold in my club vest, did some half-hearted short warm-up runs and took advantage of the portaloos. This was a success actually, the benefit of the early start meant that I had plenty of time to get ready as it were and had zero GI issues during the race.

I was in bronze wave which was the fifth to start after Elite, White, Red and Blue. Each wave had I gather up to 1800 runners which is biggish and I found myself towards the back of the wave for some reason. This didn’t matter as such, but the 3:30 pacers were towards the front and it wasn’t possible therefore to start with them. More on this later.

The Race

Off we go and I am trying to go no faster then a 7:45 pace (all my figures are in miles) and no slower than 8:00. Some congestion but it went fairly well and the miles started ticking by. Took an energy gel at the start and another 4 miles in. Skipped the first water station, grabbed a bottle at the second, but found drinking quite hard while running, I have learned that I can’t take a big gulp as it can easily turn into a coughing fit. Did my best; at least with the bottles you can carry them for a bit and take occasional sips.

After maybe 6 miles (can’t remember exactly), I catch up with a 3:30 pacer (there were two) and had a chat. Now, I knew from my Garmin that I was on target for sub-3:30 but of course having started at the back of the wave the pacers were a little in front. It was tricky though; the guy said he was currently running ahead of pace because he had a bathroom break and was now catching up with the other pacer. So I didn’t want to keep pace with him as it would be too fast. Off he went into the distance.

At the half-way point I finally caught up with the other 3:30 pacer. This was odd because he was now quite a way behind first guy. I asked about this and he said his fellow pacer was more than a minute ahead of time. He also said he was a bit ahead, and his plan was to to slow down at 26 miles and then wave people past to get their time. I concluded that my best strategy was to try and stay ahead of him.

I was more fatigued at this point than I was when half-way in October but there were two good reasons for that. One was that my pace was about 7:54/mile versus 8:16 or so in October. The other was the heat; we were running in up to 20 degrees Celsius and bright sunshine whereas October was overcast with occasional light rain and much cooler (I don’t know the exact temperature).

Another thought: for this event I trained in the cool of the winter and then ran in relatively warm conditions; where last time I trained in the heat of the summer and then ran in relatively cool conditions – an easier transition!

Anyway I was keen to get to 20 miles as Pfitz calls 13-20 the “no-mans land of the marathon” when you can easily lose pace. Kept the pace fairly well and was helped by the pacer because if he appeared beside me I knew I had to run faster!

Got to 20 miles and by this time I was seriously fatigued. I took my first carb-packed SIS beta fuel at this point and told myself it would help me to keep going.

The last 6 miles were tough. I can’t say I hit the wall; I lost a little pace but it wasn’t terrible – my slowest mile according to Garmin was mile 24 at 8:04 pace. Heat was getting to me, really needed water at the last drink station. It was difficult to drink enough, but poured the rest over my head, great idea and I should have done this before.

It is hard to describe the mental battle that was taking place in those last miles. I told myself to just keep running even though I no longer had the energy for it. I told myself to run fast so that the ordeal would be over quicker. I thought of my family and friends tracking me and did not want to disappoint them. And again, if the 3:30 pacer appeared, I did my best to run faster (and in the end, I did finish ahead of him, but a few seconds behind the other 3:30 pacer).

The crowd at Manchester was fantastic and it was great to hear all the shouts of encouragement including my name from time to time (name were shown on the bibs). I also passed plenty of runners walking and told myself that I would not do that. Just one parkrun to go. Just two miles to go. Then there is a sign that says “welcome to the finish straight,” great news but I did not have it in me to up the pace. Kept running, tried to smile for the camera, crossed the line, and then there was a weird moment: is it really OK to slow down now?

I was pretty sure that I had beaten 3:30 but did not get the exact time until later (not carrying a phone). 3:27:46, a personal best by over 9 minutes and a good for age for London next year I hope, with over 24 minutes below the required time (V65 M).

After the ordeal

Finishing a marathon can be anti-climactic. I felt good about my time but also very fatigued, and the first thing you do after finishing at a big event like this is quite a lot of walking, since the organisers have to keep the finish area clear. So picked up a bottle of water (good thinking!), walked to medal area, picked up tasty non-alcoholic tin of beer (chilled! Nice), walked to picked up bag, quite a long way with several lorries for each start wave, then walked to T-shirt area, then you come out of the finish area and eventually to a sign that says Piccadilly Station 14 mins walk, my hotel was near there so I just plodded on, eventually sitting down to a lovely latish lunch there with a cold beer and some fellow finishers.

I can’t really fault the organization, the start was smooth and on time, the facilities were good, the medal is nice, all very professional, but there is inevitably a lot of standing around at the start and walking at the end.

The pacers worked hard but were not ideal for me. I would prefer that they ran closer together and with even splits, though they did finish pretty much on the button.

While I was happy with my time it was actually slower than the 3:19 VDOT predicted from my best half in February; I think this shows the impact of the heat as my effort was as great or greater.

Despite piling on the suncream I caught the sun in a few spots, my advice if you are running this summer is don’t forget the back of your legs and all round your arms as that is where I went wrong. Wore a cap which I do think helped.

Finally, kudos to the Pfitz plan and book which got me through again without any calamities, such a great resource.