Elapsed Pace on Strava: Understanding, Importance, and Practical Applications

What is elapsed pace on Strava?

Elapsed pace on Strava represents your average speed over the entire duration of an activity, from the moment you start recording to the moment you stop, including any pauses, breaks, or stops you make along the way.

Understanding Pace Metrics in Fitness Tracking

In the realm of endurance sports and fitness tracking, "pace" is a fundamental metric that quantifies your speed, typically expressed as time per unit of distance (e.g., minutes per mile or minutes per kilometer). While seemingly straightforward, digital platforms like Strava offer nuanced interpretations of pace to provide a more comprehensive analysis of your performance. The two primary pace metrics you'll encounter on Strava are Moving Pace and Elapsed Pace. Understanding the distinction between these is crucial for accurate self-assessment and training optimization.

What Exactly is Elapsed Pace?

Elapsed pace is calculated by dividing the total distance covered by the total time that elapsed from the activity's start to its end. This total time includes all periods of movement and all periods of inactivity or pauses.

Formula: Elapsed Pace = Total Distance / (End Time - Start Time)

For example, if you go for a 5-mile run that takes you 45 minutes to complete, but you stop for 5 minutes to tie your shoe and grab a drink, your total "elapsed time" for the activity is 45 minutes. Your elapsed pace would then be calculated using that full 45 minutes.

In contrast, Moving Pace specifically excludes any time spent stationary. If Strava detects you are not moving, it pauses the moving time calculation. Using the example above, your "moving time" would be 40 minutes (45 minutes total - 5 minutes stopped). Your moving pace would be calculated using only that 40 minutes, resulting in a faster pace than your elapsed pace.

Strava provides both metrics because they serve different analytical purposes, offering a holistic view of your activity from different perspectives.

Why is Elapsed Pace Important?

While moving pace often highlights pure physiological output, elapsed pace offers a vital, real-world perspective on your activity. Its importance stems from several key aspects:

• True Representation of Activity Duration: Elapsed pace reflects the actual time commitment of your workout or race. This is particularly relevant for busy individuals tracking the total time invested in their training.
• Event Simulation and Comparison: In official races (e.g., marathons, triathlons, cycling events), the race clock starts at the gun and doesn't stop for you. Therefore, elapsed pace is the most accurate metric to compare your performance against official race results or to simulate race-day conditions in training.
• Assessing Overall Efficiency: Elapsed pace helps you identify how much time you're losing to stops, traffic lights, water breaks, or equipment adjustments. A significant difference between your moving and elapsed pace might indicate areas where you can improve efficiency.
• Holistic Training Load: For coaches and athletes assessing overall training load and recovery needs, the total elapsed time of a session provides a more complete picture of the time spent engaged in the activity, including transitions and rest periods.

When to Prioritize Elapsed Pace vs. Moving Pace

Understanding when to focus on each metric is key to effective training and performance analysis:

• Prioritize Elapsed Pace When:

  • Competing in official races: Your finish time is based on elapsed time. Training with an awareness of elapsed pace helps manage expectations and strategize for race day.
  • Analyzing long training sessions with planned or unplanned breaks: Such as long rides with coffee stops, trail runs with scenic overlooks, or multi-sport brick workouts.
  • Tracking overall time commitment: If your primary goal is to complete a certain distance within a specific total time, regardless of stops.
  • Evaluating overall efficiency on a consistent route: Monitoring how your total time on a specific segment or loop changes over time, including all interruptions.

• Prioritize Moving Pace When:

  • Focusing purely on physiological effort and efficiency: When you want to see your speed when actively performing the exercise, excluding rest.
  • Analyzing interval training or specific segments: Where stops are not part of the 'work' being measured.
  • Comparing personal bests on specific segments: Without the confounding variable of external interruptions.
  • Assessing your sustained aerobic capacity: How fast you can move when actively engaged.

How Strava Calculates Elapsed Pace

Strava's algorithm continuously records GPS data and timestamps throughout your activity. When you finish and upload your activity, it performs two primary calculations for pace:

1. Elapsed Time: This is simply the difference between the activity's start time and its end time.
2. Moving Time: Strava analyzes your GPS data for periods of movement. If your speed drops below a certain threshold (e.g., 0.5-1 mph), it considers you stopped and pauses the moving time clock.

From these two time metrics and the total recorded distance, both elapsed pace and moving pace are derived. It's important to note that GPS accuracy and signal loss can sometimes influence these calculations, especially in dense urban environments or heavily treed areas.

Practical Implications for Athletes

For fitness enthusiasts, personal trainers, and student kinesiologists, understanding elapsed pace has direct practical applications:

• Race Strategy: If you're training for a marathon, knowing your elapsed pace for long runs is more indicative of your potential race-day performance than just your moving pace, as it accounts for the inevitable aid station stops or brief walk breaks.
• Training Load Assessment: When prescribing or analyzing training, considering the elapsed time of a session provides a more accurate picture of the total time commitment and potential fatigue, which extends beyond just the active work period.
• Efficiency Analysis: A significant disparity between your moving and elapsed pace can be a valuable diagnostic tool. It might prompt you to analyze why you're stopping so often or for so long, potentially revealing areas for improvement in your training habits or route planning.
• Goal Setting: For time-based goals (e.g., "I want to complete this 10k route in under 60 minutes"), elapsed pace is the relevant metric to track.

Conclusion

Elapsed pace on Strava is far more than just a secondary metric; it's a crucial component of a comprehensive activity analysis. By encompassing the entire duration of your effort, including all stops and pauses, it provides a realistic, race-relevant, and holistic view of your performance and time commitment. While moving pace highlights your pure athletic efficiency, elapsed pace tells the story of your complete journey. A nuanced understanding and thoughtful application of both metrics empower athletes to train smarter, evaluate performance more accurately, and achieve their fitness goals with greater insight.