What Strava Knows About Your Routine, Your Motivation, and Your Body — And How to Download It

You probably think of Strava as a fitness app.

A place to track runs, bike rides, swims, hikes, or gym sessions. A way to compete with friends. A digital trophy case for your workouts.

But Strava is much more than a sports tracker.

It is one of the most precise records of your daily rhythm, motivation, discipline, and relationship with your body.

Unlike Google Maps, which tracks where you were, or Uber, which tracks how you got there, Strava tracks how you chose to move.

Your Strava data quietly captures:

• Your routines

• Your energy levels

• Your consistency

• Your mental state through exercise

• Your commute patterns

• Your fitness evolution

• Your competitive tendencies

• Your relationship with effort and rest

If Apple Health is your biological record, Strava is your intentional movement record.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• How to download your Strava data

• What kind of information is inside

• How to analyze it for personal insight

• And how your workouts become a biography of your disciplined self

This isn’t about performance — it’s about self-understanding through movement.

What is Strava’s data archive?

Strava allows you to download a copy of your personal data through its Privacy → Download or Delete Your Account section.

Your archive typically includes:

• Every activity you ever recorded

• GPS routes

• Dates and times

• Distance

• Elevation

• Speed

• Heart rate (if tracked)

• Power data (for cyclists, if available)

• Devices used

• Clubs you joined

• Followers and following

• Comments and kudos

Over years, this becomes a movement autobiography.

It shows not just where you went — but how you lived in motion.

How to extract your Strava data — step by step

Step 1 — Open Strava in a browser

This works best on desktop or mobile browser.

Go to:

👉 Settings → Privacy & Controls

Step 2 — Find “Download or Delete Your Account”

Scroll down until you see:

👉 Download or Delete Your Account

Click it.

Step 3 — Request your data

You’ll see an option to:

👉 Request your archive

Strava will begin preparing your data.

Step 4 — Wait and download

Strava typically takes a few minutes to a few hours to prepare your file.

You’ll receive an email with a download link.

Inside, you’ll find structured files (mostly CSV/GPX/JSON).

This is where the story begins.

What kind of data is inside?

Here are the most revealing parts of your Strava export.

1) Your complete activity history

This is the core dataset.

You’ll see:

• Every run, ride, walk, swim, or workout

• Date and time

• Distance

• Duration

• Elevation

• Route

• Speed or pace

Over time, this becomes a map of your physical life.

You can literally see:

• When you started exercising

• When you became consistent

• When you burned out

• When you got injured

• When you moved cities

• When your routine changed

Your body tells your story through Strava.

2) Your routes — your lived geography

Strava stores detailed GPS routes for most activities.

Plotting these on a map reveals:

• Your favorite running loops

• Your bike routes

• Your commuting patterns

• Your exploration habits

Many people discover:

• They run or ride in the same small area repeatedly

• Their “active world” is much smaller than they imagined

• They rarely venture outside their comfort zone

Strava maps your comfort boundaries.

3) Time of day — your daily rhythm

Sort your activities by time.

Ask yourself:

• Do I mostly exercise in the morning?

• After work?

• Late at night?

You may notice patterns like:

• Morning runs when life feels stable

• Evening rides during stressful periods

• Sporadic activity during burnout

Your workout timing often mirrors your mental state.

4) Intensity — your relationship with effort

If you track heart rate or power, Strava shows:

• How hard you pushed

• How often you trained intensely

• How often you stayed in “easy” zones

This reveals:

• Whether you tend to overtrain

• Whether you avoid discomfort

• Whether you push yourself consistently

Your fitness data becomes a psychology test.

5) Social layer — kudos, clubs, and competition

Your archive may include:

• Who you follow

• Who follows you

• Clubs you joined

• Comments on your activities

This shows your social motivation:

• Do you work out for yourself?

• For recognition?

• For community?

• For competition?

Strava is both a personal diary and a social game.

Smart analysis steps — how to get insights from your Strava data

Here are four lenses to reflect on your archive.

1) The Consistency Lens — how disciplined you are

Look at activities by month or year.

Ask:

• When was I most consistent?

• When did I stop?

• What happened in my life then?

You’ll often see clear correlations like:

• More exercise during stable periods

• Less during stressful times

• A spike after moving cities or starting a new routine

Your body reacts to your life.

2) The Routine Lens — your daily structure

Analyze timestamps and routes together.

Ask:

• Did I build a stable habit?

• Or did I work out randomly?

• Did my routine improve over time?

Many people realize their discipline is much more situational than they thought.

3) The Progress Lens — how you evolved

Compare early activities to recent ones.

Ask:

• Did my speed improve?

• Did my distance increase?

• Did I become more confident?

You may see growth not just physically, but mentally.

Strava becomes a record of self-development.

4) The Motivation Lens — why you move

Reflect on why you exercised in different phases:

• Was it stress relief?

• Competition?

• Health?

• Social pressure?

• Joy?

Your data can reveal when movement was therapy vs performance.

What surprises people about Strava data

Common reactions include:

• “I didn’t realize how consistent I was in that year.”

• “I can see exactly when I burned out.”

• “My routes are way more repetitive than I thought.”

• “I exercise much more when I’m happy.”

Many people find Strava one of the most honest mirrors of their life.

Privacy and control — what you can do next

If you’re uncomfortable with what Strava stores, you can:

• Make activities private

• Hide your home location

• Limit who sees your routes

• Turn off heatmaps

• Remove old activities

• Control who can follow you

You don’t need to stop using Strava — just use it more consciously.

Coming next in the series

A very natural next step would be:

What Strava really knows about your daily routine — and what your workouts reveal about your life.

If WhatsApp is your emotional relationships, Strava is your disciplined body in motion.