Hi ​@Userisjamie, to be honest - with an AW, it's much easier to use the native Apple workout app (the icon with yellow-ish running man). Compared to Strava, it has a gazillion of options for what metrics to display during the run (you can set up multiple custom screens and also swipe through them during the run), but also for all kinds of notifications (pace/HR/cadence/power range), custom workouts (e.g. warm up, x intervals with defined pace / recovery intervals for defined time, cool down… without the need to mark laps manually, all’s automated and you’re always notified), etc. 

That’s how I use my AW too - recording with the Apple app and then syncing to Strava from Health. 

Ye that’s cool. However with “Workouts” it won’t provide GPS or the map functionality of runs? Also means segments won’t be recorded. Kinda defeats the purpose of using Strava entirely in that sense? Especially paying for it. I see people do this with Coros when doing track nights … but it kinda ruins the interactive experience. 

Segments will be recorded! 🙂 When using the Outdoor Run option in the AW Workout app, it includes the gps recording, and when synced to Strava, it will match with segments that you went through. Yes it's lacking the live segments (real time) but all the leaderboards, local legends and efforts comparison are all there. 

But of course if the live segments feature is important for you (i.e. wanna see them already during the activity), then yes it makes sense that you prefer recording via the Strava app.

Just used it for 7 mile run - synced across fine, eventually. Thanks for recommendation, mate! I’ll have to find a way to turn up volume on mile announcements as it’s not as loud as strava. Live segments only useful for something like 1 mile plus tbh, hard to look at watch while sprinting. Or useful for cycling, perhaps! 

About the volume, in general the Digital Crown is the quickest way. Also, in watch os 26 there's a new feature “smart volume adjustment”, you can try turning it off to see if it helps (Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Automatic Volume Adjustments).