Add the Option to display Elapsed Time on activities and calculate metrics on elapsed time

[MattS_bsb]

This was suggested in August of last year, but I haven't seen any further discussion or movement.  Currently, the only way to show elapsed time on something like a run, is to mark it as a "race".  The timing data is already there in the analysis portion of the activity, so it's just a matter of giving the user the option to use that vice "moving time".

Link to the original idea:

https://communityhub.strava.com/t5/strava-features-chat/give-user-option-to-show-elapsed-time-not-ra...

[MotownMatt25]

What is the sense of having an auto pause option turned to off if it is going to calculate your "moving time" anyway?  So stupid.  Let the user decide if they want the app to use "Elapsed Time" or "Moving Time" without having to say it was a Race.  If I get caught at a light and have to wait before resuming my run then I want to count that time towards my training because it is the truth.

[nlabonte]

Really disappointing that Strava has not addressed this. This issue makes the entire platform nearly unusable for me.

[mike7856]

I cannot think of a single reason why moving time would ever be useful or meaningful, and it's kind of insane that the platform intentionally hides the actual data from its users.

[Mazz]

I have recently come to learn that Strava takes the GPS log and "calculates" it's own moving-time value.  This can be problematic because if you are running or biking on a trail with many street crossings you might stop your watch before you get to the intersection, slowly roll through the intersection and go a few feet before resuming your watch. 

In this scenario, one's distance increases 0, but their moving time, according to Strava, increases.  Do this a couple of times, and now you have essentially added an additional minute plus of time where you specifically chose not to capture this distance, but Strava decided to capture it as moving time.

The craziest part about this, is Strava actually does already calculate the actual distance, as seen by the "Correct distance" option Strava offers on the computer, which seems to add back some distance.  So please either also include the extra distance that was acquired while the watch was stopped (i.e. if you are going to add time for time the watch was stopped but the person was moving, also add the distance they covered), or give us the option to opt out.  I want to be able to compare future exercises bouts to when I was actually moving and not have time times be drastically changed based on my luck with street crossings.

Added bonus, if you opt out of Strava's calculations, you will probably save a lot of money in "compute" resources, if you have many users opting out.

tl;dr fix the bug where you only add time but not distance or let users opt out of your algo and have their log get uploaded directly.

[jackneus]

There have been many posts here talking about how Strava uses Moving Time and not Elapsed Time for runs / calculating splits.

Frequently on alpine runs or scrambles you have miles that are highly technical and can take 40+ minutes (sometimes more than 90!). Strava does some opaque calculations to determine moving time and spits out mile split data that is essentially useless (if I am scrambling a 1-mile technical face that takes 40 minutes, it might calculate a 12 minute mile and say it was a 6:30/ GAP -- at no point in that scramble did I put in a 6:30/ effort).

I know that you can designate something as "race" to use elapsed time, but since I post my runs I don't want to designate something that is not a race as a "race". Would it be possible to add a checkbox that allows users to say "use elapsed time as moving time"?

[JacoXL]

this feature would allow you to select between ride time and total time. the use case would be when you are doing a ride and have to stop at traffic lights or for a nature break. as this is currently adding to the total ride time it affects your Average speed or pace and other performance-related metrics. you might also have a scenario where you did a ride to a coffee shop and spent some time there, even though the average pace to and from was high, due to the Stop in between the Pace is once again affected. having the ability to select between total time and moving time would mitigate this and accurately represent your training affect and impact.

[pahanela]

Hi,

I suggest to add an open water swimming activity tracking with pace calculations based on the elapsed time instead of moving time that is used for swimming activity tracking now.

I swim in the open water on a weekly basis and track my activity using my smartphone that I put inside the buoy. However, I am not happy with pace calculations provided as it is based on the moving time metrics that usually shows wrong value. For example, just yesterday I swam the distance of 2431 meters (Distance)in the open water for the total time of 51:00 minutes (Elapsed Time). However, the app reports 16:30 minutes of Moving Time and average page (Avg Pace) resulting to 40s/100m that is absolutely inadequate number. See screenshot below for details. That's why I believe the underlying Strava algorithm for calculating the moving time is not working properly for this type of activity unlike running or cycling.

Moreover, I believe that moving time is not the valid metric for open water swimming as you never actually stop in the water while swimming because you have to keep moving to maintain your body floating.

That is why I suggest to create a separate activity for open water swimming like it is done in Google Fit, for example. The metrics calculations should be based on elapsed time. In this way I expect to get fair results for my open water swimming activities.

 

[Jan_Mantau]

The second last metric in your screenshot shows the elapsed pace. I think the wrong moving time is more a problem of the app you are recording with, because when I'm recording open water swims with my swim watch I see the moving time and elapsed time as the same in Strava, regardless of the usual long GPS gaps in it.

[pahanela]

Thank you @Jan_Mantau for noticing that. I was so focused on the problem that I missed the other pace metric value. Nevertheless, I would prefer to see the correct pace at the top of the activity report. I don't use any device or any other app for tracking, though. I track my swims directly with Strava. I would assume that your watch is doing some data preprocessing before exporting it to Strava.

[Jan_Mantau]

That explains it, the Strava app treats its own recordings different to that of other recording devices, it uses only the part with GPS reception for moving time instead of every recorded second. Your request is valid if you phrase it that way that Strava shouldn't disregard recorded time without GPS data for the moving time. But always using elapsed time would be wrong, there are many people including me that pause their recordings during swims (must not lead to floating necessarily, you can go out of the water or stand in shallow water at any time in between) and this time for manual pauses shouldn't be used in the calculations. 

[pahanela]

I reported this issue through Strava support earlier, but they said it is how they do it and if I want it differently I need to create an idea. So here I am. It doesn't really matter for me if they use elapsed time or moving time, as far as I see the adequate value for the pace at the top of the description. I just offered one solution to the problem. It can be solved differently, indeed. And developing your scenario, yes, I can go out of water when I stop the swim. Then I just crop it with already available feature. Standing in shallow water "in between" looks like quite a rare scenario that can be neglected in favor of far more common one. You enter the water when you start your routine and you exit the water when you finish it. And you get your average pace reported correctly. If I want to see the pace for a particular drill, I will go to the graph section then.

[KevinT3141]

I do a lot of maintenance work on my local MTB trails, and track these activities as hikes. Showing my 'moving time' is completely useless to me, as shuffling along with a brush trimmer rarely registers as movement. I try to use my Strava log to see how long past work took me as a future planning aid, and having to jump through extra hoops just to figure out how long I spent on a session is painful and extremely time consuming. Why not just display both times, so whether I want to see my moving time on rides or elapsed time on work sessions, I can just look at the number that means the most to me without having to tweak anything while recording or after the fact.

[MarkHemmings]

Strava completely disrespects ultra runners, who want to record breaks for long run, non-race training sessions. Strava forces us to lie about our run by labelling it a Race, or the opposite, showcase to the public a completely fabricated and useless Moving Time that is also a lie. 

[MotownMatt25]

I've noticed on the app of my phone I can see both the paces but I would much rather have the option or not have to save it as a race to see the true number.

[Conrad]

Yes please I too need that option.. I do some activities with constant effort while not moving a lot the time : paragliding training on the ground..

thx, please