Strava "art"
I recently did some strava art and I wanted to write about it.
TLDR:#
- I’ve been meaning to run consistently for a while.
- I want to improve my resting HR - Currently it’s hovering between 57 to 63 and I want to get it under 50. Ideal HR would be 40-45.
- I don’t do enough cardio in general.
- My usual running route around Wingra lake got too boring.
- And now to the biggest reason. I did this to show one person how much they mean to me and that I’m willing to go lengths for them.
The final result:
If you weren’t able to make out what the words were after a few tries, click below:
Click to reveal the quote
Fashion nugget is dope. My fav line is I got all my life to live, I got all my love to give.
Slightly long story#
Running was never my thing and I still don’t think it is. My first 5k was just two and a half years ago.
Whenever I run, more often than not, I end up with some or the other pain in my lower body. Shin pain, feet pain, ankle pain, calf pain, you name it. Ugh it’s just running. Seems simple enough but I don’t know why my legs don’t cooperate. I don’t know how much of it is due to my almost flat feet.
The good thing is I’m able to recover from these pains fairly quickly. I can go running once a week, which isn’t too bad. And that is what I did for few weeks last fall here in Madison. I mostly ran in the same route, around Wingra lake. The initial few runs in that route were pretty exciting. It was pretty scenic and the trees had nice fall colors. But as the weeks progressed and the cold started setting in, the route was starting to get duller and it wasn’t as exciting anymore. And I lost interest running in the winter.
It was during my Nationals trip in Pittsburgh last month when I ran again. And that was after a four month break. And once I came back to Madison, I ran again with the gymnastics folks. This time it was a proper run and we did a 5k. And this started the momentum and I began running more regularly. I have to thank Tessa for organizing all those runs. Without that, I probably wouldn’t have been able to run so much in the past few weeks.
I tried out a couple different routes and then I remembered that I’d watched some dude doing strava art and I was honestly blown away. I thought maybe I could do something like that to keep things interesting.
So one night, when I was getting ready to sleep and I was lying on my bed thinking about stuff, it hit me. I could do some quotes. And I knew just the quote I wanted to do. I was listening to a lot of CAKE at the time(I still am) and one of their lines had really stuck with me. I don’t relate to the song at all, but that line was just too relatable. The quote was now finalized. I thought it was a good idea because I knew it would take multiple days to finish it, which means I have something to look forward to everyday and I get to run regularly.
Coming up with the idea was one thing and actually doing it was another. I had a few concerns:
- I was a bit skeptical if the words would be readable. I tried out the first word and it turned out good, at least for me. It looked just the way I’d imagined. The first letter can be confused for an ‘E’ but when you read the whole thing, you’d figure out it was an F, so I thought it was fine.
- Whether my leg would permit me to run so much. I took it slow. I tried to run in Z2. Tried to keep it in a very comfortable pace and it helped with the leg pain and let me run for longer. There were minor pains in the feet now and then but warming up, stretching well and resting adequately helped with the recovery.
It was finals week when I started these runs. I somehow managed to fit in a run or two everyday. It was a bit time consuming if I scheduled multiple words on the same day because I had to walk back to the starting point which would be like a mile or two away. I could’ve done done the next word backwards, which I did for a couple runs but I preferred walking back instead because that let me rest for a few min.
After more than a week of doing these runs, I was pleased with the end result ngl. When I look at the gif/video, it seems obvious to me but I’m not sure how legible it is for everyone else. I hope it’s at least readable after a couple tries.
It was a fun experience and my strava frens made it more exciting. Thanks to those who kept up with it. And I’m sorry for spamming your TL.
I made an alternate version of the video too. It is in sync with the lyrics of the song.
PS: I’m aware that the song is a cover of Gloria Gaynor and it’s technically not CAKE’s lyrics but it’s okay. The intent was to share the message and to also say that CAKE’s music is dope.