Strava Is Publicly Sharing Your Garmin Workout Data Without Telling You
Over the past week, Reddit users have been sounding the alarm about a major change in how Strava pulls workout data from your Garmin , Runna , or TrainingPeaks records. What once looked like generic activity titles like “Morning Run” now show detailed workout descriptions, pace notes, and even personal trainer comments that users never intended to post. And if you’ve been on Strava for a minute, you know it can be a pretty competitive place . It is social media, after all.
If you want to keep your Garmin and Strava synced, that’s great. But for those of us who prefer to keep our easy days or bad workouts private, here’s what you need to know about having your data available to all your Strava friends.
The Perfect Storm of Acquisitions and Integrations
Strava has made two major acquisitions in recent months — first buying running training app Runna in April, then cycling app The Breakaway in May. And the integration of these apps appears to be happening quickly and without clear notice to users. Runna recently began uploading workout images and detailed workout data to Strava, while Garmin users see their custom workout names and descriptions automatically imported into their Strava activities.
“Definitely feels like a breach of privacy and also a coach’s intellectual property,” one TrainingPeaks user wrote on Reddit . “Going through workout descriptions where I sometimes write personal notes for athletes and now it’s showing up on Strava for the world to see. I’m going to have to change how I set up workouts in TrainingPeaks.”
Unfortunately, these kinds of privacy issues are nothing new for Strava users. The company has been at the center of several data privacy controversies, including the famous heat map incident , which exposed the locations of numerous secret military installations. The network’s global heat map showed the locations of secret military bases because personnel at these installations had not enabled privacy settings.
Aside from the military base controversy, users have always complained about the app’s “creepy” privacy settings, which can automatically add other runners’ data to your phone if you don’t change them. As a longtime Strava fan, I’ve personally seen the company face constant criticism over how users can track each other and display personal fitness data by default.
And now the Runna integration shows how these acquisitions are creating unexpected data streams. Runna users can now access routes saved in Strava — even all those little meaningless routes created for planning purposes that were never intended to be actually used or shared.
What is shared (and what was not shared before)
If you use a Garmin device, you may find that workouts with specific pacing instructions, training notes from coaches, and personalized workout descriptions now appear in your public Strava feeds. This includes:
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Custom workout names from Garmin devices
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Detailed training descriptions from TrainingPeaks
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Coach’s Notes and Tempo Recommendations
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Personal Performance Goals and Learning Stages
The change appears to affect data that was technically always present in activity files, but was previously filtered out by Strava’s display logic. This data now appears automatically, catching users by surprise.
The frustrating aspect of this situation is that better training data integration could be really valuable. Viewing detailed training information, coaching notes, and structured training data in Strava could help athletes better track their progress and share meaningful training details with their community.
“This is a really cool feature that I think we would all love if it wasn’t implemented unexpectedly,” is how many users feel . The technology exists to make fitness data more useful and connected, but only when users understand and consent to what they’re sharing.
Plus, it’s a professional problem for coaches and trainers. Training plans and workout descriptions often contain proprietary methods and personalized recommendations that trainers consider intellectual property. When these details are suddenly made public without warning, it impacts how they can do their jobs.
Summary
For a loyal Strava user, the core issue isn’t just privacy settings or data visibility, but trust and communication. When platforms make significant changes to data sharing without clear notice, they erode the trust users need to feel comfortable sharing their fitness activities.
Stay tuned for details on how to opt out of this data sharing, or if Strava plans to make an official statement. When you file a support ticket with Strava support, you are directed to this thread as the place where they are currently “collecting feedback.”
Until then, it looks like we athletes will have to check our privacy settings more often and wonder what other personal data might appear in our public feeds tomorrow.