Strava just made a smart change to how runners track progress and Garmin users will recognise it

Strava has the habit of introducing new features – or at least announcing them – once a month, and as expected, April is no different.

In its latest batch of updates, the platform is introducing Annual Best Efforts, a new feature designed to track your fastest times by year.

Previously, Strava only offered an overall PB across distances, not a breakdown by year.

For many runners, a personal best set years ago during peak fitness can become irrelevant, or even worse, demotivating.

Annual Best Efforts allows you to measure performance against a more realistic, time-bound baseline.

Strava Premium subscribers can dig deeper into the data, comparing efforts across multiple years to see how their fitness is trending.

It’s a concept that will feel familiar to Garmin watch users, where trend-based metrics and rolling performance insights have been part of the experience for some time.

Strava’s approach is more lightweight, but it brings a similar philosophy to a much broader audience.

A shift towards smarter tracking

The update lands as part of a wider push to make Strava more useful beyond simple activity logging.

On desktop, users can now apply and filter by activity tags such as Race, Long Run or Commute, making it easier to organise training history and spot patterns over time.

The platform has also expanded its global reach by adding support for 10 new languages and introducing improved event discovery tools in the Groups tab.

These include more granular filters for finding local runs or rides, as well as event waivers for club organisers in the UK and US, signalling a continued push into real-world community features.

More than just numbers

But wait, there is more! New Weekly Streak Stickers allow you to share consistency milestones directly from the app, tapping into the growing trend of accountability-driven training.

Annual Best Efforts is rolling out over the coming weeks, with the remaining features now available.

Head over to Strava for more information.