Grade Adjusted Pace (GAP) is a Strava metric that adjusts your running pace for terrain grade, so subscribers can fairly compare effort across uphill, downhill, and flat terrain.
What is GAP?
Grade Adjusted Pace takes into account the steepness of terrain during your runs and estimates an equivalent pace on flat land. Because running uphill requires extra work, your Grade Adjusted Pace on ascents will be faster than your actual pace. Similarly, when running downhill, your Grade Adjusted Pace will tend to be slower than your actual pace.
The difference between GAP and actual pace generally becomes larger as the grade steepens. Athlete data has shown that the downhill adjustment peaks around -10%, after which it becomes slightly less extreme. Note that GAP does not account for the technical difficulty or condition of the terrain. Learn more about the determination of the GAP model from real-world data here.
Where to Find it
GAP is available on both the Strava website and mobile app. You will be able to see GAP in the following places:
• For all runs, GAP is graphed for the entire activity on the analysis screen and shown as an overall average.
• For hilly runs, your average GAP will be highlighted on the mobile activity detail screen for every split.
• On mobile, for hilly segments, your average GAP for just that segment will be shown.