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Importing Your Data

Stride has two separate imports, and they do different jobs. The activity history import brings the rides, runs and swims themselves across from another platform, using FIT files or ZIP archives. The TrainingPeaks import brings the words across: the comments you and your coach wrote, your RPE, and how each session felt, onto activities that are already in Stride. You will often want both, in that order.

What you can import#

  • FIT files (.fit or .fit.gz): the standard activity file from Garmin, Wahoo, Hammerhead, COROS and most bike computers and watches. Each file is one activity.
  • ZIP archives (.zip): a folder of activity files, for importing your full history in one go. A ZIP can hold FIT, TCX and TrainingPeaks PWX files, compressed or not, and ZIPs inside ZIPs, so a Garmin or Strava export can be uploaded exactly as it arrived.
  • FIT workout files: a plan of steps rather than a recording. These are saved to your workout library instead of your history.

GPX files cannot be imported, because they carry no power or heart rate. To upload a single TCX or PWX file on the web, put it in a ZIP first.

How to import#

On the web, go to Settings > Import and drop a file onto Activity history, or click to browse. You can also drag files straight onto a day in the calendar; a workout file dropped on a day is planned for that day as well as saved to your library.

On iPhone, tap your avatar and choose Import Activity, then Choose Files. You can pick several .fit files at once, or open a .fit file from Files or Mail and choose Stride. ZIP archives and workout files are imported on the web.

The Android app does not import files yet. Use the website instead.

Single FIT file#

The activity is queued as soon as it uploads and appears in your calendar shortly afterwards.

ZIP archive#

  • Queued and processed in the background. Large archives take a while, so you can close the page and come back.
  • Activities appear in your calendar as they finish, rather than all at once.

If a file is refused#

On iPhone, Stride tells you why. On the web you will see Import failed instead. The most common reasons are a GPX file, a file with no recorded data, or a "file" that is really a web page saved by a download that failed. That last one happens with files shared from some phone apps, and downloading the .fit again fixes it.

Recent files#

A file recorded in the last two days is treated as a session you have just done: it gets an AI insight, can update your thresholds, and your coach is told. Older files are added quietly as history.

Duplicates are handled for you#

The usual worry about a bulk import is that it will double your history, because much of what is in a Garmin export has probably already synced to Stride through a connected account. It will not. Every incoming activity is checked against what you already have before anything is created.

  • Matching: Stride compares when each workout started, how much of it overlaps one you already have, and the recorded data, so the same ride arriving from two sources is recognised even when the start times differ slightly.
  • Both recordings are kept: when two copies are the same session, Stride shows one activity, uses the most complete file and keeps the other. On the web, Recordings on the activity lets you switch to the other copy or download the original. Your preferred source for each sport is under Settings > Integrations > Workout recordings.
  • Re-uploading is safe: importing the same archive twice, or a Garmin export and a Strava export that cover the same years, will not leave you with two of anything. Your comments, RPE and feel survive too, since a merge updates the existing activity rather than replacing it.

If you do end up with two copies of a session, use Review past workouts under Settings > Integrations > Workout recordings to combine them.

Exporting from your current platform#

Every platform hides its export in a slightly different place, and most of them email you a link rather than downloading straight away. Request the export first, then come back when it arrives.

Garmin Connect

1
Open Garmin's data management page

Sign in at garmin.com/account/datamanagement/exportdata with your Garmin account.

2
Request your export

Garmin emails you a download link. This is usually quick but can take up to 48 hours.

3
Upload the ZIP to Stride

Drop the archive straight onto the activity history import. There is no need to unzip it or dig out the activity folder first.

Strava

1
Open your account download page

In Strava, go to Settings, then My Account, then Download or Delete Your Account. Choose the download option only.

2
Request your archive

Strava emails a link when the archive is ready, usually within a few hours.

3
Upload the ZIP to Stride

Strava's archive mixes FIT, TCX and GPX files. Stride imports the FIT and TCX ones, including gzipped files. Rides that Strava only holds as GPX carry no power or heart rate data and are skipped.

Wahoo, Hammerhead, COROS, Polar and other devices#

Wahoo, Hammerhead, ROUVY and Magene bring your whole history when you connect them, so you rarely need a file. COROS and Polar only let Stride read about three months, so anything older has to come from a file. For a device with no connection of its own, export its FIT files and import them here.

Connect your accounts first

Connecting an account in Settings > Integrations pulls in recent history on its own and keeps everything in sync from then on. Use this import for the years further back than a connection reaches: Garmin gives Stride five years, Zwift one year, COROS and Polar about three months, and a Strava archive is now the only way to bring Strava data across at all.

Bringing your TrainingPeaks comments, RPE and feel across#

Years of training leave behind more than numbers. The note you left after a session that fell apart, the reply your coach wrote the next morning, the effort you gave it out of ten: none of that lives in a FIT file, so no device sync will ever bring it across. This import does.

What it brings, and what it leaves alone#

It imports four things onto activities you already have in Stride:

  • Your comments and your coach's, added to the activity's Comments.
  • The prescribed session description, also added as a comment, where the activity has no Stride workout attached.
  • RPE, on the same 1 to 10 scale Stride uses.
  • Feel, converted onto Stride's scale.

It never creates activities, and it never touches your recorded data. Duration, distance, power, heart rate and training load stay exactly as Stride calculated them from your device file. TrainingPeaks' versions of those numbers are its own analysis of the same ride, so importing them would only put two answers where there should be one.

Exporting your workout summary from TrainingPeaks

1
Open your TrainingPeaks settings

Log in on the web, click your name in the top right, and choose Settings. If you are a coach exporting for an athlete, open that athlete's account settings instead.

2
Find Export Data

Choose Export Data from the menu on the left, then find the Workout Summary section. This is a paid TrainingPeaks feature.

3
Set the date range and export

Set the range to cover the training you want to bring across, then click Export. TrainingPeaks gives you a ZIP containing a CSV, one row per workout.

4
Upload it to Stride

Drop the ZIP onto the TrainingPeaks import in Stride, under Settings then Import. You can upload the CSV on its own if you have already unzipped it.

Review before anything is written#

Uploading does not import anything on its own. Stride reads the export, matches each workout against your activities, and shows you what it found. Only when you press the import button does it write. Four counts summarise the match:

  • To import: matched an activity and has something new to add.
  • Already there: matched, but the activity already carries everything the row offered.
  • No match: nothing in Stride on that day for that sport. Usually a workout that never synced across. Import your activity history first and run this again.
  • Needs a choice: two activities that day fit equally well, so Stride writes nothing rather than risk putting your note on the wrong one. Add these by hand on the activity itself.

How workouts are matched#

The export carries no device or file identifier, so there is nothing to join on directly. Stride matches on the day the workout sits on, then the sport, then how closely the duration, distance and title line up with the activity's. A workout type TrainingPeaks does not name precisely, such as Other or a race, is allowed to match any sport on its day. Rest days are skipped.

How RPE and feel convert#

RPE carries across unchanged, since both platforms use the modified Borg scale. A TrainingPeaks rating of 0 is left out, because Stride's scale starts at 1. Feel does not: TrainingPeaks records it with 1 as the strongest you can report, and Stride records it with 5 as the best. So the scale is turned around and compressed, with the strongest rating becoming 5 and the weakest becoming 1.

Your existing ratings win by default

If an activity already has an RPE or feel in Stride, the import leaves it alone, and a row with nothing else new counts as already there. Tick Replace RPE and feel already recorded in Stride before importing if you would rather the TrainingPeaks values win.

Safe to run more than once

Each note is checked against the activity before it is added, so importing the same export twice will not duplicate anything. If you import your activity history after a first pass, run the same export again to pick up the workouts that now have a match.

Frequently asked questions

Will importing an export double up activities that already synced to Stride?
No. Every activity in an import is checked against what you already have, by start time, overlap and the recorded data. Stride keeps a single activity, uses the most complete recording and keeps the other as an alternative, so importing a Garmin or Strava export on top of a connected account is safe, as is importing the same archive twice.
Will importing from TrainingPeaks duplicate my activities?
No. The TrainingPeaks import never creates activities. It only writes comments, RPE and feel onto activities you already have in Stride, and it checks each note against the activity first, so running the same export twice adds nothing the second time.
Can I import my actual rides from TrainingPeaks, not just the notes?
Not from the workout summary export, which is a spreadsheet with no activity files in it. Export your history from whichever platform recorded the rides, usually Garmin, and upload that with the activity history import. Then run the TrainingPeaks import to attach your notes to them.
Why did some of my TrainingPeaks workouts not match anything?
Almost always because the activity is not in Stride yet. Workouts are matched by day and sport, so anything that never synced across has nothing to attach to. Import your activity history first, then run the TrainingPeaks import again and those rows will match.
What does "Needs a choice" mean on a row?
Two or more activities on that day fit the workout equally well, for example two commutes of the same length. Rather than risk attaching your note to the wrong ride, Stride writes nothing and leaves it to you to add by hand on the activity.
Will the import overwrite the numbers Stride calculated from my device?
No. Duration, distance, power, heart rate and training load are never touched. Only the notes, RPE and feel are written, and an RPE or feel you already have in Stride is kept unless you tick the replace option.
How far back can I import?
As far back as your export goes. That is the point of importing rather than only connecting an account: a connection reaches only as far as the service allows (five years for Garmin, one year for Zwift, about three months for COROS and Polar), but an export has your whole history in it.
Can I import TCX or GPX files?
TCX and TrainingPeaks PWX files can be imported inside a ZIP archive on the web. GPX files cannot be imported, because they carry no power or heart rate data.