GpxFix Blog

When Is It Okay, and Not Okay, to Alter Elapsed Time

By Roy Lachica on August 02, 2025. Last updated August 2, 2025.

In the age of digital fitness tracking, platforms like Strava, Garmin Connect, and Apple Fitness have made it easier than ever to log, analyze, and share workouts. But with this power comes a subtle question many users eventually face: Is it okay to alter the recorded elapsed time of an activity?

While adjusting your data can sometimes be necessary for accuracy or fairness, doing so carelessly or dishonestly can also misrepresent your effort and even skew the social or competitive side of these platforms. In this post, we’ll explore when it’s reasonable to modify elapsed time, and when it crosses a line.

When It’s OK to Alter Elapsed Time

1. GPS Glitches or Device Errors

Sometimes, your device might fail to record a portion of your workout accurately, for example if you havent got GPS lock in the start of your hike or lose GPS signal in a tunnel, dense forest, or urban canyon. If you crop your activity to remove these sections your elapsed time is reduced, and perhaps you want to manually add some time back in. In this case, it’s reasonable to correct your Elapsed Time by adding time. You’re not trying to game the system, you are just fixing a technical issue.

2. Phone calls or interruptions

If you’re out running and suddenly receive a phone call, you might stop and stand still while talking. In such cases, it would be ok to subtract the time spent on the call from your total elapsed time. However, this is generally not recommended. That unintended pause effectively gives you a short recovery break, which can help improve your performance for the remainder of the workout.

3. You are not on Strava

If you’re not sharing your activities publicly, then you can do whatever you want. If you have a unique training regimen or a personalized way of tracking progress, feel free to adjust your activities as needed. It’s your data, your goals, and your rules. Just make sure the changes serve your own improvement, not just your ego.

When It’s Not OK to Alter Elapsed Time

On the flip side, altering Elapsed Time just to make your performance appear better, without a valid reason crosses very fast into the unethical territory. Here’s when it’s not appropriate to make changes.

1. To Appear Faster or More Efficient

Editing Elapsed Time to remove breaks and make your average pace look faster is misleading, especially if you’re posting publicly or participating in leaderboards. It may feel tempting to tweak numbers to match your goals, but you’re not doing yourself (or others) any favors.

Tracking is about improvement, not perfection. Let the numbers reflect your real journey, even if it includes moments you’d rather forget.

2. During Official Races

Races are timed events with rules, and your official result is based on clock time, usually from when you cross the start line to when you cross the finish. If you stop for a bathroom break, you’re still on the clock.

Strava actually respects this format: if you tag your activity as a "Race," it switches to Elapsed Time for stats. That’s the correct way to log races. Altering this manually to exclude breaks undermines the race format and your result.

3. In Competitive or Leaderboard Contexts

If you’re participating in a Strava segment leaderboard or a virtual competition, altering Elapsed Time (or Moving Time) can unfairly boost your position. This affects not just your data but also the integrity of the platform.

In competitive environments, the data should reflect the same standard for everyone. If the route took you longer due to weather, traffic, or fatigue, that’s part of the story.

4. Just Because You Don’t Like the Numbers

Sometimes we all wish our performance looked better on paper. But adjusting your stats because “it should have been faster” sets a dangerous precedent. The goal of activity tracking is accountability and honesty, not perfection.

Let the data show where you're at today, so you can be proud of how far you've come tomorrow.

Final Thoughts

GpxFix lets you trim or reduce the Elapsed Time, but this should be used thoughtfully. If you’re editing data, ask yourself: Am I correcting a flaw, or am I rewriting reality?

Altering Elapsed Time isn’t inherently wrong, it depends on your intention and if you are sharing your actvities. Are you correcting a technical glitch, or trying to fudge your stats? Are you aligning with a challenge’s expectations, or trying to climb a leaderboard unfairly?

In most cases, transparency is key. If you adjust something, consider noting it in your activity description. The Strava community values authenticity, and so should you.

Fitness is a journey, not a scoreboard. Whether you're shaving seconds off your 5K or removing seconds from your walk in the city, let your data tell your true story.