I fixed this by turning on Physio TrueUp, which hadn’t been needed before with my setup for some reason.
I have a question though: If I record on a ride on my Garmin 810 will that work when it comes through to my watch (Forerunner)? I swear it used to work last year, but last time I tried it a couple of weeks ago nothing happened (even with trueup on). It sounds from above like there has been some issues with the metrics Garmin-side so could be that? This mainly affects me for outdoor rides (with PM as I can’t link my PM to my Forerunner - I record MTB rides sans PM directly on the watch) and Zwift races where I am not dual running TR (I usually dual run TR with Zwift for workouts).
I know you should be able to link Zwift directly to Garmin but my ecosystem at the moment has Zwift > Strava and TR > Garmin, so I don’t really want to link Zwift to TR as well cos I kept getting duplicates going to Strava when I had this before.
I could also record the Zwift racing using Free Ride in TR (basically use the TR app as a head unit) - otherwise the data won’t make it into TR for AI FTP unless I manually upload it there.
Agreed. I tested a bunch early last week, then again today, it’s working properly now.
Note that if you have a watch/etc, it will need to complete a sync back to whatever the primary training device is, before it updates across the board.
I’m having some issues with TR indoor workouts populating my Garmin metrics. Not anything advanced - it’s not even updating exercise load.
My setup is pretty basic. I have an Edge 840 and no other Garmin devices. All outdoor rides are recorded on the Edge, and all indoor rides are recorded w/ TR only. I am not dual recording.
I’ve made sure to do the double sync (GC->Edge->back). The indoor workouts are showing up on GC as expected, but none of the load metrics are showing up. They don’t appear on the device or in GC, but I can see the rides on both.
I only got my Edge 10 days ago so none of the more advanced stats are populated yet, but I expected TR workouts to modify my exercise load.
Some pics:
The last ride on my training load page is an outdoor ride from June 1.
I am new to Garmin (Forerunner 265S) and would really appreciate updates from anyone who knows what’s up. My TR indoor rides, which I do with a chest strap and without dual recording, show up in my Activities list in the Garmin Connect app, but not in the Exercise Load screen (which apparently only shows activities recorded on the watch, per the dates of activities listed on this screen) and probably not in the Load Focus screen (I don’t see dates here but the balance seems off). It didn’t occur to me in buying the watch that I would need to dual record to get such information. Do I need to dual-record, or is something off with my syncing/connecions somehow? I am fine with syncing a few times and waiting a while, but that doesn’t help.
Also, I did an indoor VO2 max ride but didn’t get a VO2 max score, and I’m not sure I would ever do such a ride outdoors on crowded trails. Is it really not possible for Garmin to calculate this figure for me based on the chest strap/indoor data?
Yes. Then delete the unwanted TR upload to Garmin connect so it doesn’t have a duplicate. TR won’t grab th duplicate Garmin but strava and other sites might have both so just delete one in all those places. There is some software that can make a fit file look like a Garmin recorded it as well but never used it.
I use the FitFilesTool site to change TR workouts to look like they’re from my Garmin. Easier for me than dual recording. Download the fit file, upload to the fitfiletool site and upload the resulting file to Garmin and delete the TR version. https://www.fitfiletools.com/#/changer%23view
Huh. That has some appeal to me over dual-recording, because the HR that the Forerunner records is WAY off (like 60% of actual chest strap data), so I’d rather trick the Garmin into thinking it recorded the TR file. Thanks very much for the link!
p.s. Just venting into the void: my old Fitbit Charge 5, while crappily constructed, always reported HR data very close to what the chest strap was getting. I am totally baffled by how bad the Garmin is at this and worried about not hearing back from them after 2 days!
There is an issue with watches like the forerunners when you are doing a trainer ride so not really moving (I think this is the issue) but you are also not recording an activity, they do not for some reason pick up the increased heart rate. If you set the FR to record the activity or you set it to broadcast the HR you would likely find that they are much closer together. The lack of movement is just my theory as I won’t record say mowing the lawn, but it has no problem picking up that I went over 100 bpm, or out for a speedy walk with my daughter that I’m not recording… picks that up. But if I left it on while doing a trainer ride then it would record say a max heart rate for that hour of 90, despite hitting 160 (examples). If you are recording via the FR and have a chest strap on it should pick up the chest strap, I simply take mine off to prevent it picking up too different signals and defaulting back to the FR. If you have one of the HRMs that can record and sync itself then it should update the garmin data with the strap HR if you don’t dual record, or if you do then it should be picking that up anyway.
By all means do the fit file thing over dual recording if that works for you. Just figured I would mention the reason for the issues with the HR on the FR when not recording/broadcasting.
Not sure if matters, but just looked up my workout today in Garmin Connect. It was a v02 max (cape range) that I rated very hard on TR. Garmin says it was a recovery ride lol. I’m guessing because the avg HR? That’s kind of weak if that’s all it looks at.
No, and in my experience it does a really good job determining training effect. Ride after ride after ride after ride (for years and years).
Using it requires some initial setup, and then on two devices (530 and 84)) it does a really good job identifying training effect for 2 of the 3 energy systems (Aerobic and Glycolytic/Anaerobic). And then maps to primary benefit:
Riding easy, turned out to be around 35% FTP. For some training stimulus, I tossed in some hard (not max) roughly 30-sec sprints to work on re-calibrating my pacing.
Average HR of 127bpm, in the upper half of Coggan zone2-HR. Easy enough HR that I can talk your ear off without having to stop and take breaths.
Just a note if you’re like me and don’t want to have to dual record or go into files and modify them yourself. I use the RunGap app with the “Swag Bag” add-on. I think it costs $10yr? My workout player sends the post-workout file to RunGap, which then sends the workout to Garmin as if it were a Garmin workout, so you get the breakdown.
How bizarre. It’s like it’s pouting that it’s not being used. I wasn’t expecting this kind of issue, given that the Fitbits kept up fine without starting an activity.
I thought the whole point of @dcrainmaker’s original article was that we no longer need to dual record or use a 3rd party app in order to include TR information into Garmin’s metrics.
Is this functionality no longer supported? The Garmin docs still list TR as one of the “approved” apps to compute this information.
Which is odd, cause each time I sit down to do testing and waste a bunch of hours validating everything that people says is broken - it ends up working just fine.
In almost every case I’ve seen, the issue is that someone doesn’t have the Primary Training Device set correctly. Or, they’re trying to use something that isn’t TR/Zwift and shoehorning it to make it work. Or finally, if Edge only (and not watch), then the double-sync hasn’t happened.
I thought I read through the thread - maybe not well enough lol. It does seem like Ray has always seemed to get it working, although he is a Garmin whisperer so who knows
General comment, not about TR sync populating Training Status… Annoyingly one or two things I’ve seen you post in reviews, they don’t work if you only have an Edge (I’ve got an Apple Watch). Foggy memory, but I think one of them is Garmin Connect syncing to Apple Health - I have to use RunGap to sync ride to Health, so that Athlytic can see it.
