This will be cool, we will see how it goes but I fear you will need a huge range or it will be annoying and I (people?) Will just end up using a customer screen with 3s power and lap avg power displayed. I just did a workout where I was supposed to be 261 to 269 for 10’ at a time. I’m sure 30% of the time I was out of this range but all my intervals were bang on and NP for each was always within 3 watts of avg watts.
That’s how I do it and I’m happy…if at the end of the interval I am close to the target watts with my average watts I consider objective completed even though there were times I might be well below and well over.
slightly different analogy. The bike in a running scenario would be your legs. I more mean learning how to shift smoothly, anticipate shifts, not be clunky with the gears, know how to put out 270W either on a climb or going 30mph on a -2% grade…Athletes sometimes freak out at first at the thought of doing intervals outside, but this is what 99% of athletes are training for: outdoor events. Must learn how to put out watts in the wild!
1 Like
If I understand correctly you see the target watt value on the Garmin and have the option to get notifications if your watts fall outside the defined range (whereas the range is not shown on display). If so, range should be more like fixed ± 15 or even 20 watts. Could be you’re a bit biased because you can hold a fixed watt value much better (non erg training and tri background) than many of us @Nate_Pearson?
It can’t possibly be that important to be within a 6w range of the target, everything that we use to get our ftp, the method the instruments how long it’s been since testing etc, just isn’t that accurate to worry about such a short range.
As long as you are in the right ball park and consistently hitting the zones as prescribed then I think you’re good. Give a wide enough range (will differ depending on type of interval) and call it good. 
Maybe. I’m not the only one testing this though. I suspect these numbers will be a starting point and we’ll go from there based on feedback.
1 Like
I did a lot of trainings outside with my Phone attached to the handlebar with the “normal” indoor app and it works great. I will turn off any alarms, since it is not possible to hold the target so close.
1 Like
I agree with all the comments, the alerts are the worst.
I’ve manually loaded a TR outside workout into my Garmin 520. I only got the alerts when I wasn’t on the Garmin workout page. Riding the interval using the workout page, pictured below, is great.
We are still experimenting, but we might recommend people ride on a custom page you build with 3 or 10 second power smoothing, lap average, lap NP and time to go in the lap and workout tile all in one page.
When you start an interval Garmin will display a pop up with your current target.
3 Likes
Will the default Garmin workout screen that I pictured above be available for TR workouts? I find that screen really good for training on the road with the added benefit that the low/high power alerts don’t come up on that screen.
Yes
Whatever you do I will fail. Someone mentioned wind earlier - a sudden headwind would always get me . I’d personally give up on having a range, just tell us a target and we can try (and fail) to meet it. As long as we get the training effect you want I can’t see how it matters. The one thing you don’t want is clutter: I think just power, target-power and interval duration left. Maybe you could even have your own TR Connect IQ App with only the stuff you think is important.
1 Like
I agree with the others that in practice I would probably find the alerts too annoying to be worthwhile. That being said, my preference would be an average of the two options - set the alert threshold to be something like (1% + 3 watts). Mitigates both failure modes that you discussed.
It would be practical if the range simply encompassed most of the zone you were striving to be in. This would give you the confidence that you were performing the workout in accordance with meeting your goals.
2 Likes
I was thinking along these lines too. A specific wattage is going to be REALLY difficult due to wind, variable grade, stop signs, lights, turns… “Stay in Zone 5 for 3 minutes”, etc. would be much more achievable.
Disregard that this is a Bolt screen. I use it all the time for all intervals outside. Created in Training Peaks and pushed to the Bolt. Works perfect. Gives me all I need for the interval. My screen is slightly different than the first one but you get the idea.
When I had a 520 I turned off all beeps, etc. that I was in or out of the zone. They are unbelievably distracting and do nothing to help you hold wattage in an interval. We all know outside wattages vary wildly based on the terrain, hitting a steeper pitch of a climb, doing an interval on a mtb on a jeep road you’ll be swinging a wide range of watts to get up a pitch, etc.
Do this.
Or this.
3 Likes
I know this is an old thread, but the last time I tried an outdoor workout, I kept missing the Target notification. This really sucks on longer intervals, because the arrow range is too large to have any idea of what power I should be holding. Would be great if you could display target power during the entire interval.
We have no control over that 
. We have talked to Garmin about potentially adding it as a field.
1 Like
Could it be added as a connect IQ data field?
What? You don’t have a field like the one I posted on the bolt that shows you the target wattage? Good lord that is a basic and minimum thing that is needed to do the workout.
