The Garmin Raceday Setup and Use Thread
Team,
I want to create a wiki post on best practices for setting up a Garmin unit for racing with a powermeter. Let's outline how we each set ours up, brainstorm, etc. I'll consolidate and create a wiki resource to be used as SoP by the team.
Main Screen
What fields do you display?
Second Screen
What fields?
Third Screen
You get the idea?
Other notes/settings:
- Ensure have accurate FTP set in the unit and across all upload platforms -- Strava, TP, Garmin, etc
- Auto start/stop is turned on(?)
- Do you autolap or hit the lap button manually? If auto, what interval do you set (ie, 15-20', 5mi, etc)
Anything else?
0
Comments
I've sudo adopted Cronk's set up.
Will let him chime in on those details.........
Bike Screen 1: 3s power, time, HR
Bike Screen 2: speed, power (toggle to this when on long descents only, and only to tell me when I can back off and coast ... this happens maybe 1-2 times during a race)
Run Screen 1: run time, pace, hr, distance
Run Screen 2: run time, hr (on most courses, I use this is the main display until mile 18).
No autolaps - there are a gazillion signs on course, and I typically can't hear the thing anyhow.
Recently rediscovered my HR monitor, so this is the current race set-up on the 910xt I use on the bike and run.
Bike: Auto-scroll 2 screens on "fast," with top two data points remaining constant. Auto-lap every 15 minutes, use the beep to prompt eating/drinking/salting/stretching.
Screen 1: 3s Power, NP Lap, HR & HR Avg
Screen 2: 3s Power, NP Lap, Distance & Time
* I have used a 3rd screen to scroll Cadence Lap & Avg Speed and may add it back in depending on the course.
Run: Auto-scroll 2 screens on "fast," with first 3 data points remaining constant. Auto-lap every mile.
Screen 1: Pace, Pace Lap, HR, Pace Avg
Screen 2: Pace, Pace Lap, HR, Distance
Auto-stop off. I don't like Multisport mode, so I just Reset coming out of T2, switch to Run, and Start.
Screen 1. keeping it simple and so I can read it I go with three fields --- 3sec power , lap NP , time
Auto Lap is set at 5 miles , 15 min beeps set to drink and eat , time is simply to keep me on the eating schedule every 30min (tend to get confused after 3-4hrs). Did I eat or drink on the last beep? Never miss a feeding this way.
Screen 2. distance, NP , TSS.... honestly I never look at Screen 2... I know the distance close enough from markings on the course, watching my laps and multiply by 5 , NP for the ride is irrelevant since I am working in blocks of 5 miles at a time, TSS ??? again irrelevant since I know I'm riding in my power window... Never look at speed but usually can do some math when the intervals go off so I know if it was a fast lap or not... Never display cadence and Dont wear HR... I have thought about this and just couldnt come up with any data that I found useful to my execution other than Screen 1.
I can keep the main -Top the same for 2/4 screens and effectively scroll the bottom
I'm beginning to go simpler ....I use to do 4 screes w/ 3-4 data tracks.... too busy and not all that useful in the moment. more ge wiz stuff. + its hard for my old eyes to read
I still like to track HR and do a HR Zone with Pace as my "main" screen. For race don't really watch time (if I'm on pace time will be OK) and course tells me the distance.
Its kinda silly but I like the HR graph still, so it gets 1/2 a screen LOL (w/ average HR and pace) don't bother with cadence bike/run as PM shows cadence as well and I'm pretty stable anyway.
Bike has been a little tricky finding what I want...
I used 10 sec power for last race....likely will go back to 3 sec (5 would be perfect!) I had NP but after going a little hot at the start I think it allowed me to go too slow by tracking NP Vs some interval of average power or..... I see NP Lap mentioned and should have tracked that methinks.
Still playing ,,,,2yrs of having the 910
OH, AND ALWASE ERRACE "Old" history before race day!! I forgot and it lost my whole IM (when done as a multisport its one massive file-if no room it doesn't erase the oldest but ends up corrupting the new one to try and fit it. Waaha
I have a Garmin Fenix2, which mimics the 910 XT in a lot of ways. I use it as a back-up power meter, and for primary run metrics. I use a Joule 2.0 for primary bike metrics.
For Bike, I have two screens:
For Run, I have two screens. I use both during workouts, but only the second during a race. I have it set to auto lap every mile:
Bike: I used to be a Joule 2.0 guy with Lap Time; 3 sec power; Lap IF. Still use this for Pain Cave intervals.
This season switched to Garmin 500 (had run both for a while but realized is was a waste of cockpit space). I have 2 screens setup rarely look at the second. I have come to really like the simplicity and readability (old eyes). To me all the other metrics are just noise.
Set to Auto Lap @ 3 miles; Time Alert @ 15 min for nutrition; Auto Pause Off.
Run: Garmin 310xt setup to auto lap at 1 mile, vibrate only (no tones). Setup with 3 screen: Main for real-time training/racing info, one screen is for overview, another is for track repeats.
OK, I'll play!
Bike - Garmin 510 - When racing i turn on the auto pause feature and then start it and let it auto pause before i head to the swim. then when i start riding it's on and starts reading data immediately. I have 3 screens setup with data…..
Run
On the bike I've a Edge 500 with multiple screens but I really use only one displaying:
1) AvgP 10sec (smooth feedback of steady effort)
2) % of FTP (instant feedback of effort)
3) Speed (know when coasting or when it's no downside of riding on the bullhorns uphills)
4) elapsed Time (for nutrition/hydration timing)
5) Lap NP
Similar to Tim I used AutoLap but I found out I don't need that for timing my nutrition/hydration so I now do manual laps depending on terrain (hills, downhill sections, flats ...).
Somewhere on the other screens I also have TSS, Avg-Speed and all those other nasty numbers but I don't use them at all - not during training nor during race.
On the run I've a 910xt setup to have AutoLap at every km.
I tend to display "Pace" only!
Of course there's a second screen with Pace, Distance and Elapsed time.
"Auto Start/Stop" as well as "Auto Shutdown" (Edge 500 has that) is turned OFF.
screen 1 - 5 fields
PWR 3's
NP Lap
Cadence
Time
Heart Rate
*Autolap set to 5 mile intervals. Autostop used for training but not racing.
I think I have %grade and distance on my second screen but don't use it often. Thanks to the advice of some of you folks, I do not have speed available to watch...it's just too tempting and I'd be too weak not to chase it if it were available.
I wear a 910xt on my wrist and really just use it for running and swimming now.
For the run-
Screen 1 - 4 fields
time
avg pace
distance
heart rate
*autolap set for 1 mile intervals
Swim-
screen 1 - 3 fields:
time
avg pace (100 yds or meters)
distance
I find that keeping it as simple as possible works best. We can always dive into the data after we upload it.
[ Time ]
[Pwr 3s] [NP Lap] I used to auto-lap every 2 miles, but now do every 4 miles.
[Cadence] [Heart Rate]
[Avg speed] [NP]
[Speed] [Distance]
I have a second screen that replaces [Avg Speed] with [Total Ascent]. Depending on what type of training ride I'm on I'll choose on or the other of these screens as I like to play games with myself. i.e. "I can't stop until I get to 7,000'" or "I've averaged 19.8mph through 3 hrs, I must get that over 20mph by the end of my 5hr ride". This is the same reason I have NP on there. I like to look at that number 3.5hrs into my 5hr ride and tell myself I must get that up by "x" watts before I finish. All of these mental games force me to finish my rides strong. I leave them on there for races because I'm so used to the layout of this screen, and even though it is blasphemous I sometimes play these same games during races so I don't wuss out in the last hour of a ride... I do not use auto-pause, because the few times I tried it, it gave me false pauses going up very steep hills. My alarm goes off every 30 mins just to wake me out of my trance to make sure I'm eating/drinking enough.
I have a 910xt snapped on my aerobar for a backup. Auto-lap every 2 miles. The 4 cells I use are:
[Power 3s] [NP Lap]
[HR] [Time]
For the run I have 2 nearly identical screens
[time] [HR]
[current Pace] [distance]
The other screen is exactly the same except it replaces [current pace] with [average pace].
My watch auto laps every 1 mile.
Training:
3 sec watts
HR
Cadence
Speed
IF (overall)
distance
time
Kcals
Racing:
3 sec watts
HR
Cadence
distance
time
Garmin 910xt for run:
training and racing are the same:
Screen #1:
current pace
HR
distance
Screen #2 (auto-scroll between the two):
current pace
HR
cadence
1st - 3rs power - lap distance - time - speed - distance
2nd - 3rs power- current lap time - cadence - heart rate
I auto lap every 5 miles and set an alarm for every 15 minutes (reminds me to eat)
I use a 910 for back up and to capture swim and run info - same screens
On the run I also use two screens
1st - time - lap pace - distance
2nd -pace- heart rate - lap distance
I auto lap every mile.
Screen 1. Power, NP (lap), cadence, speed. I spend 99% of my time on this screen. Auto Lap is set at 5 miles , 1hr alarm set to check liquid/salt/calorie consumption. Cadence because I'm still a relative newbie rider and I don't trust my "feeling" of 90 - seeing it helps me keep it high. Speed is simply to keep it fast in the slow parts of the course... at the end of the day, a quick time is still about having a fast average speed, and one way to help that is to keep the average high is eliminate slowness out of corners, through towns, etc. where there are distractions / it is easier to lose focus.
Screen 2. NP, IF, TSS. I rarely look at Screen 2. at the Halfway mark, I check to see if NP & TSS are within expectation for the race (e.g., at Tahoe, TSS was way high and I lowered NP target for second loop).
Screen 3. Distance, Time, HR, Temp. I check HR about 1x per hr and a cross-check to RPE & Power. If it starts feeling hard, I look to see if HR is up/down,or if temp is up higher than expected, etc.
Screens 2 & 3 are really more of a cross-check / trouble shooting screens. If something doesn't feel right, I go there.
When I become a better rider, I expect that I will lose speed and cadence on screen 1.
I have joule and use:
3Sec power
NP
IF
time
Distance
Speed
Cadence
I know NP and IF are a bit redundent but I suck at doing math on the fly. allows me to know if i'm on target for my desired % effort for that interval or not. for me looking at 3 sec power and NP lets me see if I'm being steady with my effort or not. For a race, I manually hit the interval button every 30 minutes or before a terrain feature change.
I just got a garmin 500 and took a page out of Mike Roberts book.
Right now i run three screens with 4 fields on auto scroll medium speed and I use auto-lap.
All have: 10s Power, NP Lap
1: distance, elapsed time
2. avg speed, speed
3. % grade, hr
Its pretty nice to have the power info stay fixed and the other data scroll by every few seconds.
Screen 1
Power (3sec)
NP
Time
Cadence Distance
HR Speed
Screen 2
Power (3sec)
NP(Lap)
Time (Lap)
Cadence Distance
HR Speed