I like to set up 2 main screens for each leg for races. I also like to keep the screens similar between bike and run, because then it's a lot easier for me to glance and know what I'm looking at.
For Run (auto lap every mile): Screen 1 (What am I doing RIGHT NOW and where the hell am I): Current Pace, Current HR, Total Time (nutrition is tied to this info), Total Distance Screen 2 (How close to cut-off am I and will I make it): Time of Day, Lap Pace (which is more steady than current)
For Bike (auto lap every 10 miles, alert every 15 minutes for water reminder): Screen 1 (What am I doing RIGHT NOW and where the hell am I): Current Watts, Current HR, Total Time, Total Distance Screen 2 (How close to cut-off am I and will I make it): Time of Day, Lap Watts I also set up Screen 3 with NP, IFF, TSS to spot check myself to make sure I'm sticking to my plan.
Bike - Speed, cadence (alert if below __), auto pause for outdoor rides, time (00:00:00) for indoor drills/workouts, 1 mile alerts. If I'm outdoors I only want to know how fast I'm going and how long I've been out, same with racing.
I keep my old 310xt on the handlebars for indoor only workouts because it's synced with my cylcops power beam pro.
Run - I have 3 workouts that I programmed into garmin connect and I can change them up a bit and send them to the watch. Otherwise for a HR run I have it set to beep if the HR is too low or too high. Cadence beeps if too low. 1 mile alerts. I know I've had a good run if the fkg thing isn't screaming at me constantly.
I'd prefer not to have to look at it all the time, I'll see the data on the PC when I get home. That way I can compare how I FEEL to the data.
OH, only one screen for running, 2 for the bike, scrolling.
Speaking just to bike leg of race ... I use my Garmin as a back-up system to the Joule I have on my handlebars. But I do think talking about what to view during a race is helpful.
First off, I am a believer in manually hitting the lap button depending on terrain features, the nature of the course, etc. Setting auto lap to miles or time could conflate information about going uphill with some down or flat segments, or even slowing for an aid station. So, EG, I will hit "lap" when I start a climb of any significance, and hit it again at the top. If I'm in a long flat, like @ IM AZ, I will hit lap 20 @ minutes maximum.
What am I looking at during the lap? Most important are the power #s: current (3 or 5 sec average) power, and IF of the current lap (one could also choose NP of the current lap, but I think in % terms when racing, so I like to see that metric). I also look at current lap time, so I know when I need to hit lap again. Were I using the Garmin, I'd have a 4th data field on the main screen to fill. I'd suggest HR or cadence. Garmin offers multiple pages, so, like Nemo, I have one which shows totals for the leg I'm on: distance, time, IF/NP. But, really, most data are distracting, and not helpful to having a successful race. Current watts, lap IF/NP, lap time, and maybe HR, cadence, and % grade are the only things I pay attention to during the bike leg of a race. My Joule has six data fields, so I can see them all in a glance.
On the run, I have gone thru all sorts of phases over the past 15 years about which metrics to follow. I started out running by HR (this was before pace watches had been invented.) Then I tried pace for a while. Then I switched to wearing a tiny Timex which showed me the time of day, time of the leg, and manually hitting "lap" when I came to a mile marker, to see my last lap pace. Truthfully, that method produced the best races. I even took off my HR strap in T2. The past 2-3 years, I have gotten more nuanced about HR, and use that again as a primary driver of my run leg. I wear a Garmin (its a Fenix2, but the same concept as the 910), and have two screens, both with four fields, that I use for both racing and training.
First shows moving time, cadence, HR, and distance (total). Second shows lap time, lap pace, HR, and cadence, with auto-lap at 1 mile. You can glean from this that HR and cadence are of prime importance to me. I want to be running @ 89-90 rpm, and keeping my HR in a specific zone during the race, whatever the terrain or temperature. During training, I don't pay as much attention to HR as I do to current lap pace. I will also hit lap button manually if I need to focus on shorter intervals. But cadence is still critical.
@ Al - you mention you hit "lap" when you start a climb of any significance. Is there a minimum metric you consider significant? Do you look at grade, distance, and/or time spent?
Like Al, I seem to change my Garmin fields at least a couple times per season, depending on my focus at the time. I currently ride IM with my 800, it has a ton of fields, so I can and do put lots of data up on that thing. But 95% of the time I'm just looking at my 3s power, with the other 5% looking at Lap NP, time and HR.
Which means . . . if I were to put my 910 on the bike for an IM, I would put 3s P, Lap NP (auto-lapping every 5 miles to give me a new 13-16-minute window in which to execute), HR (to watch over the last 60-90 minutes to give me a run HR benchmark) and time (for food/drink reminders).
On the run, I usually only have pace, lap pace (auto-lapping every mile, lap pace gives me a bigger snapshot of my pacing, as current pace often jumps around) and HR on my 910. That gives me 99% of the data I need. At about Mile 23, I manually scroll to a screen with nothing but Time of Day. If it says 5:30 pm, I know I've got to hustle to break 11 hours. If it says 11:25 pm, it means no more walking if I want a medal.
Don't hold me to ^^, as it will probably change in a few months.
Posted By <a href='http://members.endurancenation.us/ActivityFeed/tabid/61/userid/2855/Default.aspx' class='af-profile-link'>David Walters</a> on 22 Apr 2015 01:26 PM @ Al - you mention you hit "lap" when you start a climb of any significance. Is there a minimum metric you consider significant? Do you look at grade, distance, and/or time spent?
Thinking about it...I'm talking about IMs only ...there's rolling terrain, and there's sustained climbs. A sustained climb to me is at least 200 vertical feet, often more, and lasts 2/3rds of a mile or more, and takes five minutes or more. Those seem to be the criteria which trigger for me starting a new lap. Some climbs take more than 20 minutes; if the grade is steady, I treat the whole climb as one lap. I think doing it manually helps with two things: it keeps my attention on the terrain and what I should be doing, and it helps me stay focused on the process of the race. There's also the benefit of isolating *downhills* where I have a tendency to soft pedal. Hitting lap at the crest of a climb keeps me honest on the downhill as well.
Comments
For Run (auto lap every mile):
Screen 1 (What am I doing RIGHT NOW and where the hell am I): Current Pace, Current HR, Total Time (nutrition is tied to this info), Total Distance
Screen 2 (How close to cut-off am I and will I make it): Time of Day, Lap Pace (which is more steady than current)
For Bike (auto lap every 10 miles, alert every 15 minutes for water reminder):
Screen 1 (What am I doing RIGHT NOW and where the hell am I): Current Watts, Current HR, Total Time, Total Distance
Screen 2 (How close to cut-off am I and will I make it): Time of Day, Lap Watts
I also set up Screen 3 with NP, IFF, TSS to spot check myself to make sure I'm sticking to my plan.
Swim - 75 meter pool, beep every 30 minutes.
Bike - Speed, cadence (alert if below __), auto pause for outdoor rides, time (00:00:00) for indoor drills/workouts, 1 mile alerts. If I'm outdoors I only want to know how fast I'm going and how long I've been out, same with racing.
I keep my old 310xt on the handlebars for indoor only workouts because it's synced with my cylcops power beam pro.
Run - I have 3 workouts that I programmed into garmin connect and I can change them up a bit and send them to the watch. Otherwise for a HR run I have it set to beep if the HR is too low or too high. Cadence beeps if too low. 1 mile alerts. I know I've had a good run if the fkg thing isn't screaming at me constantly.
I'd prefer not to have to look at it all the time, I'll see the data on the PC when I get home. That way I can compare how I FEEL to the data.
OH, only one screen for running, 2 for the bike, scrolling.
Speaking just to bike leg of race ... I use my Garmin as a back-up system to the Joule I have on my handlebars. But I do think talking about what to view during a race is helpful.
First off, I am a believer in manually hitting the lap button depending on terrain features, the nature of the course, etc. Setting auto lap to miles or time could conflate information about going uphill with some down or flat segments, or even slowing for an aid station. So, EG, I will hit "lap" when I start a climb of any significance, and hit it again at the top. If I'm in a long flat, like @ IM AZ, I will hit lap 20 @ minutes maximum.
What am I looking at during the lap? Most important are the power #s: current (3 or 5 sec average) power, and IF of the current lap (one could also choose NP of the current lap, but I think in % terms when racing, so I like to see that metric). I also look at current lap time, so I know when I need to hit lap again. Were I using the Garmin, I'd have a 4th data field on the main screen to fill. I'd suggest HR or cadence. Garmin offers multiple pages, so, like Nemo, I have one which shows totals for the leg I'm on: distance, time, IF/NP. But, really, most data are distracting, and not helpful to having a successful race. Current watts, lap IF/NP, lap time, and maybe HR, cadence, and % grade are the only things I pay attention to during the bike leg of a race. My Joule has six data fields, so I can see them all in a glance.
On the run, I have gone thru all sorts of phases over the past 15 years about which metrics to follow. I started out running by HR (this was before pace watches had been invented.) Then I tried pace for a while. Then I switched to wearing a tiny Timex which showed me the time of day, time of the leg, and manually hitting "lap" when I came to a mile marker, to see my last lap pace. Truthfully, that method produced the best races. I even took off my HR strap in T2. The past 2-3 years, I have gotten more nuanced about HR, and use that again as a primary driver of my run leg. I wear a Garmin (its a Fenix2, but the same concept as the 910), and have two screens, both with four fields, that I use for both racing and training.
First shows moving time, cadence, HR, and distance (total). Second shows lap time, lap pace, HR, and cadence, with auto-lap at 1 mile. You can glean from this that HR and cadence are of prime importance to me. I want to be running @ 89-90 rpm, and keeping my HR in a specific zone during the race, whatever the terrain or temperature. During training, I don't pay as much attention to HR as I do to current lap pace. I will also hit lap button manually if I need to focus on shorter intervals. But cadence is still critical.
Like Al, I seem to change my Garmin fields at least a couple times per season, depending on my focus at the time. I currently ride IM with my 800, it has a ton of fields, so I can and do put lots of data up on that thing. But 95% of the time I'm just looking at my 3s power, with the other 5% looking at Lap NP, time and HR.
Which means . . . if I were to put my 910 on the bike for an IM, I would put 3s P, Lap NP (auto-lapping every 5 miles to give me a new 13-16-minute window in which to execute), HR (to watch over the last 60-90 minutes to give me a run HR benchmark) and time (for food/drink reminders).
On the run, I usually only have pace, lap pace (auto-lapping every mile, lap pace gives me a bigger snapshot of my pacing, as current pace often jumps around) and HR on my 910. That gives me 99% of the data I need. At about Mile 23, I manually scroll to a screen with nothing but Time of Day. If it says 5:30 pm, I know I've got to hustle to break 11 hours. If it says 11:25 pm, it means no more walking if I want a medal.
Don't hold me to ^^, as it will probably change in a few months.
I think doing it manually helps with two things: it keeps my attention on the terrain and what I should be doing, and it helps me stay focused on the process of the race. There's also the benefit of isolating *downhills* where I have a tendency to soft pedal. Hitting lap at the crest of a climb keeps me honest on the downhill as well.