What Watts/HR Garmin settings for Pacing a Race the EN way?
What do you recommend for watch settings for racing the EN way for Bike & Run?
For the bike I use power and HR, should I set it for 30sec average so it's not jumping all around?
For run I use HR, should I take real HR or average HR? I could also use stryd power but don't have much experience there.
Thanks for recommendations!
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My preferences: For bike power, it is too variable as you say to look at "current" power, but 30s is too smooth, too delayed. I use 3s or 5s (depending on the device).
For the run, if you've been training with HR, you will want to know your current HR, not your average over time, as it already shows a delayed response. E.g., won't start to rise for 10-30 sec after beginning a hill. So it's fine on the flats, but you need to be aware of the delay HR shows when both increasing and decreasing effort.
Once you have an innate understanding of the correlation between your Stryd "power" number and your desired pace on the flats, you can start to use that, as it will be pretty much of an instantaneous change when going up or down or increasing or decreasing pace. The idea being in a race to keep your power at a pre-determined level for any given portion of the run.
@Al Truscott thanks for this - very helpful!
@Sue DeJesus - for the bike, I look at P and also Pnorm for the lap . @Al Truscott is spot on about power being jumpy; I would add that it also depends on your power meter. I used to have a Stages power meter and I needed either 3s or 5s averaging on it to keep things smooth. Now I have a Power2Max and I suspect that there is some smoothing built into the device, because when I put it on 3s averaging, it is not responsive enough.
For what it is worth, here are screenshots of my main screen on bike (820)...
I have my bike screen set up to lap every 3 miles. The default is 5 miles. I use 3 because it helps keep my normalized power lap "fresher" and updating more often. I use the normalized power lap as my "target" and I use the power (with different power meters, 3s or 5s avg power) as the "instant" reference to hit the Pnorm lap.
I use cadence as a because (for me), it is an indicator of how I am doing. When cadence starts to drop, it generally either means fatigue or nutrition/hydration and I take action. Same with HR - too low generally implies hydration / nutrition ( get more calories in) whereas too high means I am working too hard (above power target, riding too hard on a hot day, etc).
I know a lot of people don't have speed on their race screen. I need it. I do not "target" speed... I do use speed for situational awareness to help take slow parts out of the course. As the hours go by, I sometimes get "zoned out" and lose a little focus. It is easy to get slow through aid stations, not get back up to speed over the top of a hill, get distracted by some technical aspects of the course (no pass zone, orange barrels, etc) . Each time I slow, I use the speed to make certain that I am "racing again" after passing the obstacle as opposed to navigating, spacing out etc.
Grade is also for situation awareness. Sometimes false flats completely fake me out, then I start worrying about why my watts are high and I am going so slowly. I use grade to keep my sanity during those stretches :-)
...and running (Fenix 5+)
I'm sure everyone has a different approach to this, but here is how I use my watch screen while running
I generally target power while running because I know roughly what powers correspond to which paces for me on windless, flat ground. For example, when I get off the bike, I try to get my power to ≈225w and then hold it steady.
The lap pace will be nutty during this time and HR doesn't know what to do. I hold 225-ish until my cadence comes above 170. For me, this is an indicator that I am starting to have a running-like motion as opposed to whatever I have when I get off the bike.
After cadence comes up and I start feeling a little bit human, then I raise power to target race watts (240-250w IM / 250-260w HIM) and watch HR to see how it adjusts. If HR is steady, then I hold the power steady. If HR is too high, then I would back down a little. When I am climbing, I let power raise 5-10%. When I am running downhill, I let power fall 0-5%.
@Rich Stanbaugh Thank you so much! I can see your logic here. Very helpful.