# Garmin Edge Heart Rate Zones, What Do They Mean ?



## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

My (and everyone elses) Edge 705 lists heart rate in BMP, % of Max HR and 5 Heart Rate zones, but what do they mean ?

Zone 1, I assume is recovery ?

Zone 5, I assume is the red line zone ?

is zone 3 the fat burn zone ?


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## Armegatron (6 Apr 2010)

gb155 said:


> My (and everyone elses) Edge 705 lists heart rate in BMP, % of Max HR and 5 Heart Rate zones, but what do they mean ?
> 
> Zone 1, I assume is recovery ?
> 
> ...



I have some good links open on zones, so Ill share them 

http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/heart_rate/heart_rate_zone_calculator_abcc_bcf.html

http://www.twrc.rowing.org.uk/coach/heartrate.htm

http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bcfguide.html

The second link is for rowing but you should be able to get the point. Its defiantly interesting stuff and even after reading those pages Im not 100% clued up on it


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## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

mike.pembo said:


> I have some good links open on zones, so Ill share them
> 
> http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/heart_rate/heart_rate_zone_calculator_abcc_bcf.html
> 
> ...



Guessing by looking at those that 2.5-3.5 seems to be a sweet spot, I have never trained with HR before and done pretty well but I noticed that keeping below the red line zone keeps me going for much longer but when I hit the red zone I stuggle on longer commutes and the day after I tend to feel aweful too if I have spent too much time in it.

Gaz


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## Rob3rt (6 Apr 2010)

There is a lot of info on HR training out there, basically, in very rough terms the lower 2 zones are good for warming up and for recovery rides, the next 2 zones for endurance, the top 2 for speed/power training or something along those very rough lines. 

So being very very basic you should select the area of your performance you wish to develop and ride in the respective zones. Its a bit more complicated than this in reality, since you cant just train in the zone you wish to develop constantly, but im not knowledgable enough to provide training examples. Training rides should be interspersed with some lower zone rides for recovery.

So, if you are going into the red you are hitting something like 75-80% of your MHR (probly zone 5 maybe higher)? If so you are training in your anearobic zone or on the border of your aerobic capacity, hence why you feel rough (achey muscles?) the next day, your muscles are flooded with lactic acid, if you spin out in the lower zones for a few hours the following day you will help relieve this.

Its worth bearing in mind that difference coaches define the zones with different cut offs.


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## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

Ok so looking at Garmin connect my stats for today are:

This morning:

Avg HR: 77 % of Max Max HR: 98 % of Max

This evening:

Avg HR: 82 % of Max Max HR: 96 % of Max

Tonight was a REALLY bad headwind so lets discount these figures, and look at 77% of MHR over 16 miles, is that too high ? or on the high side of where I want to be.


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## Rob3rt (6 Apr 2010)

gb155 said:


> Ok so looking at Garmin connect my stats for today



What are you aiming at performance wise? Or dont you actually care about performance and more just about monitoring your exertion to pace yourself?

77% is like zone 4 I think? Thats probly in the sort of zone where you would be targetting endurance events training at/close to your race effort pace, I think, Im not 100%.

You should avoid being at 96% of your max HR, thats a very high level of exertion, like a sprint at the end of a race style effort, basically the kind of effort where if you try maintain it for any sort of extended period you will eventuallty be forced to stop through pure exhaustion, vomitting or passing out. If you are aching and feeling rough the next day, maybe you are spending too much time up here.

Also are you working out your MHR from your age or through a ramp test? Because lab tests show in reality MHR is typically higher than that given by equations, so your zones might be innaccurate. Not that HR is super accurate in the 1st place.

Another thing I recall reading, Average HR is a pretty useless statistic, time in zone is the important one. Since average could land in zone through spending substantual periods above or below zone.


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## Crackle (6 Apr 2010)

Do you know what your actual max HR is. Not your theoretical but your actual Max?


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## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> What are you aiming at performance wise? Or dont you actually care about performance and more just about monitoring your exertion to pace yourself?
> 
> 77% is like zone 4 I think? Thats probly in the sort of zone where you would be targetting endurance events training at/close to your race effort pace, I think, Im not 100%.
> 
> ...



Well still have a few extra stone im looking for both weight loss and better performance.

when I hit 96% it was a sprint, so thats not too bad then.

ermm I worked it out from my age as opposed to any tests.

Ahh right, Garmin connect says this re zones:

Avg HR: 2.4 z Max HR: 5.8 z

Thats just for the AM commute, didnt even notice that button in Garmin connect before, maybe it new LOL

I think the following (Along with the headwind) would explane my higher heart rate this evening.








Thanks for your help


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## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

Crackle said:


> Do you know what your actual max HR is. Not your theoretical but your actual Max?




No but a ride up the Alps should tell me LOL


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## Crackle (6 Apr 2010)

gb155 said:


> No but a ride up the Alps should tell me LOL



Without doing a ramp test the general advice is to take your max. as the highest you've ever seen and then adjust your zones over time according to feel. 

If I hadn't done a self test, then I would have taken 186 as my Max. in fact it's 191, so not to far out and as it was a self test, that 191 could be wrong too.


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## Rob3rt (6 Apr 2010)

Bill Gates told me a way to self test your max HR.

To quote him



> You need a 15 minute warm up and then build the effort up in 2 minute steps. i.e. ride quite hard for 2 minutes then change gear up or spin the gear you are in faster. After another 2 minutes do the same until you feel that you can hardly keep it going any longer; then sprint for your life. You HR should be at max at this point.


Have a few days of rest before trying this, then give it a go. Secondly get a resting heart rate measurement by wearing the garmin to bed then as soon as you wake up, turn on the garmin and take your reading, getting up and moving about will raise your HR, best to take it as soon as you wake (or you could do it manually by counting your pulse). Adjust your zones accordingly. Roughly, (MHR-RHR)/6 gives you the boundaries. The garmin should allow you to modify your MHR and/or the zone boundaries, at least I'd hope it does since its an expensive bit of kit.

Then, start to read the time in zone statistics rather than average HR over your commute. You should most likely should stay within zone 3-4, will burn fat, give you an aerobic workout without making you ache too much. Wont hurt to throw in the occasional interval at a higher % though. But if you do, go easy the day after.

I dont know if you already mentioned which garmin you are using, if not could you share which model you are using and your opinion on it. Im in the market for buying one! Looking at the Edge 500. I was going to buy just a HRM but to get a decent one with programmable zones and workouts (intervals etc), its looking like its going to be worth a punt just jumping up to an all in one system.


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## PK99 (6 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> There is a lot of info on HR training out there, basically, in very rough terms the lower 2 zones are good for warming up and for recovery rides, the next 2 zones for endurance, the top 2 for speed/power training or something along those very rough lines.



from "Heart zone cycling"

zones 1-3 = health 

zones 2-5 = fitness

zones 3-5 = performance

depending on what you are trying to achieve you should set the bulk of your time in the appropriate band BUT also ensuring time across the individual zones as the physiological benefits are zone specific


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## psmiffy (6 Apr 2010)

I think it is usefull to use the zones in conjunction with percieved "exertion" of excersice - I am a mid 50s geezer of dubious athletic abilities and do not indulge in competitive cycling - general fitness an a bit of weight control is my aim - increasing my performance in terms of power would be nice but not the objective - nonetheless, a small improvement in my power output is generally an end product of my regime - My target is to generally to do sessions that give me 40mins of moderate excercise - Uncomfortable to the top of uncomfortable - still able to control my breathing but conversation starts to become difficult - in the gym this is a session of about an hour giving me 40 minutes of Zone 3 with a few minutes of Zone 4 - on the bike I get a similar proportion amount of moderate with slightly more Zone 4 for a two hour ride assuming I have picked a route that has sufficient hills - The HR monitor is asimple way of ensuring that I amnot wasting my time and also alerts me if I should be out of sorts - If the perceived exertion does not tally with what I am expecting as a heart rate - I find the key to judging the overall length of excercise is to examine the historgram of the zone times afterwards and adjust the session lengths and intensity so I meet my personal objectives.


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## gb155 (6 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> Bill Gates told me a way to self test your max HR.
> 
> To quote him
> 
> ...





Ahhh Bill Gates 

Will give it a go, re resting HR I have actually done that already and had it down to 52BPM, but never put that into the Garmin so will look at that later.

Thanks again for your advice.

I use the 705, AMAZING bit of kit but to be fair the 500 is just as good providing you dont want mapping, I actually got rid of a 705thinking it was overkill, after 4 weeks I could cope no more and purchased another one, this one will not be leaving me, not till Garmin bring out the 805 (or what ever they call it) 

The 705 is a little bulky but on the stem you dont notice that, the battery is a good 10 hours with backlight on, its really down to $$$'s between the 2, as I say if you dont want maps jump into the 500 you will love it.


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## jimboalee (6 Apr 2010)

Here's my knowledge on HR zones.

1. 50 - 60% MHR = Moderate Aerobic zone.

2. 60 - 70% MHR = Weight Management zone.

3. 70 - 80% MHR = Aerobic Fitness zone.

4. 80 - 90% MHR = Peak Aerobic Peformance zone.

5. >90% LT zone.


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## gb155 (7 Apr 2010)

jimboalee said:


> Here's my knowledge on HR zones.
> 
> 1. 50 - 60% MHR = Moderate Aerobic zone.
> 
> ...




Thanks Jim


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## gb155 (7 Apr 2010)

Pretty much spent most of today in the low zone 3, Garmin gives me a zonal average of 2.7 and a max of 5.6.


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## Rob3rt (7 Apr 2010)

gb155 said:


> Pretty much spent most of today in the low zone 3, Garmin gives me a zonal average of 2.7 and a max of 5.6.



I'd ignore that zonal average, it could, for example (of the extreme's) be the by product of equal parts being at RHR and MHR, hence its useless. Thats if its taking average using a typical method rather than some bespoke algorithm which isnt actually an average.

If the garmin gives access to "time in zone" (which it should for that price) this is the key stat. For example if you aim for something like 60 mins in zone 4 and the time in zone is say 53 mins. Then you did a decent job (bearing in mind some time will have been spent ramping up to that zone), now you could check the neighbouring zone times. How much time did you spend in the zone directly above and below your target zone?


Also thanks for your feedback on the Garmin, mapping would be nice, but I'm looking more for a training tool rather than a touring device. As far as I know you can still put routes into the 500 but it wont provide full maps, just feed you breadcrumbs, this is good enough for me.


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## gb155 (7 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> I'd ignore that zonal average, it could, for example (of the extreme's) be the by product of equal parts being at RHR and MHR, hence its useless. Thats if its taking average using a typical method rather than some bespoke algorithm which isnt actually an average.
> 
> If the garmin gives access to "time in zone" (which it should for that price) this is the key stat. For example if you aim for something like 60 mins in zone 4 and the time in zone is say 53 mins. Then you did a decent job (bearing in mins some time will have been spent ramping up to that zone), now you could check the neighbouring zone times. How much time did you spend in the zone directly above and below your target zone?
> 
> ...



Thanks for info, It makes a little more sense when you look at it that way.

Im not sure that Garmin connect has a time in zone figure but I know that training peaks does and I believe Garmin training center does too, so I will have a look this evening and see what the score is.

With regard to Garmin if you not looking for the mapping side I would say go with the 500, In all fairness a 500 would be enough for me but I wanted the "what if" option of the maps just incase I ever needed it, be it the 705 or 500 I just couldnt live without my Garmin now.


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## gb155 (7 Apr 2010)

Ok totals from this morning's 16 mile ride are:

Zone 1: 2.51

Zone 2: 17.18

Zone 3: 33.35

Zone 4: 16.46

Zone 5: 0.18

Sooooooooo, is this good or bad ???

Thanks in advance.


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## Rob3rt (7 Apr 2010)

Its good from where im standing. You spent the majority of your time split between health (zone 1 and 2) and fitness zones (zone 3 and 4) most of your time spent in the lower intensity fitness zone (zone 3). Since you said you wanted to lose some lbs etc this is a good area to be in.

Someone with more knowledge than me (Ive only a very basic understanding from recently reading up on HR training) will probably be able to provide better feedback and suggestions etc.


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## gb155 (8 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> Its good from where im standing. You spent the majority of your time split between health (zone 1 and 2) and fitness zones (zone 3 and 4) most of your time spent in the lower intensity fitness zone (zone 3). Since you said you wanted to lose some lbs etc this is a good area to be in.
> 
> Someone with more knowledge than me (Ive only a very basic understanding from recently reading up on HR training) will probably be able to provide better feedback and suggestions etc.



Much appreciated thanks.

Just had a quick look at the time in zones for the evening ride and noticed that 

Zone 1: 0.30

Zone 2: 1.32

Zone 3: 8.57

Zone 4: 24.12

Zone 5: 5.23

So its fair to say I get a nice mix of zones on both commutes, A good reason for higher zones in the evening is apart from one short section im pretty much climbing for 8 miles non stop (New route) and as we all do im sure we want to get home asap so ride faster


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## gb155 (10 Apr 2010)

Had a 20 miles commute yesterday, was in Zone 3 for 40 mins and Zone 4 for 30 mins, My muscles today are SOOOOOO tender, but I dont feel one little bit tired.


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## gb155 (11 Apr 2010)

gb155 said:


> Had a 20 miles commute yesterday, was in Zone 3 for 40 mins and Zone 4 for 30 mins, My muscles today are SOOOOOO tender, but I dont feel one little bit tired.



Did a "recovery" 13 miles yesterday, dont feel so tender today, was it just down to pushing myself so hard ?


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## Rob3rt (12 Apr 2010)

I dont know, just keep at it, a bit of aching and tenderness, as long as it doesnt feel like injury is fine. I've been aching like mad all weekend, not sure if its because of my 1st 50 mile ride, or because of some dude in his tin can knocking me off 

Can I enquire, does the Garmin have 5 or 6 HR zones? You only mentioned up to zone 5 in your prev post, I dont know if that means you didnt go into zone 6 at all or if the Garmin doesnt have a zone 6. It doesnt matter all that much, just curious.


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## gb155 (12 Apr 2010)

Ouch you got knocked off? Hope your ok mate ?

did 20 miles again before work, really really tender to the touch, but walking and cycling (Im sure, not left work yet, but it was on friday) are fine with no pain at all.

well done on your first 50 miler though 

Im pretty sure it only has 5 zone, I hit 98% of MHR and was in zone 5.9, so actually that means it has 6 doesnt it ?

Hope that helps 

Gaz


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## Rob3rt (12 Apr 2010)

Im totally fine  Driver acknowledged it was his fault, was very apologetic, no injuries that I can tell and bike almost unscathed. Not taking anything any further, everyone makes mistakes.

If its tender to the touch, dont prod  Thanks for clarification on zone, doesnt make much difference, its just split things up into less zone, hence each zone covers a larger proportion.


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## gb155 (14 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> Im totally fine  Driver acknowledged it was his fault, was very apologetic, no injuries that I can tell and bike almost unscathed. Not taking anything any further, everyone makes mistakes.
> 
> If its tender to the touch, dont prod  Thanks for clarification on zone, doesnt make much difference, its just split things up into less zone, hence each zone covers a larger proportion.



Glad all is ok, nice that the driver held his (or her) hands up, as cyclists and motorists we need to exisit together, Im sure you dealing with it how you have will go some way to a little harmoney, all too much after an accident people just want to put the boot into each other.....anways LOLOL



Re Zones: 

you have 

0.1-0.9
1.1-1.9
2.1-2.9
3.1-3.9
4.1-4.9
5.1-5.9

So on the face of it there are 5, but if you count the whole range there is 6, I love my Garmin


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## jimboalee (14 Apr 2010)

Had a look in the Garmin 705 manual.

Page 35.
"Heart rate zones".

You can have them 'Based on Max' or 'Custom' ???? 

'Based on Max', the manual says;-

Zone 1, 50% - 60%
Zone 2, 60% - 70%
Zone 3, 70% - 80%
Zone 4, 80% - 90%
Zone 5, 90% - 100%


It doesn't say much about 'Custom' so I guess this is 'User definable'; and you can enter what HR values you want for each zone.


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## redddraggon (14 Apr 2010)

jimboalee said:


> Had a look in the Garmin 705 manual.
> 
> Page 35.
> "Heart rate zones".
> ...



Custom is so that you can use the karvonen formula if you want.


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## jimboalee (14 Apr 2010)

As you can see from my ignorance, I don't use a HRM.

I go be 'feelie', as in, how my legs hurt.

I ride the same 10% hill every day. Over the months since Xmas, the hill has got easier ( or faster ) and a 100km DIY has become a lot easier.

In my language, there is only one HR zone worth worrying about. Flatline. This means there is something terribly wrong and the reason why everything has gone dark grey coloured.

Other than this, if my legs burn and they feel achey for a couple of days, and the next week's ascent of the 10% is faster or easier, I'm improving.


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## Rob3rt (14 Apr 2010)

I got hold of the Edge 500 manual in pdf, need to read it and see if it will allow me to program the relevant HR interval training etc before I buy one! Also need to figure out if the speed sensor is prioritised over the gps speed and hence the edge using this sensor instead of gps for your speed data or if its used to correct for gps blips etc.


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## amaferanga (14 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> I got hold of the Edge 500 manual in pdf, need to read it and see if it will allow me to program the relevant HR interval training etc before I buy one! Also need to figure out if the speed sensor is prioritised over the gps speed and hence the edge using this sensor instead of gps for your speed data or if its used to correct for gps blips etc.



If the GSC-10 speed/cadence sensor is present then your Edge will use that for speed over GPS derived speed. If you do get the Edge 500 and speed/cadence sensor be sure to manually set the wheel size and do not have it set to auto calculate. 

I have a Forerunner 310xt that I use for cycling (though it can be used for running) and its pretty similar in function to the Edge 500. I'd definitely recommend one as a training aid, but if you want to navigate as well then the Edge 705 is a much better option IMO.


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## gb155 (20 Apr 2010)

amaferanga said:


> If the GSC-10 speed/cadence sensor is present then your Edge will use that for speed over GPS derived speed. If you do get the Edge 500 and speed/cadence sensor be sure to manually set the wheel size and do not have it set to auto calculate.
> 
> I have a Forerunner 310xt that I use for cycling (though it can be used for running) and its pretty similar in function to the Edge 500. I'd definitely recommend one as a training aid, but if you want to navigate as well then the Edge 705 is a much better option IMO.



and if you want speed from just the Satalite but still want cadence just leave the wheel magnate off the wheel


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## Rob3rt (20 Apr 2010)

Based partly on the feedback here I decided to spring for it and I bought an Edge 500 yesterday, 1st commute with it today, compared to my old wired computer wheel magent based, distance exact match, average speeds pretty close (using only gps on the edge today, I do have the Hr and Cadence/Speed sensor but was too pre-occupied to fit them to my bike last night).

Just having a mosey at the data in training centre right now 

edit: hah, at the blip where i did a U-turn to collect my wooly hat which was blown from my head, knew i should have put my helmet on, even if it doesnt save me in an accident at least it keeps my hat from blowing off  This is going to be fun! MHR Test this week is what I'm thinking!


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## gb155 (20 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> Based partly on the feedback here I decided to spring for it and I bought an Edge 500 yesterday, 1st commute with it today, compared to my old wired computer wheel magent based, distance exact match, average speeds pretty close (using only gps on the edge today, I do have the Hr and Cadence/Speed sensor but was too pre-occupied to fit them to my bike last night).
> 
> Just having a mosey at the data in training centre right now
> 
> edit: hah, at the blip where i did a U-turn to collect my wooly hat which was blown from my head, knew i should have put my helmet on, even if it doesnt save me in an accident at least it keeps my hat from blowing off  This is going to be fun! MHR Test this week is what I'm thinking!




Well done 

training centre is good for geekyness

Garmin Connect is better for viewing the route in google earth and giving a decent overview without total geekeyness


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## Rob3rt (20 Apr 2010)

I will probly use Training Peaks or something once I learn what I'm doing because apparently some 3rd party software allows more fiddling with the data. But if you install google earth you can view the route on google earth through training centre. 

View > View in Google Earth > .....select the history file on drop down......



I'd like to be able to record all data with autopause off so I dont lose data, then eliminate the stop points to get my moving average for working out my pace over say 10 miles with stops removed. How can I do this?

I could use auto pause on the device, but then I'd lose data I may want for other purposes.


Got a good deal on it, price match in Evans got price down to like £195 inc the cadence sensor and HRM, price based on next day delivery from the site they price matched.

Must buy Joe Friels Cyclists training bible now to tell me how to use my data, hah


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## amaferanga (20 Apr 2010)

Training Peaks is a bit pointless unless you are also using a power meter. Have you tried Sportracks? Its not laways the most user friendly software, but it is free and there are loads of plugins for it that allow you to much more with your data than you can with GTC and GC.

As for getting your moving average - GC gives you this anyway. I use a Garmin 310xt (quite similar to the Edge 500) without autopause so I get an average speed that includes stops and a moving average that excludes them.

When you have a speed/cadence sensor your Edge will use it for speed over GPS even when GPS is enabled (contrary to the popular misconception). One word of warning for when you start using it (I've posted this somewhere before, hope it wasn't on this thread ): set the wheel size to custom. Do not use the auto calibrate function.


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## Rob3rt (20 Apr 2010)

amaferanga said:


> Training Peaks is a bit pointless unless you are also using a power meter. Have you tried Sportracks? Its not laways the most user friendly software, but it is free and there are loads of plugins for it that allow you to much more with your data than you can with GTC and GC.
> 
> As for getting your moving average - GC gives you this anyway. I use a Garmin 310xt (quite similar to the Edge 500) without autopause so I get an average speed that includes stops and a moving average that excludes them.
> 
> When you have a speed/cadence sensor your Edge will use it for speed over GPS even when GPS is enabled (contrary to the popular misconception). One word of warning for when you start using it (I've posted this somewhere before, hope it wasn't on this thread ): set the wheel size to custom. Do not use the auto calibrate function.



I'll be setting up my cadence sensor tonight i think, I'll do a rollout test like I did with my old computer for my wheel size.

Thanks for the suggested software I look it up, I havent decided, nor researched the best software for me yet, I just know of Training peaks supporting the Edge. The problem with the moving average from Garmin is that it doesnt appear to let me threshold it myself, i.e if I autopause I can threshold at say 3 mph, or 8mph or 12mph, whatever I feel is representative of my route, but Garmin Connect just gives a value for moving average, what does it set as the pause speed?. I have no idea the cut off point they have used.


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## zacklaws (20 Apr 2010)

As suggested, training peaks is more suited for use with a power meter, I have it myself and it is good but there is a lot of its functions that I cannot utilise as I do not have a power meter.

And as suggested, use Sporttracks, I've been using it for a couple of years now and it more than does what I need along with the plugins, for example training Load. 

Do not worry about using the Garmin with autopause turned on, GTC, cannot work out how long you was stopped for, but sporttracks can, and will tell you when you was stopped, also in GTC you can set speed zones up, so just set one up to show you as stopped ie 0mph to 1mph. As for setting the cutoff to something like 3mph, what can happen is, if you have some severe hills to climb, then you will loose all that info as you crawl up a hill, or even if your stuck in traffic crawling, even set at 10mph will loose you a lot of info. I did my first ride this weekend with autopause turned off, and overall it screwed most of the info up, and I then had to try and work out for how long was I stopped, as Sporttracks could not even work it out. I even thought of editing the stopped parts out, but that is a major task on its own. 

>>>I could use auto pause on the device, but then I'd lose data I may want for other purposes.<<<<

The only info you would loose, is how long you were stopped for, but as mentioned, sporttracks will tell you that.

As for the Garmin using the sensor over GPS first, My Edge 305 is the other way round, as stated in the manual and the sensor comes into use if I loose GPS signal or its a weak signal, and also I have to turn GPS off when I use my indoor trainer, otherwise it does not record from the sensor, as it presumes by receiving the GPS signal that I am stationary. But maybe the 500 works the other way round.


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## Rob3rt (22 Apr 2010)

I set up all the other sensors, uploaded some data etc, all seems to be working okay, the courses feature is very good (made coure on map my ride), got me to my collegues home with no wrong turns at all, 20 mins faster than he can get there himself. Im very impressed with this feature.

One odd thing though, even though my cadence speed sensor is present and wheel size is set up accuratelly (Ive done a rollout on it), im not getting equal distance and speed readings vs my old lidl computer(which runs on the front wheel, also set up using a rollout test), it can be up to 0.3 mile out over 7.5-8 miles. 

Also my garmin claims I hit 41mph (on a flat route), which isnt the case (my lidl computer would have registered a new high speed if I was going this fast), then when I upload the data top speed on the trace is 34mph which is a strange discrepancy. Even odder this peak doesnt correspond to the highest cadence peak, which makes no sence whatsoever since I ride fixed! If it was running on gps, id accept this as a blip, but with the speed sensor present what could be causing such gripes? Interference?

With distance calculation, does distance come from rear wheel or gps when the cadence/speed sensor is present? I know the speed comes from sensor instead of gps when present.


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## amaferanga (22 Apr 2010)

Rob3rt said:


> I set up all the other sensors, uploaded some data etc, all seems to be working okay, the courses feature is very good (made coure on map my ride), got me to my collegues home with no wrong turns at all, 20 mins faster than he can get there himself. Im very impressed with this feature.
> 
> One odd thing though, even though my cadence speed sensor is present and wheel size is set up accuratelly (Ive done a rollout on it), im not getting equal distance and speed readings vs my old lidl computer(which runs on the front wheel, also set up using a rollout test), it can be up to 0.3 mile out over 7.5-8 miles.



Are you using the same setting for your Garmin and Lidl computer? Did you do the roll out test sat on the bike?



Rob3rt said:


> Also my garmin claims I hit 41mph (on a flat route), which isnt the case (my lidl computer would have registered a new high speed if I was going this fast), then when I upload the data top speed on the trace is 34mph which is a strange discrepancy. Even odder this peak doesnt correspond to the highest cadence peak, which makes no sence whatsoever since I ride fixed! If it was running on gps, id accept this as a blip, but with the speed sensor present what could be causing such gripes? Interference?



Where are you looking at the data? If its Garmin Connect then it smooths the data so that could explain the difference. The max speed not corresponding to max cadence is a strange one though. Is there any chance your cadence sensor could be missing occasional crank rotations? If you are having trouble getting the magnet close enough to the sensor then you could get hold of some rare earth magnets (for pennies from ebay) - much more powerful and more discrete than the Garmin crank magnet.



Rob3rt said:


> With distance calculation, does distance come from rear wheel or gps when the cadence/speed sensor is present? I know the speed comes from sensor instead of gps when present.



I think it depends on the analysis software. I asked this on the Garmin forums and didn't really get a clear answer even from the Garmin techs.


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## Rob3rt (22 Apr 2010)

amaferanga said:


> Are you using the same setting for your Garmin and Lidl computer? Did you do the roll out test sat on the bike?
> 
> *The Lidl computer is set to a roll-out based on the front wheel, the Garmin set to a rollout based on the back wheel, not set to the same size as the front and back are different sizes since I took the front wheel from my other bike. For rollout I was not sat on the bike but applying some weight.*
> 
> ...





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