Using Garmin Workouts
Got some interval work on the training plan? Struggle with having to keep an eye on your watch for distance or time so you know when the interval ends? Sick of the endless watch checking to make sure you're running at target pace? Worried about losing count of how many reps you've done or how many you've got left to go?
I shared recently about how I use Garmin Workouts and a few people asked how to set them up, so I thought I'd put it in blog form! Have a read below to see how easy it is. Once you start, you won't go back!
What are Garmin Workouts?
You can create individual workouts with your choice of intervals, distances and/or times, goal paces, and send them to your Garmin. Your Garmin then tells you when you're warming up, when to start picking up the pace, when to recover. You can even set goal paces for each step too, so it can tell you to speed up or slow down according to your goals. It keeps count of what rep you're up to, so you can switch that brain off and put all your energy into running!
Sounds awesome! How do I make one?
You can do it from within your Garmin Connect App (or on your desktop). The instructions following are for creating a workout on the App.
Step 1: Find your way to the right place.
Within Garmin Connect, click on the right hand side of the bottom dashboard where it says 'More'. Then click 'Training' then 'Workouts'.
Step 2. Well done! You're ready to create a new Workout.
Click on 'Create a Workout', select 'Run'. This brings you to the fun part. Note - it is exactly the same process to create a Cycle, swim etc workout so once you have figured out one, you know how to do the rest.
The default workout you will see consists of 'Warm Up', 'Run' and 'Cool Down'. You can add, remove, and switch around to your heart's content from here.
We'll start with the warm up: (Not doing a warm up? Ok, but if you're doing some speed work it's probably a good idea to...)
Click on 'Warm Up' and you'll see all the information allocated to that step. Under 'Duration Type' you can elect to define your warm up by distance (eg 2km), time (eg 10 mins) or lap button press (whenever you like, when you feel ready, by hitting the lap button). If you're not sure what the lap button is, it's the one on the bottom right of your watch (see pic).
At the end of this step, the watch will beep and vibrate to let you know it is your next step - the RUN.
The default setting is just one 'Run' interval. You have a few options here. You can either click 'Add a step' to add another Run block OR you can 'Add a repeat'.
If you are wanting to do repeats of a Run and Recovery set, you'll click on 'Add a repeat' to set this up once only, then duplicate as many times as you need to.
Let's set up an example workout: 6 reps of 2 mins at 5:00 min/km pace, 2 mins recovery.
Click 'Add a Repeat', then 'Repeat times' and scroll down to select 6.
In your 'Run' interval, under 'Duration Type', select Time, then under 'Duration', select 2:00 mins.
Enable the 'Intensity Target' and select 'Target Type' as Pace. Under 'Set Target' you set a range to stay within. Tip: Give yourself a reasonable buffer to allow for the GPS to catch up with you: For 5:00 min/km I would choose 4:50 - 5:10.
When you are running it will alert you whether you are in your desired zone, too fast, or too slow. Good if you're like me and shoot out the gates WAY too fast in your first interval!
In your 'Recover' interval, do the same: select Time and then 2:00 mins. You might want to set an intensity target here too. I usually do this to force myself to run a bit SLOWER for the recovery interval.
Note, you can add any number and combination of intervals, by time or distance. Reorder them by dragging and dropping.
The last step is 'Cool Down' - as per the 'Warm Up' stage, select whether you want to cool down by time, distance or lap press. Make sure you've dragged it to the last step of your workout.
Good to go? On to the next step:
Step 3: Save, then send to your watch
Choose a name for your workout, then save it to your app. It will appear in your List of 'My Workouts'. Click on it again, then send it to your watch by clicking the wee image of the arrow and the phone at the top of your screen (see following pic). Select your device and save.
Step 4: Sync the device with the app
The workout will be ready once it has synced with your phone. To use the workout on your watch, Select 'Run' Then arrow up to find your options. Your new workout will be under 'My Workouts'.
Step 5: Go out and have fun!
Step 6: Nerd out over all the run stats when you get home.
Garmin records the lap time, distance and average pace for each step. Below are my stats from a 2km warmup, 4 x 400s Run + Recovery set, 1km cooldown.
If you're into all the numbers you can analyse each Run/Recovery set separately to see how you went.
Let me know how you go. Hit me up with any questions, if I can't help I'll find the answer for you!
💖 K8
I shared recently about how I use Garmin Workouts and a few people asked how to set them up, so I thought I'd put it in blog form! Have a read below to see how easy it is. Once you start, you won't go back!
What are Garmin Workouts?
You can create individual workouts with your choice of intervals, distances and/or times, goal paces, and send them to your Garmin. Your Garmin then tells you when you're warming up, when to start picking up the pace, when to recover. You can even set goal paces for each step too, so it can tell you to speed up or slow down according to your goals. It keeps count of what rep you're up to, so you can switch that brain off and put all your energy into running!
Sounds awesome! How do I make one?
You can do it from within your Garmin Connect App (or on your desktop). The instructions following are for creating a workout on the App.
Step 1: Find your way to the right place.
Within Garmin Connect, click on the right hand side of the bottom dashboard where it says 'More'. Then click 'Training' then 'Workouts'.
Step 2. Well done! You're ready to create a new Workout.
Click on 'Create a Workout', select 'Run'. This brings you to the fun part. Note - it is exactly the same process to create a Cycle, swim etc workout so once you have figured out one, you know how to do the rest.
The default workout you will see consists of 'Warm Up', 'Run' and 'Cool Down'. You can add, remove, and switch around to your heart's content from here.
We'll start with the warm up: (Not doing a warm up? Ok, but if you're doing some speed work it's probably a good idea to...)
Click on 'Warm Up' and you'll see all the information allocated to that step. Under 'Duration Type' you can elect to define your warm up by distance (eg 2km), time (eg 10 mins) or lap button press (whenever you like, when you feel ready, by hitting the lap button). If you're not sure what the lap button is, it's the one on the bottom right of your watch (see pic).
At the end of this step, the watch will beep and vibrate to let you know it is your next step - the RUN.
The default setting is just one 'Run' interval. You have a few options here. You can either click 'Add a step' to add another Run block OR you can 'Add a repeat'.
If you are wanting to do repeats of a Run and Recovery set, you'll click on 'Add a repeat' to set this up once only, then duplicate as many times as you need to.
Let's set up an example workout: 6 reps of 2 mins at 5:00 min/km pace, 2 mins recovery.
Click 'Add a Repeat', then 'Repeat times' and scroll down to select 6.
In your 'Run' interval, under 'Duration Type', select Time, then under 'Duration', select 2:00 mins.
Enable the 'Intensity Target' and select 'Target Type' as Pace. Under 'Set Target' you set a range to stay within. Tip: Give yourself a reasonable buffer to allow for the GPS to catch up with you: For 5:00 min/km I would choose 4:50 - 5:10.
When you are running it will alert you whether you are in your desired zone, too fast, or too slow. Good if you're like me and shoot out the gates WAY too fast in your first interval!
In your 'Recover' interval, do the same: select Time and then 2:00 mins. You might want to set an intensity target here too. I usually do this to force myself to run a bit SLOWER for the recovery interval.
Note, you can add any number and combination of intervals, by time or distance. Reorder them by dragging and dropping.
The last step is 'Cool Down' - as per the 'Warm Up' stage, select whether you want to cool down by time, distance or lap press. Make sure you've dragged it to the last step of your workout.
Good to go? On to the next step:
Step 3: Save, then send to your watch
Choose a name for your workout, then save it to your app. It will appear in your List of 'My Workouts'. Click on it again, then send it to your watch by clicking the wee image of the arrow and the phone at the top of your screen (see following pic). Select your device and save.
Step 4: Sync the device with the app
The workout will be ready once it has synced with your phone. To use the workout on your watch, Select 'Run' Then arrow up to find your options. Your new workout will be under 'My Workouts'.
Step 5: Go out and have fun!
Step 6: Nerd out over all the run stats when you get home.
Garmin records the lap time, distance and average pace for each step. Below are my stats from a 2km warmup, 4 x 400s Run + Recovery set, 1km cooldown.
If you're into all the numbers you can analyse each Run/Recovery set separately to see how you went.
Let me know how you go. Hit me up with any questions, if I can't help I'll find the answer for you!
💖 K8
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