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Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin
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weakandpuny
Jan 26, 22 13:43
Post #1 of 13 (1583 views)
Greetings. I'm The new owner of a pair of Favero Assioma Duo pedals. I'm new to racing with power. I've trained with it in the past for IMAZ 2019, but had to resort to HR on the course, as I did not have a power meter yet. My questions are; does anyone here set their Garmin (I have a 935 and a 1030 head unit) with their target watts for their race, with the alert feature to sound an alarm when they're outside the target wattage? What about pace alerts for the run as well (since we're here)?

I'm doing Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman California this year, and would like to avoid screwing them up as much as possible. TriDot has a target power for me for both races, and I do have the tendency to burn a few too many matches early in the bike.

Any feedback pro or con is appreciated.
"I drank what?!?!" - Socrates
Poor Swimmer. Weak Cyclist. Slow Runner.
TriDot Ambassador / Sacramento Triathlon Club
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [weakandpuny] [ In reply to ]
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Callin'
Jan 26, 22 13:48
Post #2 of 13 (1578 views)
I don't have power alerts for the bike, I find them annoying or can pop up sometimes where you can't help but get out of your zone (i.e. climbing hills). My data screen will have lap NP (auto lap 7 miles) and 10s running average power. I try to keep the two close as possible to my target power.

No pace alerts for the run either, just an auto lap every mile.
the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [weakandpuny] [ In reply to ]
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natethomas
Jan 26, 22 16:41
Post #3 of 13 (1517 views)
I wouldn't do this. Power fluctuates so much, and usually what you see on your head unit is a 3 or 10 second average. If you want to set an alarm to cap power - say when going up a steeper hill, so as not to burn those matches, then go for it. Placid essentially has one long, pretty steady climb at the end of each loop. Aim to keep power cap around 80-90% or so on that grind would make sense.

I'd recommend using Best Bike Split as well - it's been pretty accurate for me in nearly all of the races I've done. It'll give you a good idea of what power will corelate with what time.
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [weakandpuny] [ In reply to ]
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MrTri123
Jan 26, 22 17:43
Post #4 of 13 (1504 views)
Could you set it to 20 second power so it isn’t going off at every little hill?
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [weakandpuny] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj
Jan 27, 22 3:46
Post #5 of 13 (1458 views)
I set up my head unit to show:

3 sec power
Lap Power (autolap every 5 miles)
Lap time

I strive to keep my 3 sec power near the level I've prescribed for myself and the Lap Power helps me see the trend and keep the short-term effort in range.

After an autolap I start over again and do my best to keep my lap average in my range.

Repeat until done with bike portion.

I also use this screen for interval training but sometimes I use Distance instead of Lap time depending on the workout.

Like others I find the Garmin alarms annoying, it's too hard to stay at the exact power you want to be at.

Run Pace alerts are annoying as well and I set my 945 with a screen similar to what I use on the bike

----------Pace
Lap Time Lap Distance
--------Lap Pace
Last edited by: jaretj: Jan 27, 22 3:47
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [Callin'] [ In reply to ]
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LEBoyd
Jan 27, 22 5:20
Post #6 of 13 (1432 views)
Callin' wrote:
I don't have power alerts for the bike, I find them annoying or can pop up sometimes where you can't help but get out of your zone (i.e. climbing hills). My data screen will have lap NP (auto lap 7 miles) and 10s running average power. I try to keep the two close as possible to my target power.

No pace alerts for the run either, just an auto lap every mile.

I set up similarly with 10s power and NP (average for ride, not lap), but I also include HR, cadence and average speed (I just have to know). My auto lap is on 5 miles, but I don't really use it.

For a tri, I don't set alerts for the run and have ave pace (for the run), current pace, cadence and HR with 1 mile lap. For an open "A" race run, I do set alerts for pace as I'm trying to negative split the run (for the tri, I'm just trying to finish).
Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]
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weakandpuny
Jan 27, 22 10:37
Post #7 of 13 (1371 views)
Thanks for the input everyone.
"I drank what?!?!" - Socrates
Poor Swimmer. Weak Cyclist. Slow Runner.
TriDot Ambassador / Sacramento Triathlon Club
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [weakandpuny] [ In reply to ]
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Bumblebeetuna96
Jun 15, 23 10:15
Post #8 of 13 (972 views)
Piggybacking this.

When you guys are referring to average power and target power. How often are they close? It seems, in my case theres inevitabe 0s that get factored in. (Steep downhills, traffic, ect) Both in training rides and in races. Based on my training plan I target 220w and I'm usuing seeing beween 210-230 when I glance down... but after the ride my average power is usually much lower. Am I doing a bad job holding power? Should I try and offset those zeros by trying to hold more watts on the flats?

Thanks!
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [natethomas] [ In reply to ]
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UncleDooly34
Jun 15, 23 10:32
Post #9 of 13 (950 views)
natethomas wrote:
I wouldn't do this. Power fluctuates so much, and usually what you see on your head unit is a 3 or 10 second average. If you want to set an alarm to cap power - say when going up a steeper hill, so as not to burn those matches, then go for it. Placid essentially has one long, pretty steady climb at the end of each loop. Aim to keep power cap around 80-90% or so on that grind would make sense.

I'd recommend using Best Bike Split as well - it's been pretty accurate for me in nearly all of the races I've done. It'll give you a good idea of what power will corelate with what time.


To add, I really like Best Bike Split. One new feature they added somewhat recently is you can click the "Garmin Power Course" option and it shares the course map with your garmin. Then, load that map on your bike computer and it will pop up every half mile or so and tell you what power to target for that section of the race.
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [Bumblebeetuna96] [ In reply to ]
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DesertTriGuy
Jun 15, 23 11:07
Post #10 of 13 (929 views)
I believe this is where Normalized Power would come in handy as it uses an algorithm to account for when you put in some power going up a hill and for when you coast going down a hill. That metric would be more representative of your work than say average power. I think this article might help, https://www.triathlete.com/...er-vs-average-power/
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [UncleDooly34] [ In reply to ]
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mrboomerang
Jun 15, 23 12:04
Post #11 of 13 (895 views)
When you use the Garmin power course, does it pop up target power as a message or does it appear like a workout where it creates the extra workout page with the power graph? I tried using tridot’s power recommendations with a Garmin power course fit file this last weekend in Des Moines but it never gave me a target power just directions. Not sure what I did wrong.

MB
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [mrboomerang] [ In reply to ]
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UncleDooly34
Jun 15, 23 13:26
Post #12 of 13 (867 views)
on my Garmin Edge, it popped up like a message along the bottom of my main screen and stayed for probably like 5 to 10 seconds. A few times I missed it because I was not able to look down but was pretty nice.

I need to see if I can just add it as a data field, that would be cool.
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Re: Race Target Power & Pace Alerts on Garmin [mrboomerang] [ In reply to ]
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torrey
Jun 15, 23 14:18
Post #13 of 13 (843 views)
mrboomerang wrote:
When you use the Garmin power course, does it pop up target power as a message or does it appear like a workout where it creates the extra workout page with the power graph? I tried using tridot’s power recommendations with a Garmin power course fit file this last weekend in Des Moines but it never gave me a target power just directions. Not sure what I did wrong.

MB
DC Rainmaker talked about his current approach in his recent race report. Look in the bike section.

To the OP's question. I tired using alerts once, never again. Too annoying especially on race day. I had a friend who did both a upper and a lower alert which made her absolutely miserable when she cracked. Nothing like your Garmin beeping at you every 10 seconds to tell you to increase your power when you know your race is in the toilet and you have moved to survival mode. It is not easy (impossible?) to turn off the alerts mid-activity.
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