Garmin 305 Question (power related)

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi, I’m thinking of getting a forerunner to use as a poorman’s powermeter. I’m wondering if I can program it to set a virtual pacer to do a workout in this format:

20min@ XXmph (warmup)
20min@ YYmph (Threshold)
5min@ XXmph (recovery
20min@ YYmph (Threshold)
and a cooldown.

I already do 2x20’s on the trainer and am basing my efforts on it’s power profile. I have been using the KurtKinetic PC (a really poorman’s powermeter) and have done ok with the calculated measurements off the trainer. I like the idea of using a Garmin 305 indoors with the speed sensor and both recording the data and having a programmed pacer. I know I could do a workout and use it on the garmin as a pacer, but what I would like is to punch in the exact numbers so my pacer doesn’t have any variety.

Anyone doing this or know if it’s possible? Thanks.

2

You can create custom interval workouts, but they are based on time and distance, not speed. So you would need to calculate the distance covered from your desired speed.

If you do not all ready own a Garmin 305, I would suggest going to the Garmin website and reading the owners manual to confirm this prior to making a purchase.

Paul

3

Thanks for the response. A couple things weren’t clear from the manual.

Under “Intervals” it looks like you can do time OR distance, but not both.
Under “Advanced Workouts” it does look like you can set a goal, but isn’t clear on how to use the pacer with the it (or if this happens automatically.) Have you used the pacer function?

4

Good catch… It has been a year or so since I used the interval feature, and I have never used the pacer feature. But now that you mention it I remember the intervals were not time AND distance, but time OR distance.

So I will let someone else who uses the pacer try to answer.

Paul

5

I’ve only used the custom workout thing for running, but in that I could set time and pace i.e. “run between pace A and pace B for X minutes” - I think it would do what you need. I don’t have the unit here to verify it, but I think it will…

If I find out more when I get home, I’ll post it here!

Brian

6

You can do exactly what you want- warmup, intervals, warmdown. Its quite well done.

for an interval, you can specify duration based on either distance or time, and you can specify effort for the interval either as pace, speed or HR

7

Yes, I’d also add that you can configure such a workout.

The device takes a little getting use to but you will find it pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it.

8

The trick is that its 100x easier to program on your PC then download it than it is to program it into the watch itself.

9

Thanks for the responses! Glad to know it will work, and to configure it from the computer.

10

Yep.

Also note - some folks find the altitude to be flaky on the device - and it is. But motionbased - which is free - will correct all of that for you. I recently did a ride where the watch said I climbed 4500 feet when I had actually climbed 5500.

11

Thanks for the tip on motionbased. Yeah, I know I’m giving up the better altimeter if I go with the forerunner over the edge, but it seems like for running (and cheapness) the forerunner will work better all around.

12

Interesting. How does motionbased correct the altitude data?

btw I’ve pulled some files for IM courses from motion based and they still give wildly varying ascents. Does this correction you speak of happen automatically or does the user need to correct when they upload the data.