Training Effect and Status from 3rd Party Apps

Post a link to a GC activity that came via TrainerRoad and also a GC activity that came from Zwift.

Removed.

Training Effect is a licensed feature from a company called FirstBeat. Have a look at their website.
Any company can license the use of their algorithms and use them in their devices. Garmin products have different licensed features depending on the model you've got. Training Effect is only available on the recent top end models like the 1030 and 935/Fenix 5 watches. The list on the FirstBeat website will give you the details.
What's important and key to understand here is that its the watch or Edge that contains the license to use those FirstBeat metrics and not Garmin Connect. Zwift and TrainerRoad have not licensed those features and therefore cannot calculate a value for TE in their FIT files which are synced to Garmin Connect. Garmin Connect does not calculate TrainingEffect it simply displays what's been given to it by the devices.
TrueUp simply syncs activity details between devices. If the device recording the activity didn't have TrainingEffect then neither will the TrueUp copied to the other devices (even if that device does support it).
At the present time, if you want TE for all of your activities then you must record the activity using a device that has those licensed features. If that means using an Edge or Forerunner to record an indoor activity then so be it, that's what you have to do.
Now, what would be interesting is if Garmin Connect was the license holder for the Firstbeat algorithms and it could calculate the Training Effect for any activity uploaded to it. However, that would cost someone some money and would it have to be an agreed licensing model between Garmin and FirstBeat. Personally I would pay for a "Garmin Connect Premium" service to cover those licensing costs if it was in any way possible.
Dave

My idea is, if the Garmin Device could use FirstBeat algorithms to calculate Training Effect from the FIT file rather than the action of recording the activity it could calculate these metrcs for any activity. This is because under TrueUp all activities (FIT) files get synced to all devices - well that is my understanding?

It's a real pain not having Zwift activities counted in the training load especially going into winter, makes it all a bit pointless. Yes I can record rides on garmin device also but then have to remove duplicate entries in GC and Zwift because Zwift has already uploaded.

It would only need to hold 7 days of activities, because that is the duration of the training load and training status, so a handful of extra activities synced back to device is workable in my view.

The reason it is a pain ... the whole point of training status and load is to keep an eye on how much effort I have exerted in a week, to know if I have not done enough or over done it. If that training status were not to take into account my Zwift indoor rides then it is not a reflection of my training status - hence pointless.

Any way there is a way around to this, and that is to record the Zwift ride on the Garmin Edge 1030 at the same time, sounds simple and is if you setup the Zwift, GC and Strava connections in a certain way you don't seem to get duplicates either, see here:

https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/cycling/edge-1030-aa/1397671-edge-1030-and-fr935xt-true-up-is-not-very-true


PS, by recording the activity the Zwift activity on the Garmin in parallel is no difference in the storage on the device than if the device had synced back the original FIT file from Zwift ;-)

Hi Steve, I agree with your statement od the "problem" and share your desire for a cleaner solution. Its getting to be trainer season and am putting in some efforts in zwift which get auto loaded to Strava. Ideally I would like these efforts to be considered by firstbeats training status algorithm in my 1030 and FR635m without any further effort. I now do the following : record my workout on zwift which gets pushed to Strava and in parallel I record the effort with my 1030, to capture the training impact with the goal of updating training status. As I normally want my workouts which are recorded with my 1030 to be uploaded to Strava and garmin connect (when riding outdoors ) I now get doubled up workouts, so I always go into Strava to remove my workout (as recorded by 1030) and leave the zwift workout.

It is a "pain" or "hassle", despite the rude commentary of the other poster stating otherwise. I agree it is a nice to have and I do not expect that this functionality should be available, but nonetheless would appreciate. I have a feeling there are more than a handful of people using the 1030 which face a similar conundrum, but it's certainly not a typical use case, so I don't see this being resolved.

I came across the same problem for indoor rowing.

I use a Concept2 (C2) model D rowing machine. The machine can sync with C2's mobile phone app ErgData over BLE, which in turn can sync with their cloud-based log book over the internet. This October, C2 recently added automatic synchronisation of their log book with Garmin Connect that just needs to be turned on in the settings.

So in short ... C2D rower->ErgData->C2 Log->Garmin Connect. Simple!

Since C2 haven't licensed FirstBeat algorithms the Training Effect is also not calculated.

A workaround for me is to record the entire session on my Fenix 3 Row Indoor app, which then calculates training effect for the session.

Therefore a typical sessions involves:
- sync HRM with C2D
- turn on BLE on C2D to connect with ErgData
- Start ErgData app on phone
- Start Row Indoor app on watch
- Row etc.
- Stop Row Indoor app on watch
- Sync ErgData with C2 logbook

That is all good (kind of), but the only place I can find indoor rowing training effect is in the activity itself. There is no way to report on this. The widgets and reports only report cycling or running training effect.

A workaround to this is to sync Garmin Connect with Training Peaks and get a premium membership but it would be nice if it was available in aggregate somewhere in GC.

Maybe I missed it, but I do not see a clear answer to @TheAlterState's initial question. I have a similar problem:

1. TrainerRoad workout is executed.
2. Workout is sent to Garmin and is visible in Garmin Connect.
3. Fenix 5x syncs, but the workout is not copied to the watch.

On the 5x, looking at previous workouts, the TR workouts do not appear. I see workouts (runs and swims) that I've done before, after, between the TrainerRoad workouts.

As TrueUp is enabled, and has been since it was available, why are the TR workouts not appearing on the 5x?

That TR doesn't license FirstBeat is not supposed to relevant, and Garmin, to my knowledge, never indicated this was a requirement. With TrueUp, workouts on other devices, whether a bike computer or TR or whatever, is copied to the watch and then FirstBeat does its magic.

What's up here?

Thanks.

TrainerRoad is not a TrueUp compatible device. Garmin issued a list of compatible devices.

Collecting Data from Devices that Aren’t Compatible
Even if one of your devices doesn’t support this update, the activities you record on it will be sent to your compatible devices* through Garmin Connect, so your VO2 max, training status and training load numbers stay up to date.

From https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/trueup/

This would imply that the activity data, once it gets to Garmin Connect, should then sync to your F5X. Is it possible you are getting confused with the details of the workout you've undertaken and the activity data - VO2max, training status and training load? It is the latter that should be synched to your F5X, not the former.