I could not find anybody else having this problem, so I am hoping I am doing something wrong - I started using Garmin Connect since buying a Fenix 7 Pro Solar a few months ago. Since then, I've found that it acts like it does not know me and mischaracterizes my activities and also makes suggestions for exercise that are utterly nonsensical.
Background: I am a 60 year old male runner. My (laboratory tested) max heart rate is 173 and my resting HR is 42 (sleep drops to 36-38). My (also laboratory tested) VO2Max is 50 and my threshold is 160.
I entered all this data in my profile, and I adjusted my zones to align with the Jack Daniels running zones. All that seems good and is working.
But what does not work is the application of these things to my activities and, therefore, to the training suggestions I receive. Examples:
- Today I went for a base run. I ran around 4 miles at 9:20 minute mile average pace with my heart rate average 126 bpm and a max of 139. The whole run was correctly logged in Garmin zone 2 (easy) and Jack Daniels' zone E (easy). Except - when I look at what Connect believed the run was it categorized it as a threshold run and assigned a training benefit consistent with a threshold run. It obviously was not a threshold run which, for me, would have been run at 153-159 beats per minute.
- When I woke up in the morning, Connect recommended I go for a "Base" run with 11:35 minute miles. That is much too slow for a base run for me (and connect should know this because it's been monitoring my runs (see the example above).
So, right now, Connect is acting as nothing more than a fancy HRM for me. I got the watch so I could train better and use its suggestions for different kinds of runs at different times and get stronger. Instead, it seems to basically misinterpret who I am from a fitness point of view, what I am doing, and how I am training.
Is this happening only to me? What am I missing?
