Average pace calculation on GARMIN CONNECT

Sorry trux, what do you exactly mean as "If you mean changing the track length at the Track Run activity, then it can be indeed only 400m." As I understand now I can use Track Run activity for whatever distance. Correct?

Sorry, the 400m track is the default length of an outdoor track oval, and it cannot be modified to another distance. I have no experience with indoor tracks, which are by default 200m long, but since (unlike at outdoor track runs) there is no way the watch can detect that you are back on the starting point of the track, the track length might be irrelevant anyway. What exactly did you mean when you wrote "it's not possible to set 50 meters run, just 400m as standard" ?

5858725 said:

Thanks, now is clear... BTW, still one point regarding the Track Running feature: the handbook of FR255 states "make sure you are on a 400 meters ride" while using Track Running and I misunderstood I that I could only use for that distance (!). As far as I understand now, I can use the Track Running feature also for a standard run of 10 kms or whatever kms, if I want to have more precision on the distance and time.

So, if that is the case, I wonder why Garmin did not allow the more precision in every case (i.e. standard running) by default.

No, the Track Run feature is meant for use on a 400 m outdoor track and nothing else. Sorry if I implied earlier that you can use it in any case. 

The idea is that Garmin knows that distance and position from GPS is inaccurate.

So, your lap average pace and activity average pace aren't always perfectly accurate. Your GPS track in Connect isn't always perfectly accurate. Many users have complained about this and it's especially obvious when running around a track of known distance (400 m).

Track Run corrects your distance so every lap around the track is exactly 400 metres and so that your GPS track matches the physical tack perfectly.

The idea is to make the data look good in Connect, and so that the correct lap average pace and activity average pace is displayed. (Without Track Mode, you would have to press the lap button on every lap and calculate the correct lap paces yourself, based on the recorded time and the known distance of 400 m.)

The way it works is either:

- you have to calibrate your watch before running a new outdoor track

or

- garmin already knows about the track (it has a database of outdoors tracks)

https://support.garmin.com/en-CA/?faq=eH8V1VwjN338uo8C5PgDJ7

You can use the Track Run activity profile to record your outdoor track run data including distance in meters and lap splits using a compatible Garmin watch. Select a topic below.

...

• Use this profile on 400 meter tracks of standard shapes. Track Run is not designed to track activities on tracks with a non-standard shape. Track Run expects a track with two parallel straightaways and two semi-circular turns of a single radius value.

So it's not possible to use Track Run for greater precision in any other situation.

An example of a GPS track produced by Track Run:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2024/01/garmins-wearables-features.html

A GPS track this perfect would not be seen outside of Track Mode. Garmin has artificially modified it to match the known contours of the physical 400 m track.

No, as I wrote you can run as little as 1m, or even less, if you manage to avoid GPS drift.

I think I have understood, but you wrote "it might be much easier to simply change the type of the activity to Track Running in Connect, which should change the display so that you see distances to the nearest metre" so this means that I can do a run as "run" and after just change the display mode by selecting "track running" in Connect, to see nearest 1 meter. Correct?

5858725 said:

I think I have understood, but you wrote "it might be much easier to simply change the type of the activity to Track Running in Connect, which should change the display so that you see distances to the nearest metre" so this means that I can do a run as "run" and after just change the display mode by selecting "track running" in Connect, to see nearest 1 meter. Correct?

Yes. If you want to see your distance to the nearest metre *after the fact*, you can switch the activity type (perhaps temporarily) to Track Running only for display purposes. Otherwise you will have to use a 3rd party tool, like fitfileviewer or runalyze.

But in regards to the Track Run mode on the watch, you should probably only use that for a 400 m outdoor track. Again, sorry if I implied/said earlier that you can use Track Run on the watch in any case. 

No problem! I understood. Practically, if I want to use Track Run on a outdoor track, I first need to set Track Run:

- AutoLap : by distance

- Automatic distance: 400m or what? pre-defined is 1600m

go on the track lane #1, press start. 

Do I need to run one lap 400m or 4 laps total 1600m? Handbook suggest 4 laps.

What to do on the watch each 400m on the track? need to press Lap button? how the calibration works?

Thanks for the support!

5858725 said:

- Automatic distance: 400m or what? pre-defined is 1600m

Whatever you want. This will affect how auto laps are recorded in your activity, not how your activity distance and GPS track are calibrated/corrected.

It's just a "logical" (not physical) lap distance.

5858725 said:

Do I need to run one lap 400m or 4 laps total 1600m? Handbook suggest 4 laps.

4 physical laps of 400m each, for 1600m total.

5858725 said:

What to do on the watch each 400m on the track? need to press Lap button?

No, it's automatic. The point of this feature is you don't to do anything special during your run.

5858725 said:

how the calibration works?

I don't know the precise details, but I think the algorithm looks at your GPS track while you run the 4 laps for calibration, and figures out how it deviates from the assumed distance and shape of a regular 400 m track (that's why it only works with standard tracks).

Then when you start the activity and run the actual laps, the watch applies a correction to account for the deviation that it found in the calibration process.

It's kind of like calibration for Treadmill activity. I imagine it works something like this:

- Say you run 11k on a treadmill, but your Garmin watch records 10k. (In other words, your "real" distance is 10% higher than the measured/recorded distance.)

- When the calibration prompt pops up, you enter 11k. Now the watch knows that the "real" distance should be 10% higher than what it measures

- In the future, when you use the Treadmill activity, Garmin will add 10% to the measured distance

I imagine Track Run calibration is like this, but more complicated.

I don't know how it works with instant pace (for example), or whether it even does anything at all for instant pace.

I'm not sure if any of the vendors that implement track run mode have explained how their algorithms work.