Set indoor track lap distance

This is a decent request, but I'll state the obvious and say that when you run on a track (indoors or outdoors), you can always just press the lap button on every lap. (Seems like that may be already what you're doing.)

Each lap time will be correct and the lap distance will be known to you, even if it's not right in Connect. You can also calculate the correct paces yourself. 

I realize that track mode is meant to avoid all of that, but sometimes low tech solutions are more flexible and reliable.

Like you said…I hit the button every lap.  Also, like you said…That’s the point of the app.

What makes it more frustrating is that Garmin blocks developers from writing their own indoor track app that can be incorporated into my data, like the native app.

I kind of get why Garmin doesn't do this.

For outdoor track mode, Garmin can use GPS position data along with the known shape of a 400m track to guess when you have one run one lap around the track. (That's why it relies on you calibrating track mode for every new track you run on, or Garmin having the track in their database)

This way they can automatically adjust your distance, pace, and GPS track without any user intervention (other than the calibration, which still doesn't require anything special except pressing START and running around the track 4 times).

The user can also have a "logical" (activity) lap distance (like 1600m) which is different than the physical lap distance of 400m.

A similar auto-adjusting indoor track mode would not be as frictionless. The runner would have to press LAP exactly at the end of every physical lap. There would be no auto laps, and no possibility for an activity lap distance that's different than physical lap distance.

Unless...maybe Garmin asked you to calibrate the watch by running around the indoor track a few times and pressing LAP exactly at the end of every physical lap. Then in the future, the watch would just automatically adjust lap pace/distance indoors without a precise lap press at the end of every physical lap. This *could* work except I'm guessing users will still not be happy with the results, as indoor pace/distance for treadmills is still pretty bad, right? Both from the wrist and the newer Garmin chest straps that support pace and distance?

With (outdoor) track mode, Garmin can pretty much give you perfect splits (afaik), but I don't know if it could with an indoor track.

FlyFrosty said:

What makes it more frustrating is that Garmin blocks developers from writing their own indoor track app that can be incorporated into my data, like the native app.

A CIQ data field could write its own custom distance and pace fields to the activity, it just can't override the native distance and pace. A custom pace field also can't be displayed nicely in Connect the same way that native pace can be. The native activity just writes speed (in m/s) internally, and converts that to min/km or min/mi to the end user, on demand. (In some cases, also km/h or miles/h.) For pace, your app would have to decide on one format and Connect would display it that way no matter.

It also wouldn't be able to write its own laps.

A Connect IQ device app would be able to record an activity with its own custom distance and pace (still not overriding native distance and pace), and it would be able to write its own laps.

I agree that it's too bad developers don't have more freedom here.

FlyFrosty said:

Like you said…I hit the button every lap.  Also, like you said…That’s the point of the app

It's definitely possible to write a CIQ data field that:

- increments its own distance by 400m (or whatever) every time you manually press LAP

- displays custom lap/activity distance and pace in Connect. Like I said, to display of custom pace in Connect would be limited by the fact that one format would have be chosen and the display wouldn't be able to be changed after the fact, unlike regular pace. Distance would kind of be the same, in the sense that it would be written in either km or miles, and it you wouldn't be able to change the display later

- does the calibration thing, but not write its own laps

If a custom indoor track CIQ app were written:

- it could do the same as above, but write its own laps

Without overriding the standard distance and pace, neither of those things might be very useful to you

I actually do not mind hitting the lap button, it's the disatnce being off that bothers me.  If I run on a treadmill, the app lets me adjust the distance at the end.  If Garmin is so against me telling it how far a lap is, I should be able to do something similar to the treadmill app and give it an actual distance at the end. 

By the way, this is not a new request (the oldest I've found was 9 or 10 years ago).

Yeah like I said it's not a bad request. There's a few feature requests that are 10+ years old, like the ability to mix imperial and metric units in Connect (and not just on the device).

FlyFrosty said:

I should be able to do something similar to the treadmill app and give it an actual distance at the end. 

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why not simply record your indoor track session using the treadmill profile then?

If you need to tell the diff between real treadmill runs and indoor track runs, you could make a copy of the built-in treadmill profile and call it "indoor track" (or something). Then you could change a Connect setting so that the profile name (not sport type) is used to generate the Connect activity name:

- open connect.garmin.com and sign in

- select profile pic > account settings > display preferences (or click https://connect.garmin.com/modern/settings/displayPreferences)

- Change the Activity Name dropdown to "Location & Device Activity Name""

The downside here (compared to the default of "Workout Name") is that the name of structured workout (if applicable) won't ever be used for the Connect activity name.

Ofc the general issue is it won't change your actual activity type, if you care about that.