Data Field: Race Pacer

Characters too small

On an FR235 the text is far too small...

start an finish same elevation ?

Hi,
what value to enter in the settings if the start and finish is in same elevation.......but on the route I gain and lose again +/-200 m (400 m is total change)?
a) 0
b) 200
c) 400
d) no matter

Thanks Stepan

Hello, Thanks for developing this data field. I'm keen to try it and have a few questions - I saw in one of the earlier posts you were looking for feedback on its use in marathons. Have you received any? That's what I'd like to use it for, and would like to gauge if its use will leave enough battery in my Garmin FR235. Also, the description says the finish time estimate is based on your last 5k. Is that correct? Finally, is there a way to disable the gradient adjustment function? Thanks, Trang

Hi Andrew, I tried your race pacer on a run on my FR235 today and it worked well. I especially liked the color blocks.

A few questions -

-How is the pacer ahead/behind defined? Is that the # of secs behind/ahead the target pace, or target finish time, or something else?
-When I went below target pace, there was a time lag of maybe a min or more before the pacer time changed (i.e. I was nearly walking, and it stayed green for quite a while before it changed). Similarly, but a little differently, I tested stopping so I can account for water breaks in a race, and there was a time lag also of probably a minute plus before the ETA changed (ETA changed right away when I slowed but was still running though). Are these lags normal with the way it works?
-Just want to confirm, with this pacer, there are no sound or vibration alerts when you're ahead/behind, and no lap adjustment for extra race distance, yes?

Thanks, Trang

Hi Andrew, I tried your race pacer on a run on my FR235 today and it worked well. I especially liked the color blocks.

A few questions -

-How is the pacer ahead/behind defined? Is that the # of secs behind/ahead the target pace, or target finish time, or something else?
-When I went below target pace, there was a time lag of maybe a min or more before the pacer time changed (i.e. I was nearly walking, and it stayed green for quite a while before it changed). Similarly, but a little differently, I tested stopping so I can account for water breaks in a race, and there was a time lag also of probably a minute plus before the ETA changed (ETA changed right away when I slowed but was still running though). Are these lags normal with the way it works?
-Just want to confirm, with this pacer, there are no sound or vibration alerts when you're ahead/behind, and no lap adjustment for extra race distance, yes?

Thanks, Trang

Hi,
- The "virtual pacer" is calculated based on the terrain (ups and downs!) you have run so far adjusting for GAP, and the target pace to achieve the specified target time, and also factoring in your desired "split" -ve or +ve. So if you specify a "-ve" split of say -10sec/mile the "virtual pacer" will start off at 10sec/mile slower than the target pace, by mid-distance be running at GAP target pace, and by the finish running at GAP -10sec/mile quicker... The sec ahead/behind field shows how far ahead/behind the "virtual pacer" you are.
- So due to the "noise" associated with GPS in-accuracies the app uses an algorithm I created for "smoothing", so if you're looking at changes at the 10sec or 100yard sort of scale for the pacing you will see a small amount of lag. Similarly the "60sec pace" and gradient evaluation uses a smoothing. GPS alone unfortunately is not particularly accurate, especially for altitude when used for gradient assessment.
- Correct, I determined alert of ahead/behind would not work very well, there is only an alert for reaching target distance, which is fixed as you said.
Happy running :-)
Cheers

Hi Andrew, thanks for your quick response and helpful explanations. Just to make sure I understand #1 correctly, so in your screen shot where the Pacer window says "+0:22", that means the runner is 22 seconds ahead of the virtual pacer. And the 22 seconds = 22 secs faster than required pace, or 22 secs ahead of target finish time?

Thanks in advance for your patience as I am new to pacing apps and working to get the hang of them. ;)