Data field: Flexirunner

I made a custom data field for myself, and then I found out I had to upload it to the store to be able to use settings in the Android GC app. So this thread is to support that, any questions/problems/comments, etc., let me know.

Flexirunner

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ce1e0b46-7c83-4ddb-9d48-c93edadabe3d

Flexirunner is (yet another) all-in-one data field, for use in a single field layout. It is designed for running, with a native look and feel.
It shows time, distance, number of laps, heart rate, pace, and cadence. It also measures running economy (http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Running_Economy), and records this and energy expenditure (https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/energy-expenditure/) into the FIT file, for later display on Garmin Connect.

Please see the page in the Connect IQ app store (above) for the list of features and screenshots (to avoid re-posting the same thing here).

I have tested this field with my FR235, but it should perform identically on the FR230, FR630, FR735XT. Since version 5, Flexirunner is now also compatible with FR920XT, Fenix 3 & HR & Chronos, vivoactive & HR!
Since development is primarily focused on me having an FR235, the layout is currently most optimized for the semi-round watches.

Donations
If you use & like this data field and you're feeling generous, donations are gratefully accepted (but not obliged) here (give what you feel!): https://www.paypal.me/imgrant

Source code
The source code for Flexiruner is freely available on Github: https://github.com/imgrant/FlexiRunner
You can also raise issues there.

Acknowledgements
The Flexirunner icon incorporates elements by Freepik (http://www.freepik.com) from www.flaticon.com, which are licensed by Creative Commons BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Former Member over 8 years ago

The current threshold is 1.8 m/s, which is about 4 mph (6.5 kph, 9:15 min/km, 15:00 min/mi). Perhaps this is a tad conservative and 5 mph might work. I was reluctant to cut it too fine in case GPS noise caused it to hit the threshold erroneously too often.

I am no expert on the inner workings of the watch hardware, but memory consumption will not affect battery life. Whilst running the watch will be computing continuously anyway, but I think the main factors affecting battery life would still be radio usage (GPS, GLONASS, ANT+, Bluetooth), screen (backlight), and LEDs (in the case of optical HRM).

Thanks again for the responses. I think raising it to 2.2 m/s should keep the brisk walking below the moving threshold as it's just under 5mph.

Is it possible with data fields that things like moving time could be written as the actual total time when saving to watch/ uploading to connect? Or does that have to be an app? Reason I ask is it'd be neat if you did 10k for example but walked another 3mins after - that it'd just register your actual 10k moving time above a set m/s speed.

IMGrant over 8 years ago

Is it possible with data fields that things like moving time could be written as the actual total time when saving to watch/ uploading to connect? Or does that have to be an app? Reason I ask is it'd be neat if you did 10k for example but walked another 3mins after - that it'd just register your actual 10k moving time above a set m/s speed.

It's possible for these value to be displayed on Garmin Connect as custom Connect IQ metrics, like the Running Economy, but not to replace the existing/default metrics.

~o√ over 8 years ago

Lost HRM signal

Hello,
It seems that when the HRM signal is lost, the Running Economic data is reaching a very high peak of 65,000 which is obviously irrelevant.
After the session when data are uploaded on Garmin Connect, the graph only shows that peak because of the scale.
Perhaps it would be better to get 0 in such a case instead of 65,000.
Regards.

PS:
I am using a Forerunner 920XT.

IMGrant over 8 years ago

Hello,
It seems that when the HRM signal is lost, the Running Economic data is reaching a very high peak of 65,000 which is obviously irrelevant.
After the session when data are uploaded on Garmin Connect, the graph only shows that peak because of the scale.
Perhaps it would be better to get 0 in such a case instead of 65,000.

Thanks for the report, that is a good point, I will look into adding a cap to avoid this in the future.

webvan over 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, as the owner of a FR235 I'm with you on the last part ;-)

It's too bad GC doesn't give direct access to the lap time since they calculate it too...

Or maybe they do ? I was setting up the "6 Fields Display" DF on a friend's VAHR (nice watch BTW) and you can show "last lap time" in a field. Have they maybe added options since you wrote Flexirunner ?

IMGrant over 8 years ago

Or maybe they do ? I was setting up the "6 Fields Display" DF on a friend's VAHR (nice watch BTW) and you can show "last lap time" in a field. Have they maybe added options since you wrote Flexirunner ?

I don't think they have added it directly - presumably the field you mention is calculating it itself, from the information about when a lap marker is dropped. Flexirunner already does it this way too, you can already choose to display last lap time in the timer field, top left.
I believe you were originally asking for it to be displayed in the bottom fields too. So it's not a problem in that Flexirunner has already done the math to calculate lap time and last lap time, but the additional code to format and display a time field in the lower fields, and extend the list of options for those fields, is what would incur additional memory.

webvan over 8 years ago

Oh I see, thanks for clarifying again.

Former Member over 8 years ago

Nice! Congrats on the marathon! What setup did you use for the fields?

How can i move from Miles to kms?

IMGrant over 8 years ago

How can i move from Miles to kms?

Change the units settings for your watch. You can also do this via Garmin Express (I think) or Garmin Connect.

winfij over 8 years ago

Hi,

Thanks for your data field, I've tried several of the multifield variety and this is my favorite so far.

A couple of requests:

1) Would it be possible to set the target cadence range for the green band, I run at 160spm and it is always showing as slow in the color range.

2) It would also be helpful to be able to set the target pace as an absolute number, rather than just a measured value. I'm a beginner so am still trying to get the muscle memory feel of running at my desired pace. I'd like to set the target pace value, E.g. 8:00 and have the color bands trigger off that so I can see at a glance how I'm doing.

I have a Vivoactive HR running IQ 2.1.4

Regards,

John