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Data Field: Peter's (Race) Pacer

peterdedecker
over 7 years ago
This is the support Thread for the Data Field Peter's (Race) Pacer.

Setup Guide with pictures: http://starttorun.info/peters-race-pacer/

Download
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/23ea0301-30c6-4c33-b4ef-63e2b5394e76

Summary
Peter's (Race) Pacer resolves 2 issues for me when I'm running a race:
  • Before the race starts I want to see the time of the day (How long till the race starts?)
  • I often pace marathons and it used to be doing mental math all the way, now this is no longer necessary as I can fully depend on the average pace/speed, because this data field allows to correct the distance at the kilometer / mile marker by simply pressing the LAP button
While the data field's primary intent is to race races, you can also use it to run laps around the track, just set the lap distance to 400 meters and press the lap button as you cross the line!...

Intro
In it's full glory this data field uses about 24kb which is too much to run on the older devices. To enable using the data field on older connect IQ devices I've stripped some functionality from these older watches in order to let them operate within the 16kb limit that Connect IQ 1.x allows. (Items marked with (*ciQ2) are only available on the high memory watches (high memory watches are FR735xt, fenix chronos & fenix5 variants))

The data field is fully functional as is, yet donations are encouraged on the watch by a small encouragement text.

Usage
Before starting the race an initial data screen is shown (* cIQ2), this screen shows you the following data
  • Time of the day
  • Current heart rate (+ zone indication)
  • Configured Settings Summary (Change these settings in Garmin Express or in the Garmin Connect Android App)
  • Battery Percentage Remaining
  • Gps Signal Strength Indication
After pressing the START button the race timer will start and a new data screen will be shown, this data screen will show you the following information:
  • top middle configurable field: current heart rate / average pace / average speed / perfect pace / perfect speed (*)
  • row 1 left configurable field: average pace / average speed / current heart rate / perfect pace / perfect speed
  • row 1 middle configurable field: speed, smooth speed (5s average), smooth speed (10s average), pace, smooth pace (5s average), smooth pace (10s average)
  • time ahead / behind
  • race timer
  • (adjusted) distance covered (see adjusting distance explanation below)
  • estimated time of arrival
After Activity in Garmin Connect (*cIQ2)
  • When you opt to record the ahead Time to the FIT track an extra graphic is shown in Garmin Connect
Perfect Pace / Perfect Speed
This field recalculates as you run and gives you the pace you need to run to arrive at the finish with 0 seconds behind / ahead (eg if you run a 10k race and want to arrive in 1 hour (avg pace=6:00min/km), currently you're at the 7k point in 41:30, which means you're 30 seconds ahead, the perfect pace will thus show the value 6:10 (min/km) as you can run the next 3k 10 seconds slower to still get in time at the finish line)

Distance Adjustment
When you press the LAP button the on screen distance is adjusted to the nearest LAP SIZE (eg 5.31k will be adjusted to 5k if the lap size is 1000 meters).
When you press the LAP button by mistake you have 30 seconds to undo the last correction (just press the LAP button again)

When you miss a mile/kilometer marker, don't worry DO NOT PRESS THE LAP button and wait for the next kilometer/mile marker and press the LAP button there.

Adjusting the distance has no influence on the recorded distance (In Garmin Connect when you come back home you will see the real recorded GPS distance, yet of course you will be able to determine based on the lap marker postions where the LAP markings really were)...

Recommendations
  • Train with the data field before you race with it so you're used to the layout!
  • Have a backup second datascreen layout, in case the field crashes you can switch to the native data screen layout
  • If you have a Connect IQ 1.x device consider the application option to enjoy all features of Peter's (Race) Pacer: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ea97af1f-1e5d-4541-820c-9bd994080d4
Tested on real FR735XT, all other devices were tested in the simulator.
  • over 2 years ago in reply to webvan

    There has been no changes to that functionality so it should still work as before

    Is your lap size equal in size to the auto lap size of your watch?

    In case that is ok can you uninstall/reinstall to exclude settings corruption and re-test.

  • over 2 years ago in reply to peterdedecker

    Yes 1000 meters in both cases. Not sure how to retest? Won't trust it in its current state for my next race, that's for sure!

    Would the fit file be of interest?

    As a sidenote I found it impossible to have both this DF and the Hi-Vis version at the same time, each time Hi-Vis gets killed and defaults to the Timer and the watch still thinks it's being used so the Activity Profile has to be deleted...

  • over 2 years ago in reply to webvan

    You can retest during a training run.

    You should be able to run hi vis at same time

    Do you have a ciq_log.yml in the folder /garmin/apps/logs ?

    You can send it to my email [email protected] 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to peterdedecker

    Found a "CIQ_LOG.BAK" file that I sent via email, hope that helps.

    Having both DFs worked fine on the FR935 or the F6 Pro but not on the FR245 (running FW 8.20) for some reason where it behaves as I described.

  • over 2 years ago

    Ok so I did some testing during a training run, I was able to install Hi-Vis and PP on my FR245 this time, starting with Hi-Vis and then adding PP. I had set a 9k distance and a target time of 45:45 to run at 5:05/km.

    So the good news is that both DFs showed the same data and the Ahead/Behind Graph in GC confirms that. Now for the not so good news, there seem to be issues on the FR245.

    1. After the first 1k auto-lapped at 5:04.2 I waited 20 seconds and lapped again (1.06k), ahead/time went down to 0, instead of -21 for "1k adjusted"
    2. Before it auto-lapped at 2.06k with a total time of 10:24 it was showing +6, after the auto-lap it adjusted to -13, which was correct for "2k adjusted"
    3. I lapped again 26' seconds later at 2.14k and it adjusted to +6, so incorrect for "2k adjusted"
    4. Then I let it auto-lap for the next 3ks, at 3.14k in 15:50 it adjusted to -34s which seems correct (should have chosen a pace of 5/km to make calculations easier !)

    I'm finding it a bit hard to figure out what's going on, I'll have to pay attention to the distance shown in PP the next time, but at the very least there seems to be some interference between auto-lap and manual lap. At 2.06k auto-lap was clearly treated as a manual adjustment. Come to think of it I think someone had brought up this issue a while back. Would you recommend no auto-lap or no manual lapping after an auto-lap (ok before an auto-lap).

    Again, happy to pass on the .fit file, maybe you can run it through a simulator ?

  • over 2 years ago in reply to webvan

    you can send the fit file to my email

    manually lapping only is preferable, but normally the auto-lap should be ignored as the app should detect it's the same as the internal lap size.

    there is the feature of the undo lap correction which might interfere (if you press lap and press lap within 30 seconds again you undo the lap correction)

  • over 2 years ago in reply to peterdedecker

    Will do. Yes it seems the auto-lap was mistaken as a manual lap at 3.14k and at 1k the manual lap only cancelled the auto-lap. I think the instructions should recommend not using auto-lap or at least not mixing both manual and auto-lap.

  • 8 months ago

    I'm using a vívoactive® 3 Music. I have a race tomorrow and setup Peter's (Race) Pacer. I have noticed though that the  initial data screen is NOT shown (*cIQ2). Instead I see the GPS ready sign.

    Once I start the recording, I see the initial data screen for split second before the race timer screen starts. It is not a 'deal breaker' for me but the initial data screen would be of help. Any ideas how to fix this?

  • 8 months ago in reply to Prahanov

    It's a garmin firmware issue. The overlay hides the race intro screen. I am not able to change this. 

  • 7 months ago

    Hi Peter,

    I installed the data field on a Fenix 7X and did 2 runs to test it (without manual laps, only auto lap). Both runs had even pace, and I changed the distance and pace for each run.

    For the top field I have perfect pace which remained zero regardless of me being behind or ahead of time.

    Another issue was ETA stuck on a fixed number (first run was 0:07, second run was 0:06).

    Any idea how to fix these issues?

    Finally, is it possible to define a multi-pace configuration? ie- 10k-06:00,10k-05:50,16k-05:40 ? This is relevant for a negative/positive split race.

    Thanks in advance Pray tone1