Data Field: Peter's (Race) Pacer

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.

Top Replies

All Replies

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

hi Alan, great to hear that the reinstall fixed your autolap issue.

For the beep I have to choose a tone (I chose TONE_LAP as that seemed the most appropriate when making a new lap), I can not set the beep strength. I see in the api there exists a TONE_LOUD_BEEP, no idea how that tone sounds though, but it could be an option to add this one if the tone_lap sound is really not loud enough???

For the vibration I can choose the length and the strength of the vibration, the api is a bit flou on whether this will have affect on a forerunner though ("Forerunners and EDGE devices do not support vibration patterns" - is vibration strength a pattern?).

At the moment the vibration length is 200ms with a strength of 50 (can be 1-100)
I'll add it to the todo list to make the length and strength configurable.

webvan over 7 years ago

When does that beep happen? On auto-lap? There was a nice feature in Run4Gold, a beep 100 meters before the next lap that helped not miss it for manual lapping ;-)

Dunder2004 over 7 years ago

hi Alan, great to hear that the reinstall fixed your autolap issue.

For the beep I have to choose a tone (I chose TONE_LAP as that seemed the most appropriate when making a new lap), I can not set the beep strength. I see in the api there exists a TONE_LOUD_BEEP, no idea how that tone sounds though, but it could be an option to add this one if the tone_lap sound is really not loud enough???

For the vibration I can choose the length and the strength of the vibration, the api is a bit flou on whether this will have affect on a forerunner though ("Forerunners and EDGE devices do not support vibration patterns" - is vibration strength a pattern?).

At the moment the vibration length is 200ms with a strength of 50 (can be 1-100)
I'll add it to the todo list to make the length and strength configurable.

Thanks for your response, Peter.

Obviously, I am not sure what the standard beep and vibration alerts are in "Run" mode for the FR235 but what I can say is that they are very quiet and weak respectively. I appreciate that you have other models to cater/account for but I don't think you would find a single 235 owner who wouldn't want these alerts set to the loudest / strongest that are possible.

I almost long for the days of using my old 310XT which could almost shake your arm off :cool:

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

I'll add it to my todo list to make the beep-tone configurable as well. :)

@webvan: the beep prior to the lap makes imho not so much sense in a race pacer app, it would be more something for an interval app...

ULTRADU over 7 years ago

Donation

I tried to post earlier - doesn't seem to have worked. Anyway - I'm not too tech savvy. I like this app - I have a FR 235. How does one donate to the cause? I didn't see a button for that anywhere.

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

hi, thanks for considering a donation, I've copied the donation part of the description here below (by clicking on the paypal link you will be brought to the paypal page):

Donations

The data field is fully functional without donating. Donations are optional but encouraged from from within the data field with a small encouragement text. If you find Peter’s (Race) Pacer useful and/or Peter’s (Race) Pacer helps you to achieve your goal you can show your appreciation by donating an amount (suggested donation: 5 euro) on my PayPal account: https://www.paypal.me/PeterDeDecker/5eur (Mention the name of the app: "Peter's (Race) Pacer")

After donation you will receive a donation key on your paypal email address which will remove the encouragement message from the data field. (this is a manual process, but normally you should receive a key within 24 hours)

(SPECIAL PROMO - donate 10 euro or more and get a key that's valid for all my current and future apps: https://www.paypal.me/PeterDeDecker/10eur )

So the donation link is at the bottom of the description on the app-page (you have to click More to see the full description)
(and I agree it's indeed confusing that the complete description is not shown immediately, I've already made the remark to the connect iq team as a feature suggestion to show the complete description at once)

(The below is a partial screenshot of this page: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/23ea0301-30c6-4c33-b4ef-63e2b5394e76 )

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

Released Peter's (Race) Pacer v3.4:

added lap pace/lap speed option (only available for high memory devices)
fixed target speed setting on vivoactive hr
added initial intro screen for vivoactive hr

PaTsio over 7 years ago

Hi,
Is it possible to implement a "negative split" pacing strategy, ie running slower the 1st half part of the race?

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

Well the good news is that it's kinda already possible right now... :)
but you need to do some calculations on the way...

You could opt for the first half to let the ahead/behind counter go a certain amount of seconds behind your average pace, eg if you go for the 5secs/km slower you would have at kilometer 1 a behind of 0:05, at kilometer a behind time of 10 seconds, etc...

I think there is no standard "negative pacing" strategy, some people will only do the first 3k slower, to get then into their average pace, others will run the first half slower...

I'm open to suggestions though...

If you have ideas on how to implement it in a way that it is not a configuration hell as I want to keep settings easy and understandable by the users
If you can point me to an article that describes how to approach negative pacing strategy with percentages based on race distance that can help as well...

PaTsio over 7 years ago

I saw it on an online calc http://runcalc.net/#split
Fill in the fields "Distance" and "Time" and on "Pacing" you can choose negative 1%, 2%, 3%.
:)

Well the good news is that it's kinda already possible right now... :)
but you need to do some calculations on the way...

You could opt for the first half to let the ahead/behind counter go a certain amount of seconds behind your average pace, eg if you go for the 5secs/km slower you would have at kilometer 1 a behind of 0:05, at kilometer a behind time of 10 seconds, etc...

I think there is no standard "negative pacing" strategy, some people will only do the first 3k slower, to get then into their average pace, others will run the first half slower...

I'm open to suggestions though...
If you have ideas on how to implement it in a way that it is not a configuration hell as I want to keep settings easy and understandable by the users
If you can point me to an article that describes how to approach negative pacing strategy with percentages based on race distance that can help as well...