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

Thank you for the provided info, the issue should be fixed in the new release.

Released Peter's (Race) Pacer v4.3.1 & Peter's Pacer (The App) v3.0.1
- fixed crash on ciq1 devices when calculating smooth speed

KenMcGarrahan over 7 years ago

Terrific app, Peter.

Attempting to utilize the "Pro Tip" posted above, with Peter's (Race) Pacer as the first screen, and Peter's (Hi Vis) Pacer as the second, utilizing different pace times for the two. Went for a run this morning, configuring Race pace at 09:45 and Hi-Vis pace at 09:10, with target distance of half-marathon for both (in anticipation of weekend race). But, a check of the two screens has me confused.

The device is a Forerunner 235. Both Race and Hi-Vis are configured with 1609 lap sizes. System distance is set at miles, auto-lap is on, set at 1m.

After 5m, Race Pacer showed me 0:47 ahead, which matched my Garmin-reported average pace of 09:35 for those five miles. But, Hi-Vis showed me 45:05 behind. ?? At worst, I would have expected it to be something like 04:20 behind. Or am I misinterpreting the expected displays?

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

Thanks Ken.

I just tried your scenario to run Peter's (Hi Vis) Pacer on a 235 in the simulator and it's working as expected for me when I have target pace set to 9:10.
Could it be that you've set the target type to "Target Finish Time" instead of "Target Pace" as that could be an explanation when you set target finish time to 9:10 (as you would have to be really fast to be able to complete a half marathon within 9 minutes and 10 seconds).

In case that doesn't resolve it post some additional info in the Peter's (Hi Vis) Pacer support thread ( https://forums.garmin.com/forum/developers/connect-iq/connect-iq-showcase/1232453-data-field-peter-s-hi-vis-pacer ) on the settings you are using ( lap size / target distance / target type / target pace ) and it can also help to specify the elapsed time and distance you about did when you looked at your watch.

PaulW over 7 years ago

I tried this data field last night. Used the slow pace (10 seconds). All other fields worked fine, except for the pace field. It was showing 14 to 15 minute pace when my actual pace was 9:10 on average. The pace field on the native screens was showing correctly. I was in open air with no trees or building around. Thoughts, suggestions?

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

I'll look into it, which device do you have?

PaulW over 7 years ago

235. I tried it in a 10k this morning. Seemed to work properly for a little while and then it got stuck on the same pace and never updated.

Apuleio over 7 years ago

... Used the slow pace (10 seconds). All other fields worked fine, except for the pace field. It was showing 14 to 15 minute pace when my actual pace was 9:10 on average. The pace field on the native screens was showing correctly...

Same thing here, on my Forerunner 230. The "10s avg pace" shown
by the pace field is significantly larger than the actual one.

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

On Connect Iq 1 devices I don't have enough memory to actually store the 10 last values in an array and I'm using a pt1 filter on these devices to derive the smoothed value. I'll see if I can make changes to the algorithm so that it doesn't gets stuck on a value/allows to pick up changes faster.

Apuleio over 7 years ago

Are you using this PT1 filter also for the 5s avg? It also seems affected by large errors. Could you specify what a PT1 filter does, or refer me to relevant literature?

What is the largest number of values you could store to produce an actual moving average?

Thanks.

Apuleio

peterdedecker over 7 years ago

I've been making optimizations to my implementation of the smooth pacing algorithm for connect iq 1 devices which should get rid of the large difference to the expected smoothed speed, I have still the need to double check a few items, but this should be fixed in the next release (expected somewhere by the end of the week.). (if you wish you can read about pt1 filtering here.)