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.
  • Hi Peter,

    looks like there is still something wrong with rounding of seconds. Just saw on the my last run 5:60 as Pace and as AVG-Pace. Garmin Datafields showed 6:00

    Uwe
  • tx for the report Uwe, I've spotted the issue, it occurs when rounding up the pace, I'll take the fix along in the upcoming release.
  • Released Peter's (Race) Pacer v4.4:
    - memory usage optimizations
    - made smooth pacing algorithm more responsive on Connect IQ 1 devices
    - fixed pace conversion rounding
  • Hi Peter

    I have just installed v4.4 on my 935. When I first add the data field to a data screen it's fine, but if I use Garmin Mobile to change any of the settings, the DF is changed to an exclamation point. The only fix is to uninstall and reinstall the DF and add it to the screen again.

    Can you advise please?
  • Hi Stephen,
    An Iq! on display means the data field crashes for some reason. Can you connect your device with usb and navigate to the folder \garmin\apps\logs and look for a file called ciq_log.txt, this might contain an explanation for the crash.
    Cheers,
    Peter.
  • Hi Stephen,
    An Iq! on display means the data field crashes for some reason. Can you connect your device with usb and navigate to the folder \garmin\apps\logs and look for a file called ciq_log.txt, this might contain an explanation for the crash.
    Cheers,
    Peter.


    The file contains multiple examples, all of the same message. Two are shown below:

    ERROR: Unhandled Exception
    DETAILS: NONE
    STORE_ID: 23ea030130c64c33b4ef63e2b5394e76
    CALLSTACK:
    UnexpectedTypeException: Expected Number, given Long

    ERROR: Unhandled Exception
    DETAILS: NONE
    STORE_ID: 23ea030130c64c33b4ef63e2b5394e76
    CALLSTACK:
    UnexpectedTypeException: Expected Number, given Long
  • 1/ Can you email me (peterddmail at gmail.com) a screenshot of your settings screen?

    2/ Can you check whether you have the same issue with the app version https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/e...c-9bd994080d4c (you find this on your watch under the Iq Apps section)
  • Hi Peter

    See below a screenshot of the settings screen. Interestingly, I set these originally using Garmin Express via USB and they were fine. When I opened the settings in Garmin Connect Mobile and set them that way (I removed the final "0" from the "16000" and then typed it back in to force an update), I got the error.

    I'm having difficulty installing the application via Connect Mobile. Although the mobile app tells me it will be installed the next time I sync, it isn't. I'll keep trying, but wanted to provide this detail in the interim.



    Thanks
  • I'm sorry for the difficulties you're having Stephen, in a next version I'll try to make sure to treat that number not as a "Long".
    It was a known issue that in the past Garmin Connect Mobile was sending sometimes things as the wrong "type" to the application (I thought this was solved but apparently Garmin Connect Mobile is still doing it at times).

    As a workaround for now: install apps and update the settings via Garmin Express.