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 6 years ago

hi Guillaume, it's a known issue that Garmin Connect Mobile does not display FIT developer fields correctly... We (myself and several other connect iq authors) have already reported this issue numerous times. This is not something which I can fix or even is in the hands of the Connect IQ team to fix. The issue is something which the Garmin Connect Mobile team should fix (but it doesn't seem to be ranked very high on their priority list as this issue is a known issue for a long time...)

A workaround is to visit the connect.garmin.com website on your mobile phone to look at your activity (instead of using the mobile app).

Guillaume over 6 years ago

Thank you for your reply Peter. Let's wait for a garmin update :-)

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

I can read and understand french so don't worry about that. ;)
As developers we don't determine the FIT format the underlying Garmin implementation does that, all we have is a createField method and a setData method, so there's really not something I can do to fix it to make it show properly in GCM ;)
The thing that's different with the other field is that the W Balance only has positive values and in Peter's (Race) Pacer is that the ahead graph shows negative values when you're behind, anyway it's not something that I should fix (I don't want to start implementing workarounds and show behind time as positive values) so the fit implementation is certainly something for the garmin connect mobile team to fix....

Guillaume over 6 years ago

Thanks Peter for your reply, it's clear for me ;) !!

Guillaume

Neil_Rosser over 6 years ago

New purchaser here of the Data Field. Using a VivoActive 3, and i get the IQ! screen when trying to install the field. I have one other CIQ field on my device (2 total) so I know that’s not the issue. I recall the fix for this type of thing is something simple but I can’t recall what it is off the top of my head. I have a trail run 15K later today that I was hoping to try this out with - any quick response would be most helpful!! Thanks

[update - well never mind; I was able to resolve with a few reinstall cycles. Working as intended now].

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

Typically when you get an iq error in Peter's race pacer it's because you set the target value to a decimal while the target type is not target speed so make sure these 2 values correspond.

IMGrant over 6 years ago

Hi, thanks for this data field. Had it installed on my watch for a while, just started using it.

I saw a post a couple of pages back about adjusting for the cover-over banner that comes down from the top before GPS & sensors are ready on the FR935 -- I am still seeing this obscuring the time (see pic). Do I have an out of date version? I remember an issue with updating ConnectIQ apps & fields in the past, I just checked my watch in Garmin Express and it said nothing to update though.

In addition to this, I wonder if the layout could be tweaked any -- see second pic, the left field (I have chosen pace) is slightly clipped by the edge of the screen for me (this is the FR935).

Finally, I also saw the post a few pages back about power being added. I am using this with Stryd (have connected it as footpod and (bike) power sensor in the watch). It would be great if the power zones were customisable, I'd like to set them to match my Stryd zones (like the Stryd Power data field). Ideal would be if Garmin supported sport-specific power zones, the way they do with heart rate zones, but it looks like there's just one zones setting for power (i.e. cycling), therefore setting directly in the data field is needed.

P.S. stick with the colours for zones here though! Only thing I don't like about Stryd zone colouring (if you use their apps, not datafield) is that they use a monotone yellow-orange-red scheme. Difficult to tell the difference between e.g. Z3 and Z4 at a glance.

Thanks!

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

I saw a post a couple of pages back about adjusting for the cover-over banner that comes down from the top before GPS & sensors are ready on the FR935 -- I am still seeing this obscuring the time (see pic). Do I have an out of date version? I remember an issue with updating ConnectIQ apps & fields in the past, I just checked my watch in Garmin Express and it said nothing to update though.

Looking at the post of the other person it seems the overlay Garmin now is creating on your device has become larger with 2 rows of icons... Not sure how much further down I can push the layout on the intro screen, but I'll have a look. (This layout is also shared with Fenix 5 family so I'll also be affecting people with those devices, not sure if the overlay has also become larger on those devices).

/* I'd wish as a Connect IQ developer we had the power to suppress the gps overlay screen... On the vivoactive 3 the gps overlay is even worse as it's covering the complete screen there */

In addition to this, I wonder if the layout could be tweaked any -- see second pic, the left field (I have chosen pace) is slightly clipped by the edge of the screen for me (this is the FR935).

It's on purpose that the right field is larger because I want to be able to comfortably display ahead/behind time with 2 digits before making it smaller. If you put power in the left field and pace in the middle field it should display properly I think.

Finally, I also saw the post a few pages back about power being added. I am using this with Stryd (have connected it as footpod and (bike) power sensor in the watch). It would be great if the power zones were customisable, I'd like to set them to match my Stryd zones (like the Stryd Power data field). Ideal would be if Garmin supported sport-specific power zones, the way they do with heart rate zones, but it looks like there's just one zones setting for power (i.e. cycling), therefore setting directly in the data field is needed.

Power zones are now hard coded to the following wattages: 54, 121, 165, 198, 232, 265, 333

I remember the reason I didn't add configurable power zones was because memory was completely full. I had a look and I see memory now peaking at 26.5k out of 28.7k in the simulator, so I might be able to squeeze in the configuration for power. I'll add it to my to do to check this.

A.E... over 6 years ago

Hi, thanks for this data field. Had it installed on my watch for a while, just started using it.

I saw a post a couple of pages back about adjusting for the cover-over banner that comes down from the top before GPS & sensors are ready on the FR935 -- I am still seeing this obscuring the time (see pic). Do I have an out of date version? I remember an issue with updating ConnectIQ apps & fields in the past, I just checked my watch in Garmin Express and it said nothing to update though.

I was the "the other person".

Today I did the update on my 935 to Firmware 9.10, too. At the first start it looked like your screenshot. At the second start it looked a lot better, there was only little covered. Now I tried it an hour later again and everything is perfect again. I think there are some processes after the update to the new firmware that need some time.

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

ok, so the overlay is back to normal size then, strange behaviour....

Released Peter's (Race) Pacer 5.0:
- add configurable power zones on Connect IQ 2 devices
- add position permission to be able to fetch the current location accuracy (requirement of the new sdk)