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

IMGrant 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)

Maybe it's because I have so many sensors? Perhaps if they all fit on one line it's smaller.

Anyway, I will try switching pace & power, and thanks for the configurable power zones! What happens if I only use five power zones rather than seven? (I will have to wait to test...)

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

It could be that the overlay screen is sensor related, your guess is as good as mine (there's no documentation on how this overlay screen works).

If you only provide 5 values then the data field will ignore your configuration.

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

Right Bernd, you've spotted an error in the description. I've adjusted the description and put a (*) next to those fields, as I just verified and lap pace is indeed not available on the VivoActive (there's not enough memory on connect iq 1 devices).

There are 2 solutions:

1/ I think what you really want is smooth pace (10s) as this pace will show your pace smoothened over the last 10 seconds, which evens out gps inaccuracies.

2/ If you want lap pace, this is possible in a the app "Peter's Pacer (The App)": https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/ea97af1f-1e5d-4541-820c-9bd994080d4c
The app version runs in a standalone modus meaning there's more memory to add functionality such as lap pace.

... whereas Lap Pace is pretty much very stagnant after you ran 1 km or so.

The way lap pace works is that the pace is reset each time after the lap button is pressed (or when the auto-lap occurs), so typically the first seconds after the lap press the lap pace is pretty inaccurate and it gets more smoothened out the further in the lap you progress (repeating this process all over again the next lap)

Someone090 over 6 years ago

Thanks Peter, I did not know that the Vivoactive had less memory. Thank you, I will try this app out, have a nice day.

tonybray over 6 years ago

Hi Peter,
I've just installed your app. Looks good, but I'm having an issue with the PP field on my 935. I've set the distance to be 5k, the target time to be 0:29:00. All the fields seem to function as I'd expect, except that the PP field starts at 29:00 and then counts down in one second intervals. It's possibly me not setting something up correctly, but I have de-installed and re-installed the app and also powered the 935 off and on again. Any suggestions?

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

Did you choose "target time" from the dropdown? (Instead of target pace)

Did you already start running? Perfect pace needs some distance and past speed to estimate how fast you need to run.

tonybray over 6 years ago

Did you choose "target time" from the dropdown? (Instead of target pace)
Yes - I definitely chose "target time"

Did you already start running? Perfect pace needs some distance and past speed to estimate how fast you need to run.

I ran for a good 10 minutes and there was no change - the PP field just continued to count down from 29:00 in 1 second increments. Do I need to run for longer than 10 minutes for the PP field to work?

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

No. You set 00:29:00 and not 29:00:00 right?

did you see my remark about the drop down choice?

basically the pp depends on target pace, target distance, pace so far and distance so far....

tonybray over 6 years ago

Yes - set target time to 00:29:00 and set drop down correctly.
Deleted it, re-downloaded and re-installed and it now works! Thanks!
Have donated :-)

peterdedecker over 6 years ago

Strange that it didnt work the first time...