Fenix 5 GPS for track sessions

PY1974 over 7 years ago

Hi all, I've just moved from a Fenix 3 to a Fenix 5, last night I ran a track session for the first time, can anyone advise what the best way to setup the watch is for these sessions, we ran a 1 mile time trial, this came out at 1.07 miles for me, although we ran exactly the mile distance, I have a foot pod, which I have set to speed always and distance indoors, would it be better for a track session to set distance to always?

link to the mile activity - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2034693861

Any suggestions greatly received, GPS set to GPS+GLONASS and data recording to every second.

Thanks

0 tmk2 over 7 years ago

The accuracy of footpod might improve after a couple of runs with GPS enabled.

0 PY1974 over 7 years ago

Thanks for reply tmk2, footpod was not used for distance on this workout, I was thinking if I did use it for distance it would record closer to the actual mile run than using GPS for distance, I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

0 karlw2000 over 7 years ago

I'd only use a footpod on a track. I don't care for the auto calculation and go manual. If you don't already have a cal factor, go to the track, turn off auto lap and run a few steady miles and press the lap button each mile. To me, even the footpod was slightly dependent on pace or stride length so you pick the lap that was closest to the track mile and find out the cal factor.

0 JRMiler over 7 years ago

First of all, congrats on doing your first track workout. The track (coupled with a stopwatch) is by far the most important training tool in a runner's arsenal. It's way more useful that heart rate monitors or GPS watches. The point of being on a track is to have literally perfect control over distance, so don't worry about GPS. Just record your splits accurately and take notes about the workout. If you start doing that, then you'll be able to compare workouts anywhere in the world, over the course of your entire running career. A 400 meter oval is pretty much the same everywhere. (Do make sure you know how long the track is. Most tracks are 400 meters, which means 4 laps is 9 meters short of a full mile, but there are probably still some old 440 yard tracks around.)

0 carl.andersson over 7 years ago

As well as the above suggestions I'd also turn off GLONASS. Assuming your track is in a fairly wide open area you don't need to try and pick up GLONASS satellites and it may decrease rather than increase your accuracy.

0 PY1974 over 7 years ago

Thanks all for suggestions, karlw2000 I'll try that for the footpod. JRMiler Track sessions are something new my club has started this week, I can't make the usual club training nights so train on my own under the guidance of my coach/mentor, the track has the extra line to mark where a mile should start from so will be able to record accurate miles, looking forward to adding the track sessions to my training plan over the winter, from the first session I think it will really help with consistent pacing over the reps. carl.andersson I'll also switch off GLONASS as track has a good clear view of the sky.