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Running Exercise Load < Walking Exercise Load

sierrahiker
2 months ago

Epix Gen2, v20.22.  I walked my dog this morning, very leisurely, for 30 minutes, avg HR = 79, and the exercise load = 4.  Later I ran for 20 minutes, avg HR = 119, max HR = 131, and the exercise load = 3.  This does not compute!  The exercise load from the run should be higher than the walk exercise load, and much higher than 3!  I was wearing an external HRM for the run, so no problem from bad wrist-based HR readings.  I have observed this problem of intermittent bad running exercise load/TE values for several months; sometimes the running exercise load makes sense, but often it is ridiculously low for the time/effort expended.  How about a fix for this, Garmin?

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  • 0 2 months ago
    sierrahiker said:
    How about a fix for this, Garmin?

    If you want a fix from Garmin, I recommend reaching out to the Product Support through their website at https://support.garmin.com. Here, on the user forum, if you post link to the two latest concerned activities, we can perhaps help understanding why it is happening. Personally, I am usually getting the Exercise Load over 100 for short runs of ~30 min, so getting just 3 is indeed odd, but hard to tell exactly why it happens without seeing your data.

    Though, both activities, based on the avg HR, seem to be pretty low-effort ones, and done in low aeroby, hence inducing very little EPOC (that's what the Exercise Load estimates). From that point of view, it is not surprising that the longer activity (the walk) generates slightly more EPOC.

  • 0 2 months ago

    Yesterday I jogged 2k for a Parkrun warmup, exercise load 58. Then ran 5k Parkrun, exercise load 206. Finally 5k walk home with some elevation gain, with heart rate elevated from Parkrun, exercise load 20.

    So it seems to be working for me on 20.22. But my HR was way higher than yours - average 146 for the warmup, average 170 for the Parkrun and average 120 for the walk home. My max heart rate  is around 190 (Garmin estimates 192 from yesterday's Parkrun, although my max during the Parkrun was only 182).

  • 0 2 months ago

    It's exactly the same with my Epix 2: since firmware 20.xx, the training load for 40-minute trail runs has been between 0 and 2 (stamina at 99%). On exactly the same runs, with firmware 19.41, I had a load of around 60 (stamina at 75%).

    I've therefore gone back to firmware 19.41 and won't be updating it again.


    Klaus

  • 0 2 months ago

    hmm, I'd be looking at your sport-specific HR zones (running in this case) in Garmin Connect versus the generalised one which gets used for walking.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to mcalista

    The HR zones are not used for exercise load evaluation, so that's probably a dead end.

    (However, maxHR does affect training load, so it might be worth checking if running maxHR and general maxHR are far away from each other.)

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to Bitti
    Bitti said:
    The HR zones are not used for exercise load evaluation, so that's probably a dead end.

    You are right - it is the maxHR that is an input into training load. I was thinking more of where to find the maxHR settings in Garmin Connect, which is under Heart Rate & Power Zones.

  • 0 7 days ago in reply to trux

    Dear Garmin,

    I’ve had the same issue with a very tough hike yesterday on GR20 Corsica. Was 8+ hours on heavy terrain and between 1230 and 2000 meters alt. I tracked it as walk… load was only 18 and today my readyness is 55. 

    activity: Bekijk Mijn hiken activiteit op Garmin Connect. #beatyesterday

    A while ago i did a 70.3 traithlon starting on readyness 1 Joy.  Fenix 8 measured all in green but low hrv… didn’t add up. 
    can something be wrong in this calculation?

  • 0 7 days ago in reply to Chris-O
    Chris-O said:
    can something be wrong in this calculation?

    Hard to tell without seeing the data, but basically the same comments as previously apply - if the activity was mostly in low aeroby, it does not induce much EPOC (Training Load). Which does not necessarily reflect all aspects of your subjective fatigue, because there are other factors in play, which are not easy (or possible at all) to measure.

  • 0 7 days ago in reply to trux

    Thanks for the reply.

    it kinda messes up the calculations for current training load, training readyness etc. But see Garmin as supportive and what i feel as main indicator ;) so hope for improvement and more variables will be taken into account by Garmin in the future to calculate.

    have a good one!