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Indoor Workouts With Trainer Resistance Control

I do have a workout (30 x (1min @ 120% FTP, 30s rest) - yes my coach has sadistic tendencies) that I would love to run in resistance mode on my trainer. ERG mode is a bit slow to catch up for the 1min intervals so I adjust my power output using gears and cadence.

I tried creating a simple workout in Garmin Connect that simply triggers the laps as prescribed, however, each time a lap is triggered the Edge resets my previously chosen resistance to the default value which is the lowest available. Unless somebody has an idea how to prevent resetting the trainer resistance I am stuck at either pressing the lap button manually or recording the session on my Fenix 5+ which doesn't speak FE-C. I guess a third option would be to set the resistance and then disconnect the trainer - clumsy as well.

Any ideas on how to get lap triggers for prescribed interval times without messing with the trainer's resistance?

  • You can add intensity targets (Watt values) to the desired laps and your indoor trainer (presumed if smart) will be controlled accordingly by your Edge.

  • click onto "add more" and the intensity option will be vailable

  • I've raised this resistance reset on step change as a bug with Garmin. Hopefully it will get sorted in the next f/w.

    In the meantime if you have phone app like the tacx training app you could set the resistance on that, remove the trainer fe-c sensor pairing from the Edge & run your workout as normal using your gears to control the effort 

  • That seems to be the way forward for now, thanks for confirming this. I guess I'll open another ticket with Garmin then.

  • Thanks - I am aware of setting power options for workout steps which would be activating ERG mode which is exactly what I don't want to do. Going from 80W (recovery) to 370W for 1min just doesn't work well with ERG mode. It is much easier to keep the trainer at a constant resistance (as opposed to a constant power).

  • Ah, okay. Now I see where you were aiming at.

  • When creating your workout in GC, don't set a specific power target, just set the interval duration, and use the notes to set a reminder to yourself of your target power.

  • That is exactly what I did, however, the bug @hotdogpartysausage mentioned comes into play: Despite not setting a power target, the Edge resets the trainer resistance between intervals. 

  • Tested the throw money-at-it workaround yesterday:

    (1) build workout with timed laps, no power targets

    (2) jump on trainer, turn on Edge to select trainer difficulty, do not start workout on Edge device

    (3) turn on Fenix 5+, start workout there and let it guide you through the laps

    This pretty much works but clearly is not very elegant. I could probably let the Edge run the show alone by disconnecting the smart trainer and setting its difficulty in e.g. the trainer's phone app.

  • Glad I found this thread, I thought I was missing something!  In my case I am trying to follow one of Garmins training plans. I was expecting the Garmin to control resistance automatically but this is not he case.   If I follow a workout that is based on HR intervals I have to adjust resistance at every interval start to elevate my HR and it resets to zero for each block which makes it unusable.  I guess this was originally designed for use on the road.