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How to properly record Workout for Pool Swim

I feel like a fool for asking such a broad question, but after several attempts at reading the documentation, creating a Workout, and swimming with my watch, I cannot figure out how to properly record my Pool Swim. Generally speaking:

How should I use my watch / Garmin Connect to record a Pool Swim that includes a mix of casual Intervals (e.g. warm-up / cool-down) and repeating sets of timed sprint Intervals?

Let me explain with a simplified example. Say I want to swim:

100 yards at any pace, to warm up
Rest a little
5 x 100 yards, repeating on 1:40
Rest a little
100 yards at any pace, to cool down

I want to record all of that distance, but to be able to see my stats for each logical "section". For example, I want to know that I swam the warm-up/cool-down at a 1:30 pace, and the five Intervals of the set at a 1:20 pace - I don't want just want to see that I spent an hour in the pool and went 700 yards at a snails pace.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what buttons to push - or even if I should be pushing any buttons - while swimming in order to record what I'm doing.

I've tried using / not using the "Auto Lap" feature, pressing the "Start" button, pressing the "Back" button, doing nothing... I just end up with a mishmash of incorrect stats and random buzzing on my wrist while I'm swimming.

Mostly, I just want my stats to be correct. Ideally, I'd like the watch to handle the set (i.e. 5 x 100) automatically, so I don't need to fiddle with the buttons while I'm at the wall. (Note also that my rests between Intervals during a set is often less than 15 seconds, which I think may be messing with Auto Lap, per the documentation).

I can provide more detail, if that would help. For the moment, I'm trying to keep the scenario/question simple to avoid getting bogged down with the specifics of my Workout.

Thank you in advance, swimmers!

0 SomeGarminOwner over 4 years ago

I have some new information, based on further testing and reading additional posts from users, and an article from Garmin.

The important takeaway is:

I need to push the "Back" button at the beginning of each Rest Interval. Period.

This is true regardless of the Duration Type of the Rest Interval (i.e. Lap Button Press, Fixed Rest Time, or Fixed Repetition Time). This also implies, and I have observed:

The Auto Rest feature does not seem to work.

(Note that in the OP I erroneously said "Auto Lap" instead of "Auto Rest")

This is true even for long rest intervals of >15 seconds (per the doc) or >20 seconds (per a Garmin online article).

See below a screenshot of Garmin Connect that shows the example Pool Swim Workout from the OP, along with annotations indicating where I need to manually push a button in order to make things work properly:

Garmin Connect screenshot

I don't mind the button pushes identified with green text.

Pushing the "Back" button identified with red text in the middle of the Repeat section, however, is meddlesome. Specifically, it makes for inaccurate times (up to 8 seconds per 100 yards, from what I've seen so far) and requires a manual step for something that I'd expect to be automatic.

When I'm swimming freestyle with flipturns, the watch accurately counts my laps. I don't know why it isn't able to automatically detect when I slam into the wall at the end of each Swim Interval and automatically start the Rest Interval; I'd assume that's an obvious event, based on the accelerometer data. Heck, I stopped my bike abruptly on a ride the other day and the watch triggered a false safety incident; I had to cancel it before it notified my emergency contacts. I stop swimming at the wall more abruptly than I stop my bike with its brakes on the dirt.

Anyway, I'll probably keep wearing the watch while swimming in order to track my heart rate. But, I'm still going to rely on the wall clock for my times, and just ignore most of the rest of the stats collected by the watch.