Track Running shows zero distance for laps on track

Yes I suspect you are right. I noticed while running to the track the lap distance got stuck at 80m. I thought it a bit odd but ignored it. Previously it worked when I recorded my warm-up run to the track - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/6520956749 That time I was doing 400m intervals (200m off). This time it was 600m intervals (200m off) but I would have been happy with the 400m autolaps + 200m manual laps. It's not very good if I have to record my warm-up as a separate activity and if it can't cope with the odd lap in the other direction or in a different lane. I have contacted Garmin Support to see if they have a view. 

Hello Alex, per this article, Using Track Run Profile on My Compatible Garmin Watch, we recommend the following for use of the Track Run Profile:

Tips for Using Track Run

The following are suggestions for effective use of the Track Run profile:

• Use on 400 meter tracks of standard shapes.  Track Run is not designed to track activities on tracks with a non-standard shape.  Track Run expects a track with two parallel straightaways and two semi-circular turns of a single radius value. 
• Calibrate the profile every time you run at a new track.  To calibrate the Track Run profile:
  • Complete a minimum of 4 loops around the track
  • Avoid changing lanes during calibration loops
  • Run slightly further on the final calibration loop to ensure complete calibration
• Set the lane number running in.  Setting the lane number will ensure the the correct amount of distance is added for each loop based on the distance for the lane running in.  To set the lane number:
  1. Press Start
  2. Select Track Run
  3. Press and hold Menu button
  4. Select Track Run Settings
  5. Select Lane Number
  6. Select the lane you are running in
• Run in the same lane, when possible.  The Track Run profile is able to account for occasional lane changes, but frequent lane changes can impact overall profile accuracy. 

In your circumstance we would recommend either warm up and cool down on the track, or keep them as separate activities. Obviously there is evidence to support that you can perform an activity in the way that you mentioned. However that was not the intended use of the profile, so we can't make the recommendation to use the profile that way. 

Hi Garmin-Brooks,

Thanks for the info. That all makes sense, in that in order to maximise the accuracy it might need to be calibrated. However, what is completely unreasonable is that on finding a discrepancy between being told it's on a track and GPS position showing otherwise, throwing everything out and defaulting lap distance to zero. What would be reasonable is to fall back to the less accurate (non-track) run mode. This bug makes track run mode totally unusable. It's inconvenient to have to record warm up/down as a separate activity and I can't guarantee I won't run a lap in the other direction or in another lane. I don't want to risk it trashing my whole workout so I'll just avoid using track run profile and use the normal run profile. I guess I can manually edit the tcx file to set the lap distances to 400m and reimport it on this occasion but I won't do this future. Can you please file a bug report for this so that hopefully the developers can fix it in a future software update?

Thanks,

Alex 

But it isn't a bug; when run how the app is meant to be run the application works the way it is supposed to. What you are attempting to do is outside of intended use. I get it, my college coach used to have us recover in the opposite direction, and not warm up on the track. If your training is that rigidly structured, I get it, it does reduce the ability for you to use the feature. 

However a bug would be if the tool wasn't doing it's designed function. It's designed to operate on a track, going one direction, with some interruptions, keeping on the track. I can and will make this a feature request suggestion which is somewhat semantics, but the difference is I can suggest to our team that there is interest in making the watch be able to consistently perform this function. It can't be treated as a bug though because it's not intended to function with a warm up off the track, and then change directions on the track. 

Any idea how to fix the activity so that it looks ok in e.g. Strava? The original activity imported direct from Garmin Connect doesn't have the distance right - it says 2.0km not ~10km, and has no laps. 

I've exported/imported it as GPX and the distance is correct, no laps, but no HR despite it present in the GPS file (e.g. <ns3:hr>133</ns3:hr> )

I've exported it as TCX and edited each lap's erroneous <DistanceMeters>0.0</DistanceMeters> to <DistanceMeters>600.0</DistanceMeters> Imported into Strava the lap times are correct and appear ok on the map, but the lap times, pace and HR are missing. 

Thanks