Forerunner 255 how to use it effectively for hiking

Hello together,

For health reasons, I'll only be going hiking for the time being. When I go hiking with the appropriate profile, I've noticed that, for example, there are no adjustments to my "training status." Can I adjust this?

0 derbecker 25 days ago

Or does it make sense to go hiking under the running widget

0 6125703 21 days ago

I think the difference between Hike and Walk profiles is similar to the difference between Trail Run and Run.

So walk may update more stats, but also may cause errors due to your pace being affected by ascent and descent.

0 RDW 15 days ago

Hiking doesnt update a lot of metric because they're too inaccurate.
Hiking for example you have a pack weight, uneven terrain, sometimes very steep and rapid elevation changes, varying surfaces and so on. This makes it impossible to know what your actual "effort" is for a give pace or climb.

0 derbecker 15 days ago in reply to RDW

Thank you for the answer.

That means if I walk quickly and that on normal terrain, then is it like slow running? So can I then use the running profile to record it?

0 Wolf 15 days ago in reply to derbecker

I walk fairly quick on the regular so usually I use the run profile for just about every walk or running activity.

Only time I use the walk profile is when I'm taking my dog for walks because during that time I'm walking way slower than my usual walking pace.

0 Bitti 15 days ago in reply to derbecker

The training status is (among other things) paying attention to changes in your VO2max estimate. Both running and walking activities give VO2max updates (as do some other activities), but hiking does not, because as mentioned here, uneven terrain, extra carried weight, difficult paths, etc. would affect the estimate.

So it all depends on what you mean by "I'll only be going hiking". If you mean quick walking without extra weight on normal terrain, just use the walking activity. Then you'll get VO2max estimates after 30 days has passed from your last running activity (running VO2max estimates are more accurate, so a running estimate from the last 30 days will override your walking estimates). If you hike in uneven terrain or with a heavy pack, just use the hiking activity and accept that you are not going to get training status updates.

However, for lower-effort activities like walking, I've noticed that the estimated training load will probably be quite low. That's because Garmin estimates cardio-vascular load, which will be low if your HR doesn't stay high enough, even if your muscle fatigue would be high. I've noticed this especially while backpacking, where my training load is very low even after several hours of hiking (because my HR goes constantly up and down depending on the terrain). If you are interested in keeping track of your long but low-intensity efforts' load, synchronise your data to Runalyze, which calculates TRIMP for your activity. At least to me that's more in line with how I feel after such activites.