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Help Pls before London Marathon: Does a "step" in a work out equal a lap? And how might auto lap at a 1 mile interval impact things.

OBISCOTT
8 months ago

Hello, 

For the London Marathon this weekend I have created a workout set for 3 mile intervals (each step is 3 miles) and a pace range that I hope to hit.   I am choosing three miles for a few reasons but in part because that is when I plan to take fuel ( I know there are alerts but I have not gotten them to work and don't want to risk it). 

I typically run with Auto Lap OFF,  however I found a data field I like called Lap Pace (or Avg Lap pace) which is a data point I would like to keep an eye on.  But as I have auto lap turned off I am wondering if the 3 mile steps in my workout are considered "laps".  I know if I hit the lap key during a work out it goes to the next step but I am not sure I the watch would use these steps to calculate the Lap Pace value (Average Lap Pace).    

If the answer is that the workout step (or interval) is not considered a Lap and therefore would not be used to calculate the Lap Pace value - what are the concequences / risks of turning auto lap back ON with a 1 mile setting.  What happens when the lap is shorter than the step that is inside my workout.   And finally what would happen if my lap interval is set the same (3 miles) as what I select for a Lap interval. 

Sorry for the complex question - just trying to get ready for my big race. 

  • 0 8 months ago

    If I were you Id set up a similar workout with smaller distances  to try it out rather than risk something on marathon day

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to S.M.R.

    yeah - very sound advice.. And was actually what I was (am) considering - I am leaving for London today so these discoveries maybe are coming a bit late to put in to practice on Sunday!! A voice of reason and much appreciated!

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to OBISCOTT

    Good luck in the Marathon.Must be an amazing experience around that great City!

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to OBISCOTT

     You will be running (i hope) prior the event (thur and saturday?)  easy to test out and practice using it. 

    in my use, every time a 'step' is triggered during a workout, that starts a new Lap.   for instance i use 1/2 mile laps during tempo workouts so that I get more granular pace data not only for pacing... but alos for review after.  Not quite sure what you are going for here...so hard to help further.   If you autolap is a mile, your "lap pace" will be for that mile.  THe workout however will have the average pace for the entire step (3mi).  So IMO... always best to have during a workout that autolap at your normal mile.  But if you have steps longer/shorter than that...  the workout will help break it up by steps (or autolap will give you some more granular data within that step).  Since reviewing later and seeing ONLY 3mile block... is kind of meh, there will be hills, aid stations, wind... i want to see each mile. (heck half mile!) for pacing review or tracking.

  • 0 8 months ago

    Good luck with the marathon.
    I agree that the best advice is to run with the watch settings you are used to and not change anything.
    You are right, if you disable Auto Lap and press the button to fix the lap, you will get the average pace between presses. But, when you disable Auto Lap you won't have lap stats for the total for each km or ml, only manual laps.
    Only Fenix watches have lap lock by positioning, it would come in handy in this case.
    Ideas need to prompt Garmin to help athletes, marathon runners. Good luck again.