Bring back average pace range in workouts

Michael said:

I can get the average pace from a custom field

But the built-in average pace and lap (average) pace fields aren't rounded? At least they're not on my FR955.

I thought it's only the "current/instant" pace field that's rounded.

No you are right, on the custom data field, the average pace is not rounded. Its rounded only in the workout screen. In the custom data fields my poblem is that i dont have a way to see the pace range of the workout. For example i have to run lets say 20 minutes in 4.15-4.26. When i enter my custom data screen i can see my average pace with no round up, but i cant see that nice red-green-red top bar with the numbers of my pace range. i have to manually switch between data screens which i dont like. I want to have to use my watch as little as possible when im running. I used to glance for one sec and i had all the info in one data screen. now even the workout screen is so much more simplified and i have to go back and forth if i wan to see average pace instead of instant.

Yeah, you're not the first person to wish that the workout data page stuck to using lap average pace instead of instant pace.

It *should* be possible for a Connect IQ developer to make a nice full screen data field which mimics the functionality of the workout data page, but with average pace instead of instant pace.

However, the closest apps I can find are:

- a free non-full screen data field which just shows the pace range. Unfortunately it's not available for FR965.

- Datarun NG: a full-screen field which displays multiple metrics. Available metrics included the low and high targets for the current workout step. So you could set one of metric to lap average pace, and 2 of the other metrics to display the low and high pace for the current workout step. Unfortunately it's not free

One dev made a data field that can display a pace gauge and also display workout targets. Unfortunately it uses current pace (although it has options to average for the last 1, 3 or 5 seconds). Maybe you could contact the dev and ask them if they could add an option to use lap average pace instead of current pace:

apps.garmin.com/.../40735b9a-5764-4f26-96bc-426e8336b051

When I had my old Fenix 5+, people on this forum were complaining all the time about the lap pace in workouts and requested instant pace instead. It seems Garmin has listened to them. And instant pace makes more sense in longer laps. I don't know why they don't allow both as workout targets.

Yeah tbh there have been several cases over the years where Garmin has made some change due to user complaints, only to annoy the other half of the community which liked things the way they were before. Kind of a non-win situation for Garmin.

Bitti said:

I don't know why they don't allow both as workout targets.

This is basically the same response that all of these complaints get: why doesn't Garmin make this an option?

I have a feeling that they don't want to increase the complexity of the product even further. (Leading to support issues and requiring additional testing.)

They have constant problems with breaking existing functionality on updates, I'm sure adding even more options wouldn't help.

I'm not defending Garmin, only saying that I kinda get it.

1-Simple math : 5 laps on official track gives always 2080 m. Pace wrong acordingly.

2-Do you suggest that on a 300EUR gadget I have to adjust the information to be at the right speed ? Crazy !

3-STRYD support is the worst I ve ever seen. They just consider you are doing wrong and gives link to support Q/A. They never offered a solution .

Yes, it's impossible to please everyone, and at the same time keep the complexity of the software manageable (in which Garmin is clearly struggling even at the moment). I cannot remember how many times I've myself written on these forums that increasing the number of user options isn't typically a good solution. Although in this particular case, the added complexity would mostly be on the Garmin Connect side, and wouldn't introduce a completely new choice, since we already can choose between several workout step target types.

Personally (having used both the average pace based target on my old Fenix 5+ and the new instant pace target on my current 965), I dont' think either gives a good solution for short fast intervals (GPS requires filtering and doesn't react fast enough in either case), and for longer workout steps people are split on whether they want to see the average pace of the step so far (which fluctuates more in the beginning and is very difficult to affect in the end) or whether they think instant pace with a suitable target range is better (I fall into this category).

4368609 said:

Simple math : 5 laps on official track gives always 2080 m. Pace wrong acordingly

Why don't you use a calibrating factor accordingly? I've calibrated my used Stryd Wind (have paid 65€) on an inside line of lane 2 (406m) on my preferred pace and reached about <1% error. Use it every day and finally happy to get instant pace with 3-second averaging. I will say it's more precise as GNSS on a <10k distance and very helpful on sprints, etc.

I understand that a big part of my frustration comes from not being able to do what I am used to. I'm not able to assess instant pace cause I'm like a fish out of water right now. But I get that it's a matter of preference. I could speak "average pace" fluently, I can't do shift with instant pace yet. Will have ro adapt i guess. At least I can see average even if on a different screen.