Weird intensity minutes

Since one week (starting June 23rd), when running, my intensity minutes in Connect are off. Sometimes they seem ok, but on other runs they didn't. I did 5 runs this week, and 2 seem OK, The other 3 aren't. Those 3 runs I ran at low speed, and thus low heartrate. basically zone 1 and only very limited zone 2.

On these 3 runs Garmin shows 1 minute of moderate, and all the other minutes as vigorous. So that would mean Z2 and Z3, but like I said, I only ran Z1. In the connect app my activity minutes are now doubled. I use my 970 together with an HRM600 since the beginning of June, and can't remember changing anything in the set up this week.

In the Connect app I've configured the setting for activity minutes as:

- Moderate Zone 2

- Vigorous Zone 3

My zones in the connect app are:

- Z1 from 122 to 134

- Z2 from 135 to 147

- Z3 from 148 to 160

On the 3 runs where the minutes are incorrect I didn't exeed a HR of 135 BPM.

A possible reason that I can think of is that (and it may sounds weird) is that on the 2 runs that are ok, I ran with a buddy who uses my old 965 and old HRM Pro+. The Pro+ was still present in my sensorlist on my 970. Mayby my 970 sees the HRM Pro+ and all is OK, and when I run alone it doesn't. On all runs Connect shows my HRM600 as the source for HR. But that doesn't explain why it only started this week, because I use the 970 and 600 before this week aswell.

Any suggestions, or others experience the same issue? See screenshots.

Regards Frank

  • I made another discovery yesterday. Again I did an easy run. This time not wearing the HRM600, but only my 970. Heartrate monitoring was off at the start, but after tightening the strap, the HR was equal to the HR displayed on my Apple Watch Ultra 2.

    Because of the HR issues at the start, the run showed 3 minutes of Z2 in Connect. All others HR where Z1.

    In the connect app, when looking at the details, I had no activity minutes. Which makes sense because it was a Z1 run.

  • Thank you for drawing attention to this, shall we say, discrepancy. Garmin mentioned two ways to calculate IMs. First and the default one is "Your current heart rate is compared to your average resting heart rate", that You described, and a second one - based on HR Zones, that You desired. The switch should be under User Profile, but i can't find it anymore on my watch (frX55). Upside down And I know - it was there for a long time ago..

    Is it a bug? Surely. Will it be corrected? One from a dozen? Surely not. The new more powerful/expensive watch must come out in 3..,2..,1!

  • Strugling with this issue together with Garmin Support, the issue isn't solved yet. In the mean time I did some discoveries.

    The issue with the wrong intensity minutes seems to appear when I use the 970 with a chest HRM. I started using it together with the HRM600, and noticed that Z1 minutes are calculated as Z3. This week I tried the 970 with my older HRM-Pro Plus, but got the same result. So it seems that issue is appearing regardless which HRM you use. And it lookes like it is a Forerunner 970 problem.

    When I use the 970 as a stand alone device, all is well. So strange.

    Last week I did another discovery. After a run, I saved the run and immediatelly looked at the data. The intensity minutes were spot on. But ..... When I looked at the run data only 5 minutes later, the intensity minutes were off again. After processing the data (by Garmin or the Connect app?) the Z1 minutes were seen as Z3, thus giving me way too much intensity minutes.

    Anyone else having the same issue? This might help Garmin Support, to see if I' the only one, or if this is a more common issue.

    The other strange thing is that it only seems to affect running activities. For bike rides and strength the IM's are ok.

    Regards Frank