Tri-watch and no TE and training load for swimming (or even OHR)

what I do not get: why is there no TE or training load for swimming?

Because there is no live HR data for swimming.

The watch and GC know everything about me and should be able to calculate TE even w/o hr.

How? Without HR data the watch doesn't know if your workout was easy and relaxing or an all-out sprint.

But why is there no option to record OHR for swimming?

Because garmin says that OHR in water is not accurate enough.

OHR is not perfect for cycling either and there I can use it.

True.

And no, I am not a pro, and do not want to use a chest strap.

I'm not sure if a chest strap would help you anyway. Maybe someone else can cofirm this, but I think that TE is not available for swimming - chest strap or not.

Can someone from Garmin forward this to the developers, to make this possible? You could add a caveat and then the users can decide themselves, if it is usable or not.

Such requests appear on this forum regularly, no reaction from garmin so far. I am sure they are fully aware that users would like to have OHR while swimming, but for whatever reason (which might or might not seem reasonable for you or me) insist on disabling OHR for swimming activities.

I can understand why Garmin would decide to not activate OHR with swimming. They might not have the bandwidth to deal with the number of complaints that it might incur.

However tmK2 you are completely wrong about swimming. Just like running there is a threshold pace in swimming that can be used to quantify how difficult a workout is. Garmin also has the ability to distinguish average moving pace and average pace with swimming.

Just like running there is a threshold pace in swimming that can be used to quantify how difficult a workout is.

But to determine that threshold you need HR data from workouts!
Simple example:
I am a very efficient long distance runner, but a bad swimmer. I struggle to go below 1:40/100 m. For me it is a very hard effort. My friend on the other hand who is a well trained swimmer can go 1:15/100m WITHOUT EFFORT (!!!) and can get below 1:00/100m when sprinting. How would the watch know that for me a pace of 1:40/100m is high TE, while for someone else 1:15/100m is low TE? Sure, the stroke rate is a hint, but I struggle to maintain high stroke rate for a long period, and thus my stroke rate is low and my pace is low. The watch doesn't know if my slow pace and stroke rate is a result of getting tired quickly or if I'm just lazy in the pool.

It is similar with running. Someone might be running slowly because he wants an easy relaxing workout or simply because he can't go any faster (because he is in bad shape). The only way for the watch to tell the difference (and award different TE) is by looking at HR data.

I'm not sure if a chest strap would help you anyway. Maybe someone else can cofirm this, but I think that TE is not available for swimming - chest strap or not.

with a strap (at least Swim Strap, I imagine with Tri is the same), you do get TE values for both Anaerobic and Aerobic (source: I just got home from a swimming session, and they are on Garmin Connect).

with a strap (at least Swim Strap, I imagine with Tri is the same), you do get TE values for both Anaerobic and Aerobic (source: I just got home from a swimming session, and they are on Garmin Connect).

Are they meaningful though?

Also is the HR sync happening before the activity gets loaded up into Garmin Connect?

Thanks for all your responses. Of course GArmin have reasons for a) not using the method as linked by Lemos_pt and b) not enabling OHR while swimming.

Perhaps for b) the reason is: the values are so unrealiable that Garmin fears too many support queries. Could that not be held off by adding a caveat like "experimental" OHR support? The values might be reliable enough for many. I would prefer almost ok values to no values at all.

I just do not get, how a tri watch of high price and aspiration does not include swimming in its metrics...

we should be able to input a threshold pace in the watch for swimming, it wouldn't be 100% good but at least better than now. I have a leg injury and mostly swim right now and even with the strap the watch says I'm almost doing nothing (I guess it uses the running threshold ... )

With a strap I usually get a TE for swimming (for some reason it doesn't always work, even if there's heart rate data downloaded) - however it doesn't affect training load which is a pain, and not great for a multisport watch.

there is no need for HR.

Hmmm, this is quite interesing. Thanks for the informative link.
Anyway, I guess the Trainingspeak TSS is a little bit different than Garmin's TE from algorythmic point of view, meaning that perhaps (and I'm just guessing here) Garmin cannot freely use the described method without obtaining proper patent rights or something like that. And they don't have their own practical method of determining TE for swimming without HR. But that's just my speculation.

Are they meaningful though?

Also is the HR sync happening before the activity gets loaded up into Garmin Connect?

I am no one to say if it is meaningful, or not, but usually I have a low HR while swimming, even if doing intervals (I usually only touch a bit on Z3), so it does not shock me if TE values are low, at least for ~40m sessions.

The HR sync happens when you Finish the activity. It will search for the Strap (if it hasn't found it yet), and it will download the HR data for the session.