Garmin Connect Data: Garmin Device vs TrainerRoad Import

Equipment
21

Here’s what I do, and works quite well for me so far:

  1. TR setup: Ride Sync with Connect and Strava. I like TR workout on Strava, and syncing with Connect allows outdoor workout push on my Edge520 or FR945.
  2. Connect setup: a) check Connect export event to TR, this allows outdoor ride records on TR, b) check TR export workout to Connect, this allows outdoor workout to be pushed to Edge, c) uncheck TR event to Garmin so I won’t have duplicate record pushed to Connect.

During indoor workout: 1) Follow TR on laptop or mobile And trainer control, 2) start FR945 at the same time, I like all the metrics recorded with FR945, for reference, my TrainingPeaks gets indoor ride event records from Connect but not from TR. I use just FR945 for indoor workout and press lap button at start/end of interval. 3) at the end of the workout, wait until TR uploads event to Strava first, and then stop workout on FR945. The result is single record on Strava from TR, and single record on Connect and TP. Like many posted above, I think Strava recognizes FR945 workout uploaded few seconds after TR is a duplicate and filters it.

In summary,
TR job: 1) follow workout, 2) nice record on Strava
FR945 job: 1) single version of metric truth on Connect and TrainingPeaks

hope this helps
David

8 Likes
22

Thanks for all the replies guys.

@ungooo I will try this out.

Cheers

23

Seems helpful. However- Fenix 6/ Strava/ Trainer Road:
When my workout uploads from TR to strava- there is no heart rate information. I have to allow the Garmin data to upload to strava in order to capture heart rate. Is there a way to pull those together into one overlaid file, without duplicating the workout, and without losing the heart rate data? Thank you.

24

When I dual record with my Garmin and TR I will connect every sensor to both devices so that each one has power, speed, HR, and cadence. This might not be possible depending on what model of HR monitor you have but my Tickr connects to my computer with bluetooth and my watch with ANT+.

25

Thanks for the input - makes sense but for some reason my TR and Connect data never merges in Connect or on TR. I’m not using Strava.

Today I did my first ride - started the indoor cycling program on my Vivoactive 4 (i know it doesnt pair with power meters etc. that’s fine, i just want the HR data to merge with my TR workout) approx 20 seconds after I started off the TR workout. I can see both events in connect, but they’re separate and TR doesn’t seem to merge the events. Is it due to timing which is critical, or what am I doing wrong?

26

Intervals are different in the file display you see in GC or they used to be.

If you care about any training status performance metrics on Garmin platform them you need to record it with your Garmin.

27

I don’t know why you think TR would merge data from two activities. It doesn’t. All posts in this thread are about recording with two devices, leading to two activities, and then having one of them removed (sometimes automatically) as a duplicate. There is no merging going on.

So either you connect devices to your vivo, to have all training data recorded by the vivo. Or you broadcast the HR from it, and let TR record it.

28

Perhaps it was wrong to call it “merging” of data. It would be about broadcasting HR to o TR I’m looking to solve - the watch doesn’t come up when browsing for devices within the app.

29

You have to enable HR broadcast on your device first. And you need TR on a device that supports ANT+ devices, to be able to see the HR data.

1 Like
30

Agree with HR Broadcasting. Most newer Garmin devices broadcast over BLE as well as ANT+ - @Reframe mentions the Vivoactive 4, which should allow BLE.

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31

@gjdev you’re right. I checked and did have HR broadcast turned on.
@mcalista It’s correct Garmin allow BLE on the Vivoactive 4, i didn’t consider that so thanks for pointing to it. Reading some more threads online, it does seem like HR broadcasting is limited to ANT+ only on the watch. This seems to leave me with two options:

  1. Using watch > buying ANT+ USB dongle > Pair with TR (unclear if TR will support this solution since the Vivoactive 4 isn’t listed amongst the wearable devices)
  2. Getting a separate HR monitor using bluetooth, omitting the watch from my TR workouts

The price difference between the options is negligible, the Garmin ANT+ dongle costing approx. $50 with a HR strap in the ballpark, or $10-20 more. Seems like a HR strap is the better way to go?

32

I would assume TR supports this, as they support HR over ANT (what I use myself for a HR strap). But better to confirm with TR support if you want to be sure before paying for a dongle.

My experience with optical HR sensors (like on your watch) while doing bike workouts is very bad. I just don’t get reliable data. So check if the data from your watch actually makes sense. Because otherwise the HR-strap option would be much better!

1 Like
33

Makes sense! DC Rainmaker had a quite good review of it’s HR monitor except for the indoor cycling test. My impression is that it’s fairly accurate when running or rowing. I’m leaning toward the HR sensor - question which one to get options…options… options… :upside_down_face:

Edit: Bought the Wahoo Tickr!

1 Like