[sgw]

For my activities I use a Garmin Fenix 6Xpro, I record running, trailruns, walking, cycling … but I don’t wear it while I am climbing.

So the days I spend with climbing aren’t reflected in the logs kept at Garmin Connect. Sometimes I try to make a manual note in there, mentioning “climbing for a few hours”, but I can’t think of any way to properly say “3hrs with 110 bpm HR avg” or so. That simply doesn’t work for climbing.

How do you folks manage this? Another separate log/diary?

Additionally it somehow frustrates when the watch tells me I’m unproductive when I come from an intensive day at the crag 😉

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 4, 2021 at 3:33 pm #54608

Additionally it somehow frustrates when the watch tells me I’m unproductive when I come from an intensive day at the crag ?

You can ignore all that stuff. The algorithms are generic and inaccurate.

How do you folks manage this? Another separate log/diary?

Garmin Connect is good for tracking general volume, but not training stress. Training Peaks or Today’s Plan are better for the latter, and they allow for manual entries in the web app versions.

[sgw]

sgw on June 6, 2021 at 10:21 am #54637

Thanks for remembering me to ignore “that stuff” 😉

I tend to try some handwritten notes maybe (shocking, yes, I am an IT-guy).

I had a large (DIN A0, that’s european … about 35×49 inches) sheet of paper when doing my 5 month program in winter. Every week I planned the upcoming week (of running) and wrote down the kms done every day. And for climbing days I at least marked the day with a “C” in a different color or so. That was motivating, to see how I worked through all that plan.

For sure, Garmin Connect also logged the runs in detail.
And I often pre-planned the actual runs as trainings on the watch: how far, which zone … so the watch could give me feedback. That was also helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on July 1, 2021 at 9:41 am #55341

I had a large (DIN A0, that’s european … about 35×49 inches) sheet of paper when doing my 5 month program in winter.

I really like this idea. It’d be great if we can one day combine the advantages of the digital world (logging, calculation, etc) with the big-picture view of the analog world. Maybe there will be a way to combine a large digital whiteboard with an online tracking system.

[sgw]

sgw on July 2, 2021 at 2:51 am #55372

To me that sounds too technical again 😉 but sure, if there was an affordable kind of whiteboard in my livingroom that syncs with various services that would somehow enhance the sheet-of-paper-solution.

I always oscillate between embracing and avoiding technology, at least over the last years. It’s great to be able to plan and define training sessions using an app or a website. Having the parameters of a planned run in my watch is great, makes sense and motivates me. On the other hand (as you mentioned) the sheet of paper on my table gives me an overview. It’s great to see how it fills over time, the times/distances visible and easily there for a quick lookup. I also used some different colors .. worked great. Also the manual activity of scribbling/writing is rewarding, I assume it also has some neuro-feedback aspect maybe? (actually creating a plan, then doing something and checking things off)

The technical stuff sometimes sounds great in theory and then … disappoints sometimes in usability, reliability etc / my work contains a *lot* of problem solving in IT, so in my personal life I sometimes just tend to “less is more”. OK, I use that fat GPS watch, yes. not exactly “less”.

[philc180]

philc180 on July 2, 2021 at 1:26 pm #55380

Hi sgw,

Is it just that you don’t want to wear it while climbing in case of damaging it? I have effectively the same watch and the “Climbing” activity is present and configurable with whatever metrics you wish.

Philip.

[sgw]

sgw on July 5, 2021 at 2:19 am #55428

Sure, I don’t want to damage it … but primarily I don’t like wearing anything on my hands or wrists while climbing.

[philc180]

philc180 on July 5, 2021 at 8:23 am #55449

Thought so, ya. Kind of a catch 22 so.

[sgw]

sgw on August 17, 2022 at 2:53 am #69962

Still haven’t solved that … I record approaching to multipitch climbing with my watch, then the next hours of climbing and belaying are kind of a separate thing. I tried to only wear the chest strap and carry the watch in the backpack. The garmin strap should even store HR data (the HRM-Tri does that for swim data).

But for sports climbing days I can only add a manual entry … without distance or average HR because that simply won’t reflect the “workload” correctly, IMO. That leads to TP or Garmin Connect “thinking” I rested 😉

[TLoftus]

TLoftus on August 17, 2022 at 5:31 pm #69995

I use a Polar watch and a Polar H10 chest strap. If I want to record a workout without my watch I use the WO recording feature on the strap via the Polar Beat phone app. The WO uploads to Polar Flo and on to Training Peaks.

[sgw]

sgw on August 19, 2022 at 4:10 am #70054

Yes. I look for some guideline like “for an hour of multi pitch climbing in medium difficulty, calculate X calories or note an activity with Y bpm in average”.

HR seems inaccurate anyway. Yesterday I did some climbs … 4 hrs in total, some easy pitches, some stressy ones … I would like to have that in my various platforms (Garmin Connect, TP, intervals.icu …) somehow.

That leads to another observation lately: it seems I reached a new level somehow or more of a plateau, HR seem lower overall and GC reports I am unproductive … Yes, I know: general algorithms etc. Going out for some intervals now 😉